Music is a rich and vital part of worship at Central Unitarian Church, and our members and friends get involved as both listeners and performers.

Music of the piano, organ and other instruments is woven into every service, as are hymns from our own faith tradition and those of others. Thanks to our location near New York City, we frequently welcome professional guest artists from the worlds of classical, jazz and nontraditional music.

Choir

The choir performs at Sunday Services every three to four weeks. The choir performs mostly fully scored selections (soprano, alto, tenor and bass). Its repertoire is very diverse from Handel and Faure to Lennon and McCartney to Ellington. Participation is open to both members and non-members of the congregation.  During the pandemic, the choir has rehearsed and performed wearing masks and socially distanced from the congregation.

Guest Musicians

We frequently welcome guest musicians to bring new forms of music into our worship services and complement our choir and music director.

Music Staff

Matt Anderson, Music Director is a freelance musician, composer and audio professional. His primary instrument is piano; secondary instruments are guitar, violin and organ. As a composer, he has the ability to write, rewrite and arrange music according to the specific needs of ensembles to emphasize strengths, compensate for weaknesses and maximize the unique potentials of each group. He has an extensive background in musical theater. He has directed and/or musically directed nearly forty shows. He has performed in Off-Broadway, professional touring companies, college, school and community theater groups.

Robert René Galván is a conductor and educator with a long list of credits and associations from all over North America, ranging from small churches to the highest echelons of music. He is equally at home in orchestral, choral, operatic repertoire and musical theater, and is known for his extraordinary professionalism, precise communication and directing skills. In addition to Central Unitarian Church, Maestro Galván is Conductor of the Bronx Concert Singers, Peace of Heart Choir and Manhattan Sinfonia in New York City. He currently serves as Professor of Conducting at the Long Island Conservatory of Music. He was also Music Director of Highbridge Voices Youth Chorus, and Professor of Conducting & Choral Studies at the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music where he trained young conductors and directed the conservatory chorale. He was guest conductor of Florilegium Chamber Choir in Manhattan and Cappella Festiva in upstate New York. For four seasons he was conductor of the Springfield Symphony Chorus in Massachusetts. In Texas, Galván held positions as conductor of the Austin Philharmonic, Associate Conductor of the Austin Choral Union, and as director of both the University Chorus and the Longhorn Singers at the University of Texas. He is married to the playwright Holly Hepp and has a daughter, Gina.

More Information

To learn more about music at CUC, email worship@cucparamus.org.