Redeemer Choir

The Redeemer Choir was formed in the late 1990’s by then Chief Musician Leonard Payton and taken up by George Dupere in the fall of 2001. The choir serves Redeemer Presbyterian Church through its singing and support in the Divine Services. The ensemble is made up entirely of volunteers from the congregation who sing in over 100 services each year including the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, Epiphany Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Ascension Day.

For more than fifteen years, the choir has been recording the hymns from the Redeemer Hymnal for use on the church’s website. That project was completed in early summer, 2021.

Since 2002, the choir has also participated in an annual Festival of Music in December. In the current season, it will add a second festival in the spring.

Here are some of the works performed in the past twenty years:

  • Gloria – Antonio Vivaldi

  • Cantata 4: Christ lag in Todesbanden – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Cantata 36: Schwingt freudig euch empor – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Cantata 51: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Cantata 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Cantata 80: Ein feste Burg – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Cantata 147: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Cantata 170: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Magnificat – Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Oratoria: Elijah – Felix Mendelssohn

  • Oratorio: Messiah – George Frideric Handel

  • The Lord Nelson Mass – Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Utrecht Te Deum – George Frideric Handel

  • Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio) – Johann Sebastian Bach

George Dupere Conductor

George is in his twenty-first year as Chief Musician at Redeemer, where he provides oversight for liturgy, music, and more recently as Artistic Director for Arts on Alexander. Prior to his move to Austin, he served as Minister of Music and Worship for over twenty years at Camelback Bible Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona. While there he oversaw the development of a vibrant music program and the construction of a new sanctuary. He also produced two CDs, one of Mendelssohn’s Elijah and the other, Songs of Triumph, a collection of choral anthems.

Building upon the work of predecessor Leonard Payton at Redeemer, George has continued the oversight of the Divine Services, the development of the Redeemer hymnal, and the development of the Redeemer Choir.

George’s undergraduate degrees were taken at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and at Bethel University in St. Paul. His graduate studies began at the University of Minnesota and Westminster Choir College and were completed in 1993 at Arizona State University. George’s doctoral dissertation was on the relationship of choral singing and architectural acoustics. 

Michael Phillips Organist

A former head chorister and choral scholar at Chelmsford Cathedral in the UK, Michael began organ studies in his mid teens under Graham Elliott and Peter Wright at Southwark Cathedral. Shortly thereafter, he won a scholarship to Eton College where he studied with Alastair Sampson and won the school’s prestigious organ prize in his final year. Following a period as organ and choral scholar at Truro Cathedral, Michael spent a year singing with the choirs of Gloucester Cathedral, Tewkesbury Abbey, King’s College London and the Dublin-based Riverdance spin-off choir “Anúna’.” While subsequently studying for his Masters in Music at the University of Cambridge, he was for three years a choral scholar at Trinity College under Richard Marlow and Stephen Layton, and a deputy choral scholar at St John’s College under David Hill. Michael can be heard on a wide variety of commercial recordings with several different choirs, and has performed regularly on live BBC radio broadcasts and TV programs. As an organist he has given recitals in many prestigious venues around the UK.  Tonight’s recital will be his first in North America.

Since 2007, Michael has combined a busy financial services career with organ playing and singing predominantly at St. Luke’s Church in Chelsea, London.  Shortly after moving to Texas with his family in 2015, Michael was appointed Organist and Minister of Music at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Dallas, and since 2018 has been Organist at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin.