Music has long been an integral part of the worshipping process, and that is no exception for one of Greenville’s oldest churches.

St. Thomas Episcopal Church will serve as host for a series of fine arts concerts for the church and community, featuring the works of both soloists and ensembles.

The first of such concerts will feature the musical stylings of Cornucopia, an ensemble of four French horn players from Montgomery.

In addition, all four members of the ensemble are members of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.

Charles Kennedy, choirmaster at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, said that this concert series is the product of many years’ worth of discussion, and getting Cornucopia to perform represents that dream coming to fruition.

“For quite a few years at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, we’ve been discussing the possibility of having a fine arts concert series in which we would feature small instrumental ensembles — soloists, organists, pianists, string quartets — just a series of music concerts with a pretty big variety,” Kennedy said.

“It would be light classical music, and maybe some jazz somewhere down the line.”

Rev. Reid McCormick of St. Thomas Episcopal Church worked with Kennedy on organizing the concert series, and added that a more conventional selection would give the Greenville community a more distinct musical experience.

“The idea is to present something a little unique and upholding of a certain musical standard,” McCormick said.

“We’re just in the early stages, but this is the first in what we hope to be a series of different kinds of musical offerings, including choral as well as instrumental concerts.  And we’re hoping to do that three to four times a year. That’s our goal.”

The fine arts concerts will take place at St. Thomas on Sunday afternoons, with the first concert beginning on May 12 at 4 p.m.

The concert is open to the public and admission is free, although tickets will be required due to the limited seating within the church.

Kennedy added that the demand for the concert might have been underestimated.

“We made the tickets available about a week ago, and we’ve already distributed a good deal of them, so I would not anticipate that we will have tickets much longer,” Kennedy said. “It seems that there is quite a bit of interest, not only on the part of our church people, but the within the community as a whole.”