Welcome to our Spotlight series, a place for our Member Publishers to connect with our License Holders, share new works, and offer updates on their catalogs. Interested in reading more from our Spotlight series? Visit this link! 

An interview with Bryan Sharpe, Director of Church Publications

K: We are thrilled to have you as a Member Publisher! What areas of ministry can be supported by your music? What denominations or groups look to you for music? Are there ecumenical options for interfaith communities?

B: With the mission of providing practical service music to the local church, Lorenz offers a broad range of titles for church choirs, keyboardists, and handbell ensembles. Within those categories, a broad stylistic range is also present to fit the needs of choirs from many denominations, musical traditions, and church sizes. Our catalog features scripturally based original music, diverse hymn settings spanning all denominational traditions, and arrangements of contemporary Christian songs for both large and small choirs. This range is represented in our active publishing imprints, Lorenz Publishing Company, Medallion Music, and The Sacred Music Press.

K: What new collections or favorite pieces should our License Holders be looking forward to this spring and summer? Any Pentecost or Ordinary Time suggestions? 

B: There are always so many favorites that it is tough to choose, but the first few that come to mind are “Lord of All Hopefulness” (10/5491L) and “Christ Is Risen, Sing Alleluia!” (10/5445L), both by Lloyd Larson; “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty” by Molly Ijames (10/5485L); Stan Pethel’s “Gathered in God’s Love” (10/5466L); and Pepper Choplin’s “Heal Our Land” (10/5563L). We also have a new collection, Sunday Solutions for SAB Choirs (45/1639L), that’s ideal for smaller choirs or those who can’t rehearse as frequently. It includes 11 non-seasonal anthems by Tom Fettke, Victor Johnson, Marty Parks, and other familiar names.

A note for our License Holders: The following titles are choral anthems, so they are unavailable for reprint; however, they can be used with our Podcast / Streaming License options: “Lord of All Hopefulness” (Song ID 1142960), “Christ Is Risen, Sing Alleluia!” (Song ID 1129183), “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty” (Song ID 1142957), “Gathered in God’s Love” (Song ID 1142942), and “Heal Our Land” (Song ID 1157225). 

K: We know that you recently added a significant number of new titles to our database, around 49,000 titles, in fact! What top titles can our License Holders now bring to their congregations? 

B: Peter Scholtes’s “They’ll Know We Are Christians” is our best-known copyright. Bob Kilpatrick’s “Lord, Be Glorified” is another very popular song. Some of our bestselling anthems across the last decade are:

“The Yearning” by Craig Courtney (10/4171L)
“Only God” by Mary McDonald (10/4223L)
“Hold On to the Rock” by Pepper Choplin (10/4568L)
“Jesus Is the Living Stone” by Mary McDonald (10/3977L)
“Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal” by Mark Hayes (10/4273L)
“I Will Rise” by Mary McDonald (10/4062L)
“Noel Festival” by Lloyd Larson (10/4156L)
“One Faith, One Hope, One Lord” by Craig Courtney (10/3873L)
“Bring Us Hope” by Ruth Elaine Schram (10/4871L)

These product numbers are for the SATB edition, but most of these anthems have SAB editions as well.

A note for our License Holders: The following titles are choral anthems, so they are unavailable for reprint; however, they can be used with our Podcast / Streaming License options: “The Yearning” (Song ID 1009567), “Only God” (Song ID 1044308), “Hold on to the Rock” (Song ID 1045366), “Jesus Is the Living Stone” (Song ID 1029003), “Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal” (Song ID 1009430), “I Will Rise” (Song ID 113364), “Noel Festival” (Song ID 1009178), “One Faith, One Hope, One Lord” (Song ID 979637), and “Bring Us Hope” (Song ID 1046113). 

K: What can our License Holders look forward to from you in the year to come? What other projects would you like our License Holders to know about?

B: We have an incredible slate of new keyboard collections for the Fall and Christmas season by Lloyd Larson, Brad Nix, Jay Rouse, Mary McDonald, Pepper Choplin, and others. We have released some special vocal solo titles—Pepper Choplin’s Heal Our Land (e80/1108L) and Mary McDonald’s Now and Forevermore, a collection of 8 of Mary’s popular anthems arranged for solo voice (30/3874L). Our newest Fall choral release is full of outstanding new anthems, fresh carol arrangements, and a slate of remarkable cantatas from our top writers. You won’t want to miss those! Our newest cantatas for Christmas include The Road to Bethlehem (Larson), Festival of Christmas (McDonald), The Seven Noels (Choplin), and When We Needed a King (Rouse, Vader, Aspinall).

A note for our License Holders: The following titles are vocal solos, choral anthems, or choral cantatas, so they are unavailable for reprint; however, they can be used with our Podcast / Streaming License options: “Heal Our Land” (Song ID 1157225); each of Mary McDonald’s anthems and vocal solos from the Now and Forevermore collection can be found in the ONE LICENSE database when searching by title, The Road to Bethlehem (Song ID 1143001); the three additional Christmas titles included here will be available in the ONE LICENSE catalog soon!

K: Anything else you would like to share with us?

B: Be sure to revisit our latest releases that you may have missed in the past year. There is surely something for every church choir. We thank you for continuing to support Lorenz’s mission to provide musical resources to the church. In a time when we’ve been able to reflect on the importance of worshipping as a community, staying dedicated to our mission is more important than ever!

Lorenz Pub. Co. is the eponymous and founding imprint of The Lorenz Corp. Based in Dayton, Ohio, their mission is to discover, develop, and deliver publications that worship musicians and music educators use to inspire their communities. You can find out more about this ONE LICENSE Member Publisher at www.lorenz.com. 

Featured image photo copyright information: Photo by Caio. This image is available for download at www.pexels.com.