Nick Joslin, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church’s new minister of music, will lead the church choir for the first time on Sunday at the church’s morning service and then treat church members to an afternoon of music with a 4 p.m. organ recital in the church sanctuary.

“I’m the director of music, the organist and choirmaster, but I’m also the director of the Conservatory of the Fine Arts,” Joslin said of the decision for the recital.

“I know seeing someone do this kind of music just kind of woke me up when I was a kid to the fact that people do this. I guess it really inspired me; seeing people do recitals like this,” he added. “My goal in doing this is to kind of kick start the conservatory; draw some attention there and then hopefully inspire someone to take lessons themselves.”

During the recital, Joslin will perform selections from British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose work includes operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions, short preludes and fugues by Bach and Suite Gothique, a suite for organ composed by Léon Boëllmann in 1895 and a set of spirituals arranged by composer Marianne Kim.

“These are old, traditional spirituals,” he said. “‘Fix Me, Jesus,’ ‘Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley’ and ‘My Lord, What a Morning.’”

Joslin is a graduate of William Carey University in Hattiesburg with a degree in piano and vocal and has master’s degrees in choral conducting and collaborative piano from the University of Southern Mississippi.

In a March 26 story in The Vicksburg Post about his position at Holy Trinity, Joslin said the desire to go into music ministry went back to his childhood.

“My mother always took me to church and had me in church,” he said. “So, it just kind of, for me, made sense. It was what I felt led to and what I felt called to do and it connects me with people. I love to work with people and it allows me to do that.”

When he told his pastor about his decision, Joslin said, the pastor’s wife gave him free piano lessons. His interest in going to Holy Trinity was sparked by a friend who was a co-director of music at his church.

“He said someone who is in his choir in Jackson knew that this posting was available and he encouraged me to apply so I did,” Joslin said. “I went up to Vicksburg and interviewed and applied and was just so impressed with the beauty of the church and how well they take care of the instruments.”

A Southern Baptist, Joslin said retiring choir director Dorothy Brasfield not only taught him about the Episcopal service, “but she’s been really kind to help me get to know Vicksburg and to help me get to know the other arts organizations and how they relate to one another and work together there.”

Brasfield, he added, “Has been wonderful and very thorough. She’s made sure that I haven’t been left with unanswered questions and there are a lot of things that I don’t know. I walked in ready to learn, but you know, there were things that I didn’t even know I would need to hear about.”