On behalf of myself and the rest of the search committee, Doug Sondgeroth (Senior Warden), Rachel Easton (Junior Warden), and Milner Seifert (Vestry Member), we are delighted to announce that beginning in August, Mr. Westley Hodges will be joining St. Mark’s staff as our Associate for Music Ministries. Westley’s first Sunday with us will be August 18 at our lakefront worship service.
Westley, a native of New Orleans, LA, currently resides in Rogers Park in Chicago. Westley is presently the Director of Music at The Annunciation of Our Lady Episcopal Church in Gurnee, IL and has served at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Long Beach, MS; St. Aiden’s Episcopal Church, Alpharetta, GA; St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, McDonough, GA; and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Peoria, IL. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Mississippi Conference on Church Music and Liturgy and is a member of the Rahabs (the music and liturgy planning team for the Diocese of Chicago). He has a passion for music composition and has been published by several publishers and often composes original music and arrangments. When he is not working in the church, he spends his time teaching piano, voice, and woodwind lessons as well as honing his musical skills. Currently, he plays clarinet in the Lakeside Pride Symphonic Band as well as often substitutes for the Lakeside Orchestra and Chicago Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Most recently he performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Finzi’s Five Bagatelles with Evanston musician, Beau Surratt.
He holds an Associate of the Arts in Music Education from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Perkinston, MS; studied Clarinet Performance at Delta State University, Cleveland, MS; earned a Bachelors of the Arts in Liberal Studies with a Minor in Women and Gender Studies at The University of Illinois Springfield, and is currently completing a Masters of the Arts in Liberal and Integrative Studies with a focus in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Outside of music, he enjoys spending time with his fabulous boyfriend, Joe, as well as his black lab, Daylie-Lark. Westley enjoys spending time in the kitchen perfecting savory and dessert recipes and enjoys spending time in the outdoors hiking and camping. For more information about Westley, visit
www.westleyhodges.com
or shoot him an email at
whodges@westleyhodges.com
. Westley will start at St. Mark’s in August and will have openings in his studio for Piano, Voice, and Woodwind lessons beginning in September. If you would like to signup for lessons with Westley, please contact him for availability in his studio.
Pastor Debra +
