INDIANAPOLIS, March 21 — In addition to a Good Friday service at noon on April 7, North United Methodist Church will offer Franz Liszt’s “Via Crucis” (The Way of the Cross) that evening at 7:30 p.m.

The public is encouraged to attend this special event at the church, which is located at 3808 North Meridian Street. The service will also be livestreamed on North Church’s YouTube channel, which is easily accessed 24/7 from the home page of its website at NorthChurchIndy.com. Admission is free, but a freewill offering will be collected.

"Via Crucis" is a musical setting of the 14 Stations of the Cross. North Church’s main choir, the Cathedral Singers, and organist Heather Hinton will be under the direction of Mark Gilgallon, the church’s director of music. Amy Cuomo, Chad Barton, and Ron Berry will be soloists. All are Indianapolis residents except for Cuomo, who lives in Carmel, Ind.

The Stations of the Cross commemorate Jesus’s passion and death on the cross, which is observed by Christians around the world on Good Friday as the ultimate sacrifice for their sins. They celebrate his resurrection two days later on Easter Sunday, heralding Jesus’s victory over sin and death and the promise of a future resurrection for all who believe in him.

Liszt (1811-1886) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and teacher of the Romantic period. He is considered to be one of the most prolific and influential composers of his era, and one of the greatest pianists of all time. He wrote “Via Crucis” in 1878 and 1879. He did not live to see it performed, as it didn’t premier until Good Friday in 1929 in Budapest, Hungary.

Liszt uses two Latin hymns and two German chorales with his own harmonizations. The opening chorus uses the first Latin hymn, “Vexilla regis.” Of the 14 stations, half are scored for solo organ, and the rest for solo voices and chorus.

Since the piece relies heavily on solo organ, Hinton will play a key role. She has been the organist at North since 2014, and additionally serves as instructor of organ at Butler University. As the winner of the 1996 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance of the American Guild of Organists, she has enjoyed a diverse career as a church and concert organist, choral accompanist, and freelance musician. Holding a doctor of musical arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, Hinton has performed in concerts extensively throughout the United States and has appeared as a guest artist with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She has also been a featured soloist on the American Public Media program “Pipedreams,” and the WFYI Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra broadcasts. She is the primary organist for North’s worship services, weddings, and funerals, and is also the accompanist for the Cathedral Singers and the Voices in Accord ensemble.

The organ in the sanctuary of North UMC was built by the W.W. Kimball Company of Chicago in 1931 as a four-manual, 36-rank pipe organ. It also has an echo organ at the back of the sanctuary, the Lee L. and Jessie Murphy Welker Memorial Organ, which was built by the E.H. Holloway Corp. in the early 1960s. It has its own two-manual-and-pedal console, but it’s also electrically connected to the main console as an antiphonal division. All of the original Kimball pipework is intact and unaltered, but significant additions to the chancel (front) organ were made in 1972-1973 by the Holloway Corp. to provide more tonal variety, brilliance, and clarity. At the same time a new console was installed to enable more flexible control of the greatly enlarged organ.

The fanfare trumpet stop, horizontal copper pipes at the back of the sanctuary, was supplied in 1986 by Goulding and Wood, Inc., of Indianapolis, which also made some improvements to the main console. In 2001 the congregation engaged Reynolds Associates, Inc., of Marion, Ind., to undertake a thorough renovation of the entire instrument, both chancel and gallery. The electrical system was replaced with solid-state circuitry and new magnets, the windchests were releathered and renovated, the pipework was cleaned and regulated, both consoles were completely rebuilt, several new ranks of pipes were installed, the wind-distribution system was revised, and other improvements were made. Today it is a four-manual, 76-rank pipe organ with 4,542 pipes.

Following the somber Good Friday service, North Church will celebrate Easter Sunday on April 9 with worship services at 8:30 and 11 a.m. Its 11 a.m. services are livestreamed on its YouTube channel.

Other special, free musical events coming up at North United Methodist Church include:

* Purdue Bells and North UMC’s Cathedral Ringers concert, 3 p.m., Sunday, April 16.

* Songs for World Peace, 11 a.m., Sunday, May 21. With the church’s continued prayers for God’s intervention in Ukraine, the Cathedral Singers will lead worship accompanied by an orchestra with selections from Haydn’s “Mass in Time of War.” Two other selections will be presented: Craig Courtney’s “Ukrainian Alleluia,” and John Rutter’s “A Ukrainian Prayer.”

* The Theology of Singing” presented by the Hamilton Series, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 11-12. Jeremy Begbie of the Duke Divinity School/Cambridge University will present a lecture and sermons on what happens spiritually as we sing, and singing’s significance for understanding God. Two brand-new compositions commissioned by the Hamilton Series will also make their world premieres.

About North United Methodist Church:

North UMC is located at 3808 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis. Learn more at www.northchurchindy.com. Its Sunday morning services are held at 8:30 and 11 a.m. The 11 a.m. services are livestreamed on the church’s YouTube channel. The livestream can be accessed easily through a box on the home page of the church’s website at NorthChurchIndy.com.