Dear Good People of Trinity Church,
After a thoughtful, faithful, and extensive search process, it is my honor and pleasure to announce that Dr. Margaret (Meg) Harper has accepted the call to serve as our Director of Music.
Dr. Harper currently serves as Associate Director of Music and Organist at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, TX, where she has helped to rebuild the music program into a thriving ministry, including a wide range of choirs. During her tenure, she has overseen the restoration of Saint Michael’s chorister program and developed several new initiatives. These include a Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) summer chorister camp that recruits from across the country, as well as a music appreciation curriculum for adults that has garnered thousands of online participants.
Before moving to Texas, Meg worked as Director of Music and Liturgy at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, NH, one of the most active Episcopal parishes in northern New England. During her time there, she built a choir school for at-risk youth from the community.
I offer my sincere thanks to our Search Committee for their tireless and faithful work. They were exemplary in their discernment process, opening themselves fully to the movement of the Holy Spirit to find the right person for our beloved music program. (Matthew Baglio, Carol Burden, Gabriel Crouch, Cheryl Evans, Barbara Gonzalez-Palmer, Andrea Hyde, Mark McConnell, Eric Plutz, Wesley Rowell, Iris Sikma, Trudy Sykes, Cindy Westbrook, and Mike Williams. Co-Chairs: Clancy Rowley and Leslie Edwards)
Please join me in welcoming Meg and her husband, Michael, to Princeton and to Trinity. They will be transitioning here in early August.
Finally, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Connor Fluharty, our Interim Director of Music. Connor served Trinity Church with great integrity, professionalism, and care during a most difficult season in the life of our parish. I hope you will join me in expressing our profound gratitude for his ministry.
Thank you all for your prayerful support during this time of uncertainty and difficulty. I am so incredibly grateful for how we, the people of Trinity, have lived through these past two years. Now, we turn our hearts and souls to the future, as together we sing a new and glorious song.
Forward in faith!
Peace and Blessings,
The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector
Dear Trinity Princeton,
I am absolutely thrilled to join you this fall and take on leadership of Trinity’s music program. The discernment process surrounding this position was an incredibly thorough and affirming experience. At each step of the way, my conviction grew that this parish, this job, and these choirs are the perfect fit for me and for my family. It is clear to me that the members of the Trinity choirs and congregation are strongly committed to this church, to making extraordinary music, and to building meaningful community. I am grateful to Paul, Clancy, Leslie, the entire search committee, and the church staff for welcoming me and making this move possible. I am excited to see what we will accomplish together, in service of the Princeton community and of God!
I look forward to joining you in mid-August. I will bring with me my husband Michael, our dog Tabitha, and our cat Attila the Hungry. I love to garden, so you can expect to see plants popping up all over the music building and around my apartment. My husband and I love to be in nature, as does Tabitha the dog. We are looking forward to exploring the parks and woods around Princeton. Both Michael and I are excited to meet you all!
All the best,
Meg
Margaret “Meg” Harper has been hailed by The Diapason magazine for her “impeccable” playing and by the Boston Musical Intelligencer for “outstandingly lively, punchy” performances. Croatian newspaper Glas Slavonije writes, “The freezing cold of a January evening dominated the cathedral in Djakovo, but it could not diminish the richness and warmth of sound brought out of the cathedral organ by Margaret Harper.”
For the last five years, Meg has served as Associate Director of Music and Organist at Saint Michael and All Angels in Dallas, TX, one of the largest Episcopal churches in the nation. At Saint Michael, her primary task was to create a new chorister program in the model of the Royal School of Church Music - America. Along with the church’s staff of three organists and four choir directors, she has helped to dramatically develop the church’s music department. At Saint Michael, Meg also expanded the church’s concert series and created a music appreciation curriculum for members of the parish who wanted to learn more about sacred music.
Before moving to Dallas, Meg served as Director of Music and Liturgy at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, NH. While at St. John’s, Meg founded an after-school program for at risk youth called the Choir School at St. John’s. Within its first few years, the choir school had reached its capacity with a waiting list, and had already gained several accolades, including an invitation to sing and premiere a newly commissioned work at the prestigious Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. The Choir School at St. John’s continues today, and remains a transformative organization in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. At St. John’s, Meg also doubled the size of the adult choir, including recruiting volunteer singers from as far away as an hour’s drive.
For the 2022-2023 academic year, Meg was Visting Lecturer of Organ at Baylor University in Waco. She has previously taught organ, harpsichord, and keyboard skills at the University of Southern Maine and the Eastman School of Music. Meg holds a DMA and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. She has a passion for new music, and has presented premiere performances of new works by composers including Cecilia McDowall, George Baker, Philip Moore, Todd Wilson, and many others. She serves in leadership roles for the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Royal School of Church Music - America, and the American Guild of Organists. Margaret performs and tours as an organist, harpsichordist, and conductor, and is on the roster of the Concert Artist Cooperative.
