Where can you see Ellen Oak in action? 

Below please find upcoming events, followed by selected past events.  



UPCOMING EVENTS


    Every Saturday evening at 5:00p.m., Oak cants and plays piano for Eucharist at Saint Isidore Parish, 429 Great Road, Stow, MA.




   


FEBRUARY 2008

   3, 10, 17, Sundays, 7:30 a.m.  Oak plays piano for Eucharist at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord MA.

   3, Sunday, 2:00 p.m.  Oak gives voice recital Songs of the Soul in Wilson Chapel at Andover Newton Theological School, 210 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA.  With Leslie Hitelman, piano, Michael Burgo, guitar and voice, and David Hunte, piano and voice.  Works of Gregorian chant, Purcell, Harbison, Dylan, Cohen, and Henley. Songs of the Soul Recital Poster.pdf

   10, 17, 24, Sundays, 7:00p.m.  Oak cants sung Evening Prayer for Lent at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord MA.



MARCH 2008

    2, 9, 16, 23, Sunday, 7:00p.m.  Oak cants sung Evening Prayer for Lent, and Easter Sunday, at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord MA.



APRIL 2008

    5, Saturday, 8:30p.m.  Oak conducts the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus at Symphony Hall, Boston, MA. 

    6, Sunday, 4:00p.m.  Oak sings with A Joyful Noyse (early music group) in “Ah, Sweet Distress,” a concert of Monetverdi and Salomone Rossi, Hancock Church, 1912 Mass. Ave., Lexington MA.  781-862-4220.  Donation $10.

    13, Sunday, 3:00p.m.  Oak performs and speaks at The Boston Nimatullahi Sufi House, 84 Pembroke Street, South End, Boston, MA.

    27, Sunday, 2:00p.m.  Oak directs performance of choral music, movement, poetry, and visual art in Wilson Chapel at Andover Newton Theological School, 210 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA.  The culmination of the academic course The Art of Faith.



MAY 2008

    11, Sunday, 7:00p.m.  Oak cants sung Evening Prayer for Pentecost at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord MA.



JUNE 2008

    21-26, Saturday-Thursday.  Oak directs the Summer Institute in Art and Worship at Andover Newton Theological School, 210 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA.  Keynote presenters:  Marty Haugen and Susan Briehl.  Oak will be creating and leading worship each day.  See  Andover Newton Theological School for detailed schedule.



JULY 2008

    13-19, Sunday-Saturday.  Oak directs The Singer’s Way, an intensive training and retreat for singers, culminating in a public performance.  Held in Cambridge, MA.



AUGUST 2008



SEPTEMBER 2008



OCTOBER 2008

   


NOVEMBER 2008



DECEMBER 2008





SELECTED PAST EVENT



JANUARY 2008

    6, 13, 20, 27, Sundays,7:30 a.m.  Oak plays piano for Eucharist at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord MA.

    6, Sunday, 7:00p.m.  Oak cants sung Evening Prayer for Epiphany at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord MA.

   10, Thursday, 6:00p.m.  Oak cants for Jazz Worship at Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston.

   31, Thursday, 2:00p.m.  Oak begins teaching graduate academic course The Art of Faith at Andover Newton Theological School, 210 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA


DECEMBER 2007

    2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Sundays, 7:00p.m.  Oak cants sung Evening Prayer for Advent and Feast of the Holy Family, at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord MA.

    13, Thursday, 6:00p.m.  Oak cants for Jazz Worship Lessons and Carols at Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston.

    21, Friday, 10:00a.m.  Oak sings gregorian chant for Anointing and Eucharist at Concord Health Center, 57 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, Concord MA.


SEPTEMBER 2007

    1, Saturday, 11:00 a.m. Ellen cants at Solemn Profession of Sam Fuller, Norwich, CT.

    8, Saturday.  Ellen leads private retreat in spirituality of singing the psalms for group of women clergy, Westboro, MA.


AUGUST 2007 

  23, Thursday, 6:00 p.m.  Ellen sings at Jazz Eucharist, Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston, MA.


