The Pittsburgh Compline Choir, under the direction of Dr. Alistair Stout, will perform a compline service open to the public at Trinity Cathedral on Monday, July 26, at 8 p.m., as part of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians conference taking place in Pittsburgh that week.
The Pittsburgh Compline Choir is a mixed voice, auditioned choir of approximately 16-24 members, that exists for the purpose of singing and praying the monastic office of Compline. The name Compline comes from the Latin word completorium or completed, and is sometimes called Night Prayer or Prayer at the Close of the Day or the way the Church says “goodnight.” Each Sunday night, The Pittsburgh Compline Choir joins with members of the community at Heinz Memorial Chapel on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh for 40 minutes of music, prayer, and silence to thank God for the blessings of the day and pray for forgiveness, peace and rest.
Members of the choir represent various Christian traditions. They are graduate and undergraduate students, parish & professional musicians, clergy, and lay people from the metropolitan Pittsburgh area and the surrounding areas of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Born in 1975, Dr. Stout grew up in the Shetland Isles off the north East Coast of Scotland, UK. He studied at the Royal College of Music with Joseph Horovitz and Dr. John Birch (1993 – 1997), the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Robert Saxton (1997 – 98) and Royal Holloway, University of London with Simon Holt (1998 – 2001) where he graduated with a PhD in composition. Whilst in London he was assistant organist at Wesley’s Chapel, the Mother Church of World Methodism, and gave recitals at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Ely Cathedral, the Temple and St Brides Church, Fleet Street as well as throughout the UK.
Since moving to America in 2002 to take up the position of Music Director at the Coraopolis United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he has given recitals through out Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, New York and Iowa as well as presented workshops on new repertoire and composition. In 2007 he was invited to perform at the Morelia International Organ Festival in Mexico where his programme of 20th century music was hailed as a highlight of the 41st festival.