Choir Sunday at Union Chapel; Father DeSanctis to preach

The Union Chapel Summer Choir has performed on the first Sunday in August for more than 20 years. Anyone in the Shelter Island community is invited to participate. 

The rehearsal will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 5 at Union Chapel. This year the choir will be performing “Trumpets Sound Forth” by Henry Purcell and “May the Road Rise Up To Meet You” by Robert Lau, under the direction of Linda Betjeman, chapel organist and music director.

Father Peter DeSanctis, pastor of Our Lady of the Isle on Shelter Island, will preach. His sermon is titled, “The One Who Sings — Prays Twice (St. Augustine).” Father Peter is the son of the late Peter L. and Gloria M. DeSanctis of Shelter Island. The DeSanctis family has made its home on the East End for five generations. Father Peter served Our Lady of the Isle on a part-time basis for over 30 years and was officially named pastor in June 2011.

Prior to taking his current role, Father Peter served as Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in Bayside. He is an active member of the Shelter Island Fire Department, the American Legion, and the Lions Club. Father Peter also serves as an advisor to various ecumenical youth and senior citizen groups on Shelter Island as well as the Island Gift of Life Foundation.

Ms. Betjeman is celebrating her 25th year as organist and choir director for Union Chapel. In addition, she has been Shelter Island Presbyterian Church’s minister of music since 2007. She is also the director of the Shelter Island Community Chorus.

She is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music, New York City, where she received a master’s in organ performance and choral conducting. During her 50-year career in church music she has served in congregations in Manhattan, Westchester County and Long Island.

Ms. Betjeman has been a recitalist at concert series in Manhattan, Westchester, and Rockland counties, and has performed as a soloist in England and Italy (including St. Peter’s in Rome).

She has been a keyboard soloist (organ, harpsichord, piano) with the Broadway Bach Ensemble of Manhattan and has performed with the Chappaqua Chamber Orchestra and Mimosa Chamber Ensemble of Manhattan.

Additionally, she has been the accompanist for Taghkanic Chorale and Tri-County Opera of northern Westchester and has taught on the music faculty of the Walden-Lincoln and Trevor Day School in New York City as well as the Riverdale Country School and Sarah Lawrence College.