APRIL 2007

    21, Saturday - 27, Friday.  Ellen leads worship and teaches on pilgrimage, Heaven on Earth:  A Conversation with Chartres about Finding Home.  Chartres, France.  Public invited.  For more information, email Rev. Kathy Musser at kathy@wellesleyvillagechurch.org.


JANUARY 2007

    7, Sunday, 7:00 p.m.  Ellen cants at Epiphany Evening Prayer.  Holy Family Parish, Concord Center. MA.  For more information, go to www.holyfamilyconcord.org.

    17, Wednesday - 26, Friday.  Ellen teaches The Transforming Power of Ritual, a graduate academic course at Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Center, MA.  For more information, go to www.ants.edu, or contact Brita Gill-Austern at BGillAus@ants.edu.


DECEMBER 2006

    Saturdays, 5:00p.m. Ellen plays piano and cants at Eucharist. Saint Isidore's Parish, 429 Great Road, (Route 117), Stow, MA.

    Sundays, 10:00a.m. Ellen directs the music at Eucharist. Church of the Immaculate Conception (Jesuit Urban Center), 775 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA.  All are welcome.  For directions, go to www.jucboston.org.

    3, 10, 17, Sundays, 7:00p.m.  Ellen cants at Advent Evening Prayer.  Holy Family Parish, Concord Center. MA.  For more information, go to www.holyfamilyconcord.org.


NOVEMBER 2006

    4, Saturday. 7:00 pm.  With Michael Burgo, Ellen conducts the Duruflé Requiem, sung by the combined choirs of Immaculate Conception and Saint Ignatius, as part of a ritual of remembrance.  Church of the Immaculate Conception (Jesuit Urban Center), 775 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA. 


JUNE 2006

    4, Sunday, 7:00p.m.  Ellens cants at Pentecost Evening Prayer.  Holy Family Parish, Concord Center, MA.  For more information, go to www.holyfamilyconcord.org.

    9, Friday, 1:30p.m. Ellen sings in For the Greater Glory of God, a dramatization with music and dance exploring the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. At the meeting of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus.

    10, Saturday.  Ellen offers a workshop in the renewal of worship at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.  Based on her collection of compositions for mediation and worship, Deep Within Deep.

    25, Sunday - 29, Thursday.  Ellen leads worship and teaches at Summer Institute in Arts and Theology at Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Center, MA. 


JULY 2005

    8, Friday, 7:00-9:30p.m., and 9, Saturday, 9:30a.m.-3:30p.m. Summer Wisdom at Play Day with Ellen Oak: High Summer in Body and Soul. Saint Isidore's Parish, 429 Great Road, (Route 117), Stow, MA. For more information about Wisdom at Play Days, click here.


JUNE 2005

    18, Saturday - 26, Sunday. Heaven On Earth: A Conversation with Chartres About Finding Home. Chartres, France. Ellen serves as liturgist, and will lead the week with Rev. Mary Luti. The pilgrimage is sponsored by the Wellesley Village Church and Labyrinth Guild of New England, and inlcudes daily worship (with a night labyrinth walk in the cathedral, and worship in the cathedral crypt); study tours of the cathredral; and immersion in the spiritual history of sacred architecture. For more information, and to register, email Kathy Musser at kathy@wellesleyvillagechurch.org.

    June 26, Sunday -July 2, Saturday. Ellen teaches, and prepares and leads daily worship, at the Andover Newton Institute for Arts and Theology, Newton, MA.


MAY 2005

    1, Sunday, 1:30-6:00p.m. Soundings and Showings: A Retreat with Julian of Norwich. Led by Ellen Oak, Mark Burrows, and Nicki Vandergrift. Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Centre, MA. Ellen is writings a series of chants and antiphons with texts by Julian for this day. For more information, please visit www.ants.edu, or email Mark Burrows at mburrows@ants.edu.


APRIL 2005

    1, Friday, 7:00-9:30p.m., and 2, Saturday, 9:30a.m.-3:30p.m. Spring Wisdom at Play Day with Ellen Oak. A Whole New World: Playing Our Way to Risen Life. Mercy Ecology Institute, Madison, CT. For more information about Wisdom at Play Days, click here. For more information about this event, and to register, email Sr. Mary Bilderback at meryeco@att.net.


