As many of you know, our tenor Jeffrey Manns passed away suddenly on
Monday, September 12 at age 40. Jeff had just finished a weekend of singing with the Dallas chamber choir Vox Humana, one of the many professional choirs that cherished him - the man and the musician. The Crossing was fortunate to be among those ensembles for a number of years. Jeff was most recently heard singing in our NYC and Philadelphia performances of
Bonhoeffer; we recorded that for commercial release and are grateful that we will be able to return to his climactic aria in that work, at least as a memory, reminding us of his artistry.
Jeff's church, Aldersgate United Methodist Church - a shocked and grieving community embracing Jeff's wife Rebecca and two daughters Savannah and Gabriella - invites us all to celebrate his life in a memorial service that will include singers from local choral ensembles. The extensive list is a testament to the many, many lives Jeff touched and those who learned from him, shared with him, and relied on him: Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Saint Paul's United Methodist Church, Concord Presbyterian Church, Delaware Choral Arts, Coro Allegro, Wilmington Children's Choir, Mastersingers, Brandywine Valley Baptist Church, The Thirteen, and The Crossing.
The service information:
Sunday, November 1, 1:30pm
Aldersgate United Methodist Church
2313 Concord Pike
Wilmington, DE 19803
I wrote a blog about Jeff's passing later in the week of his death. It wasn't what I was supposed to be writing that week, it's just what I was feeling, feel now, will feel. As I often do, in doing so, I felt I was speaking for The Crossing - for the underlying ethos of our community. You can read it
here.
We will miss Jeff terribly. We are grateful that he would so generously and tirelessly share what he had to say through music during his brief time with us on Earth.
Donald
for The Crossing
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