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From the earliest days, the parish had what is now officially named the St. Lambert Choir and commonly referred to as the traditional choir. Among its directors were Joe Micheletti; Soong Fu Yuam, who composed a special Mass to celebrate the inauguration of the present church; Eleanor Swanson; James Biery, whom Steve Folkers calls the most famous musician and composer to hold the position here, though it was only for a short time; Gloria Keeley; and our current director, Steve Folkers, who began here in August 1988.
Parish Choir Groups
- St. Peter Choir
- St. Lambert Choir
- Family Choir
- Latin Schola
- Filipino Families of Skokie Choir
- Spanish Choir
Folkers formed the school’s children’s choir and he continued with it for a couple of years after the school closed in 2003. Several of its former members still sing with the traditional choir, most notably on special holiday celebrations, and with the family choir. For Christmas Eve, the choir has been augmented with professional string and brass players .
Photo of St. Lambert Family Choir screen grab from ShalomWorldTV via YouTube
The Family Choir was organized by Maureen Kaucher in 1994 with the goal of offering contemporary music sung by adults and children. It sometimes brought in musicians from the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Old Town School of Music, and sang at 12:00 Noon Masses and special Masses honoring family and youth.
The Filipino choir was founded around 1998 by Luo Alog, who still directs it. Besides singing at St. Lambert, it performs at special Filipino festivals and liturgies outside the parish.
The school church began with a portable organ. The permanent church included an electronic organ, whose speakers were mounted behind the tall grilles of the chambers on either side of the choir loft. On August 31, 1989, St. Lambert inaugurated its present pipe organ, which the Bradford Organ company of Evanston rebuilt using pipes from St. Willibrord, a south-side parish that close d in 1988. The pipes were installed in the north chamber. The organ was gradually improved with a n ew console that has three manuals (keyboards) and with additional pipes installed in the south chamber, which increased the ranks of pipes from seventeen to thirty-one. The north chamber was also fitted with shutters that can be gradually opened to “swell” (increase) the loudness of these pipes—hence the south chamber’s designation as the ”swell division.” These improvements were completed in 2008.
If you are interested in joining any of our parish's chior group/s, please contact Jill Goldsmith for St. Peter Campus and Steve Folkers for St. Lambert Campus or talk with any choir member after Mass .