MARCH 2005

    9, Wednesday, 7:00p.m. KAIROS in concert. Early chant for the fourth Sunday of Lent, and works of Lassus, Goldstein, Rorem, and the Worcester Fragments. St. James Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For more information, email Kasia Sokalla at ksokalla@aol.com.


JANUARY 2005

    7, Friday, 7:00-9:30p.m., and 8, Saturday, 9:30a.m.-3:30p.m. Winter Wisdom at Play Day with Ellen Oak: Lightness of Being. Saint Isidore's Parish, 429 Great Road, (Route 117), Stow, MA. For more information about Wisdom at Play Days, click here.

    19, Wednesday - 28, Friday. The Transformative Power of Ritual. Ellen teaches this academic course at Andover Newton Theological School, Newton, MA. For more information, go to www.ants.edu. For questions, and to register, call Judy Medeiros at 617.964.1100x228.

    22, Saturday, 9a.m.-Noon. Renewing the Heart of Worship. Ellen will teach this workshop as part of the Andover Newton Theological School Winter Festival of Arts and Theology, Newton, MA. Designed as a glimpse into the ANTS course, The Transformative Power of Ritual, this workshop explores - - through doing, reflecting, and a bit of lecture - - aspects of encounter with the divine which work together to revitalize individual prayer and communal worship. Topics include: listening, finding home, making holy, and joining primal joy. It will be most useful if several people from a congregation attend together. Please wear layers of loose, comfortable clothing, and heavy socks. For more information, go to www.ants.edu. For questions, and to register, call Judy Medeiros at 617.964.1100x228.


OCTOBER 2004

    10, Sunday, 7:00p.m. Ellen presides and preaches at Evening Prayer, Our Lady Help of Christians Parish, 55 Church Street, West Concord. Rev. Austin Fleming, cantor.

    17, Sunday, 7:00p.m. Ellen sings with her colleagues at the final Evening Prayer before the parish closes. Our Lady Help of Christians Parish. 55 Church Street, West Concord. www.olhc.org.

    30, Saturday, 9:30a.m. - 3:30p.m. Autumn Wisdom at Play Day with Ellen Oak: Playing with the Veil Between the Worlds. Memorial Congregational Church, Sudbury, CT. To view flier for this day, click here.

 


ADDITIONAL PAST EVENTS

•Director, KAIROS Vocal Ensemble, in East Meets West: An Evening of Chant, a joint concert with the St. Romanos the Melodist Choir of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

•Performer and Presenter, National Conference of Association of Benedictine Oblates and Oblate Directors.

•Retreat Director, Annual Clergy Retreat, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

•Keynote Speaker and Presenter, Ministry Enrichment Day, Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City -St. Joseph.

•Keynote Speaker and Presenter, Methodist District Celebration: Music Touches Our Hearts and Heals Our Souls.

•Liturgist, Choreogpraher, Dancer for Vespers service in celebration of the Ascension, The Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, The Temple for World Peace, World Headquarters.

•Program Guest with Ellen Kushner. Broadcast on Sound and Spirit, WGBH Public Radio.

•Performance Artist and Liturgist, Old Cambridge Baptist Church. Sunday morning worship.

•Professor, Liturgist for course in renewing worship. Sponosred by Cornerstone Institute, Andover Newton Theological School.

•Performer, Sounding the Living Light (Ellen's one-woman show about Hildegard of Bingen). Presented by First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan.

•Retreat Director, Rooted in the World Tree (retreat on Hildegard of Bingen). Presented by First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan

•Composer and Performer. Premiere performance of Let Your Love by KAIROS. Composed by Ellen Oak; Commissioned by Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School for Covenant and Community Art Exhibit Opening, Hebrew College.

•Dancer. Dance improvisation in collaboration with jazz trumpeter and bassist in response to works of art at Owning Each Other Art Exhibit. Sponsored by Andover Newton Theological School.

•Conductor, KAIROS Vocal Ensemble. Concert sponsored by Call to Action New England Annual Conference.

•Liturgist, Presenter, New England Association of United Church of Christ Educators Annual Conference.

•Liturgical Planner, Choreographer, and Dancer. Andover Newton Theological School Convocation.

