Story, photos, and videos by the Rev. Dr. Pamela Stevens
At St. Peter’s in Redwood City, Advent 4 worship and observance continued throughout the longest night of the year, offering the first lights of Christmas in the bleak midwinter. A concert in the sanctuary by the Stellamos Youth Chorus titled “In Winter’s House” concluded with a stunning encore at which Stellamos alumni were invited to participate. The reception afterward featured an impromptu barbershop performance, as well as a bake sale in the parish hall, at which the cake pops the youth had made before were a hot seller. The evening concluded with candle-lit caroling in the neighborhood around St. Peter’s, calling people to the holiness of Advent hope.
Stellamos Youth Chorus is a collaboration between St. Peter’s and local youth choral singers of all faith traditions who seek a space to self-conduct, compose, and perform sacred choral music, and also to offer music as a source of hope for underserved children and youth.
The collaboration with St. Peter’s and the development of Stellamos both came about when the parish called its new rector, the Rev. Dr. Pamela Stevens, who has a deep love for choral music as well as youth ministry. The parish Vital & Thriving team, after years of discernment, supported this life-giving collaboration and is working to extend music and ministry collaborations to include the Spanish-speaking DioCal specialized mission El Buen Pastor and the Tongan-speaking congregation in the SKTT denomination, which both worship at St. Peter’s.
Stellamos Youth Chorus offers music at St. Peter’s at worship services, including Sunday services, a Good Friday Tenebrae service that the youth organize (nicknamed “Teen-e-brae), and the Christmas Eve service, which joins together the three congregations that worship at St. Peter’s. In July, Stellamos, which is youth-led, youth-conducted, and youth-organized, collaborated with St. Peter’s and local Episcopal churches on the island of Kaua’i to offer youth-on-youth music theory instruction in a custom curriculum created by the Stellamos singers, children without access to formal musical instruction. Stellamos then performed with the local children at benefit concerts around the island to help raise money for music programs. Proceeds from the Advent 4 concert will go toward the continuation of this project in the summer of 2026.
