Black background with white handwritten text that says, "share your musical talents".

SUM MUSIC MINISTRY

We glorify God through music, we strengthen our church community and form strong bonds within our ensembles, and we reach out and share our musical gifts with the greater community outside of SUM. Whoever you are and wherever you are on this journey through life, there is a place for you in one (or more!) of our many ensembles.

Scroll through our offerings below!

A choir performs in a church with a stained glass window and wooden organ pipes in the background, while an conductor leads them. Audience members are seated on wooden pews watching the performance.
A portrait of an elderly woman with gray hair pulled back, wearing a dark sweater with colorful floral embroidery, standing in front of a blue background.
A woman with shoulder-length red hair, blue eyes, and earrings smiling outdoors against a green background, wearing a navy blazer over a white floral blouse.
Portrait of a man with light skin, blue eyes, and dark brown hair, smiling and wearing a white polo shirt, against a plain light background.

OUR MUSIC STAFF

  • Director of Music

    Bridget is a native New Yorker and has been living in Connecticut since getting her Masters degree in vocal performance from The Hartt School. She is a Yankees fan lost in a sea of Red Sox fanatics. Bridget currently works at SUM as the Music Director where she gets to work with some pretty awesome musicians. She directs the Chancel Choir, Chancel Ringers, Children’s Choir, Wesley Ringers, Insigni Ringers, and also oversees and organizes a bunch of musical activities within the church.

    Whether it’s making music, listening to music, or teaching music, Bridget has a home in music and loves sharing her passion with others. When not at SUM, Bridget also teaches at Manchester Community College and cantors and plays organ at some Catholic churches in the area. Bridget lives in Windsor with her husband Stephen and three great kids. She is also a vegan and occasionally wows the choirs with vegan baked goods.

  • Contemporary Music Director

    Following a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the Hartt School of Music, Len’s first job was teaching and conducting choral music. He went on to teach instrumental music in elementary and high school as well as playing instrumental music at churches. When he isn’t making music at SUM, Len works as a computer programmer.

  • Organist

    Kari Miller began her musical life with piano lessons at the age of five. Organ lessons came some years later, and Ms. Miller held her first church position and gave her first organ recital while still a teenager, in her native state of Washington. She pursued her advanced training as a pianist, attending The Curtis Institute of Music and Indiana University, where she earned a Masters and DM in piano performance.

    Kari’s life as a church musician has included directing choirs and bell choirs and organizing programs of all kinds - as Director of Music and organist at Central Baptist Church in Hartford from 2007-2016, and as Interim Director of Music at South Church (UCC/Baptist) in New Britain in 2017-2018. But it is organ-playing that she finds most satisfying, and she presides at the SUM organ console with joyful enthusiasm.

    Kari is an active member of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and frequently appears on the chapter’s annual Pipescreams concerts and other area events. She resides in Winsted, where she tends a large perennial garden and enjoys her three Siamese cats.