Tim Benson, Music Ministry Director

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has long regarded music to be an integral part of its liturgical expression. For years, the church maintained a choir of men and boys who sang regularly at services.

The focus changed in the latter half of the twentieth century to an adult choir of professional and highly skilled amateur singers, with a reputation for high standards and beautiful music making drawn from the Anglican heritage. They sing regularly at the Sunday Eucharist, Seasonal Evensongs and special performances throughout the year.

Voices for Life is a two-tiered, non-denominational choral music program for children and youth between eight and eighteen. It is sponsored by St. Paul’s Church. Young people from the congregation and the greater metropolitan community, who are looking for opportunities to develop their musical and choral skills and wish to participate in the performance of great choral literature, both in religious and in secular setting are invited to join.

Children in grades three through six sing in the Tower Ensemble and those in grades seven through twelve in the St. Paul’s Youth Choral.  Both groups rehearse on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 7:30PM at St. Paul’s Church.

Tim Benson, St. Paul’s Music Ministry Director and Assistant Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, is the director of the Youth Choral and Charyl Granatella, a retired music teacher, directs the Tower Ensemble.

The Organ at St. Paul’s is the culmination of additional work over the years from the original. It is divided into two main divisions, the front organ and the antiphonal organ, consisting of approximately 80 ranks with a console of five manuals. The preeminent American organ company Hook and Hastings built the original organ in the late nineteenth century.

St. Paul’s Music Ministry Director

On May 3, Timothy J. Benson, St. Paul’s new Music Ministry Director, was introduced to the Congregation.

Before coming to St. Paul’s, Tim served as Director of Music/Organist and Liturgy at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Brookfield, and he has been the Assistant Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Chorus since 1996.

Tim has two master’s degrees, one in Orchestral and Choral Conducting from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Milwaukee, and the other in Composition (music) from Cambridge University, King’s College, Cambridge, England. He also has a B.A. degree in Education from Marquette University. His professional memberships include the American Guild of Organists, Royal College of Organists (UK), American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America and Who’s Who in American Music.