News

Soprano and organ performance opens Friends of Music season

Charles Frost, organist and conductor, performs with sopranist Lucy Owen Holt on Jan. 18.

By Bill Moss, Published: December 3, 2025

The first 2026 concert from the Friends of Music & the Arts Series at the Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness will be held at 4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 18, in the historic church, 1895 Greenville Highway in Flat Rock.

Lucy Owen Hoyt, lyric soprano, and Charles Frost, organist and conductor, will bring together their love of music in a program celebrating African American composers and spirituals.  Although the two knew each other a few years back while attending Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, this is their first concert performance together.

A gifted teacher who recently retired from the voice faculty of James Madison University, Hoyt founded the Valley Voice Initiative to support emerging artists.  She has sung across the Carolinas and the Shenandoah Valley.  She also performed in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

A native of New Jersey, Frost earned his bachelor and master of music degrees at Westminster Choir College. He has served as minister of music at many churches and performed in concerts across the country. Currently, he leads the Sea Island Singers in Beaufort, South Carolina. He is also president of The Hymn Society, based in Washington, D.C.

The music concert is free and open to the public; donations are encouraged to fund the ongoing series.  Reservations are not necessary. Free parking and handicapped parking are available.  For more information call 828-693-9783 or visit www.stjohnflatrock.org.