•Conductor, KAIROS Vocal Ensemble, Your Spirit Fills the Earth (music of the Holy Spirit). Concert sponsored by Needham Congregational Church.

•Performer, Sounding the Living Light (Ellen's one-woman show about Hildegard of Bingen). Hosted by The Congregational Church, in cooperation with The Greenest Branch Conference on Hildegard.

•Artistic Director, Boston Women's Rainbow Chorus in concert. Holiday concert in partnership with the Boston Gay Men's Chorus.

•Conductor, KAIROS Vocal Ensemble. The Place of the Blest (concert with music for Advent). Presented by The Congregational Church of Weston.

•Conductor, KAIROS Vocal Ensemble: Celtic Praise. Presented by Grace Episcopal Church.

•Conductor, KAIROS Vocal Ensemble: Ever Ancient, Ever New: Chant Throughout the Ages. Presented by First Unitarian Church of Woonsocket.

•Conductor, KAIROS Vocal Ensemble: Singing the Divine. Presented by Risking Art, Risking Faith Conference, Center for Progressive Christianity.

•Performer, Sounding the Living Light (one-woman show about Hildegard of Bingen). Presented at Conception Abbey as part of national meeting of Benedictine Oblates and Oblate Directors.

•Performer, Sounding the Living Light (one-woman show about Hildegard of Bingen). Presented as part of retreat week: Essentials of Benedicitne Spirituality, sponsored by Trinity Conference Center (of Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York City).

•Retreat Director for women's retreat at Trinity Conference Center: Dreams and Desires - - Gifts of God for the New Millennium.



Ellen Oak creates art and worship to explore and celebrate the human experience of Spirit, and life in Christ.

She pursues an active freelance career as a singer, conductor, composer, actor, and dancer.  She mentors others in the Practice of Presence through workshops and retreats.  Oak's works include Deep Within Deep (original compositions for meditation and worship), Earth and Sky (original settings of the Psalms of Ascent), Sounding the Living Light (a one woman show about Hildegard of Bingen), Dark Angels (a spiritual journey of
healing, empowerment, and transformation); and writings on the life of the arts and the life of faith.  Current projects include She Who Is—performing a spiritual self-portrait (See painting at right.  Photo by Piper Jo Nevinslong); a podcast series of chanted prayer; and the commissioning and performance of new chamber music settings of the writings of women mystics from a variety of times, places, and traditions.

For the past 15 years, Oak has served as performer, professor, and liturgist in the Worship, Theology, and the Arts Program at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, MA.  She is cantor and pianist at Saint Isidore Parish in Stow, MA; and cantor and presider at Evening Prayer at Holy Family Parish in Concord, MA.  Oak recently completed a three year commitment as Director of Music at the Church of the Immaculate Conception (Jesuit Urban Center) in downtown Boston, MA.

Born and raised in New York City, Oak earned her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College (Phi Beta Kappa, with Distinction, and with a double major in music and religion). She studied voice, organ, and conducting privately for five years, and then began her graduate work, earning Masters degrees from the School of Music and the Divinity School at Yale University under the auspices of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Her training also includes: improvisation with Phil Porter and Cynthia Winton-Henry of InterPlay®; voice with Elizabeth Vrenios; chanting with John Blackley
and Jonathan Goldman; acting with Shakespeare & Co.; modern dance with Lenny Williams; breath and the body with Linda Puthoff, Beryl Bender Birch, and the Middendorf School; Alexander technique with Barbara Lachman; and spiritual formation with Josie Ravenwing, and the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Clyde, MO. She continues her practice of integrative mind/body/spirit disciplines on a daily basis.

Over the past twenty years, Ellen has ministered as musician, liturgist, and teacher in a variety of denominations, including United Church of Christ, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Christian Science.

From 1986 to 1990 Ellen served St. John's Seminary, Brighton, MA, as Director of Music, full-time.  From 1991 to 1995 she served Visitation Parish, Kansas City, MO, as Director of Liturgy and Music, also a full-time position. During these years, Ellen sowed the seeds for the performing, recording, and teaching career which she now pursues.

Ellen leads a Benedictine way of life with her family in a small town near Boston.