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NHAGO Programming Committee gives a sneak preview at the upcoming year!!! 2009 - 2010 Though there are holes to be filled in and concerts to be announced, Nick Girgus has kindly provided this "short" version of the 2009 - 2010 NHAGO program year for this issue of "The Cypher". More details shall be forthcoming in future issues. - Ed. ORGAN CRAWL "ABOVE THE NOTCHES" -Susan Ferre, host. Sunday, 20 September, 2009 beginning at 3 pm. Visit the Chapel Arts Center in Gorham, NH; St. Kieran's Art Center in Berlin and the Patricia Dunn Residence in Jackson. ORGAN "SPOOKTACULAR' MEMBERS RECITAL - Mark Frazier, host. Friday evening, 30 October. South Congregational Church, Concord, NH. PEDALS, PIPES and PIZZA - David L. Wold, host and presenter. Saturday, 7 November at 10 am. Rye Congregational Church, Rye, NH. Lecture/Demonstration on piano and pipe organ. Program designed for students and all interested adults. Free pizza at conclusion! MUSICIANS AND MINISTERS: SWEET HARMONY OR SPIRITED COUNTERPOINT? - Lecture/workshop by NHAGO Chaplain Celeste A. Hemingson. Sunday, 10 January, 2010 at 4 pm. Site TBA. FEBRUARY - TBA. MARCH - TBA. ANNUAL MEETING AND DINNER. Sunday, 23 May at 4 pm at a restaurant TBD. One-hour lecture/slide show by Greg Bover, Project Manager for C.B. Fisk Co., on the historic installation of the Opus 120 pipe organ at the Lausanne Cathedral. "Best Lecture of the Year", AGO, Utica, NH. A Letter From Our Dean Welcome summer, at last!! (Of course, it shall be departing in the not too distant future . . . On June 23 Nick Girgus, Lois Thurston and I took a trip to the Portland Center for Assisted living, where we had arranged to visit Doug Rafter, our honoree at the annual meeting. He was waiting for us and had reserved a room for our visit, as his bedroom had only 1 chair. After visiting a while we presented him with his plaque, honoring him as our founder and former Dean. Then it was off to Merrill Auditorium to hear Peter Richard Conte, after enjoying our tail-gate picnic! A great day all around! The very next day, a number of us had the pleasure of hearing our own Colin Lynch perform a delightful recital of French organ music at Methuen. What a summer he has had and still is having! The Boston Regional Convention was next, where lots of rain didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for a fantastic 3 days of music, education, and social revelry. When Colin Lynch returns from his teaching trip to England, we expect he will write a final POE Corner about a most wonderful, glorious week! Liz Black P.S. This month, I asked Mark to put Colin’s picture in place of my own - his recital at Methuen was marvelous!
My week at POE was the best week of my life! I really liked going to so many concerts and seeing so many churches and organs. Each one was so amazingly unique and it was so exciting being able to see them all! My favorite organs by far were the ones at St. Paul’s School in Concord , and the organ at The Mother Church in Boston . I played the one at St. Paul’s School, which has the biggest organ in all of New Hampshire , and it was a very exciting experience. I also loved the concert that Chelsea Chen gave at St. Paul‘s School. My favorite piece of hers was her Super Mario Fantasia! I know everyone enjoyed that piece. Aside from that, her Taiwanese Suite was incredible. Hers and all the other concerts were such an awesome part of going to camp! The daily lessons and periodic workshops and classes were very important. Without them, I would not have moved so far forward with my organ learning in such a short amount of time. My teacher, Carolyn Skelton, helped me a lot with fingering. Also, Colin Lynch’s workshop on practice habits was very helpful. One of my favorite parts of the week was our outing to Boston . The churches there were incredible, and it was very fun to also have a history lesson while walking the Freedom Trail. Another fun part of the week was the student piano recital. It was very nice to get to hear the other students and what kind of music they like to play. I would have never gotten to do any of this amazing stuff if I hadn’t gone to this Pipe Organ Encounter. I am so glad that I went! I will most definitely be going to one next year." Sincerely, --Rachel Fairfield
Upcoming Events Big Moose Mini-Bach Festival!!!
The first ever Big Moose Mini-Bach Festival will begin on Labor Day Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September 5 and 6, consisting of four concerts, featuring one of the country's best Bach interpreters, Christa Rakich. Miss Rakich ( www.iconcertartists.com) will play two featured solo recitals, one using organ, harpsichord and clavichord, the other, the famous Goldberg Variations played on her own French double harpsichord. Her most recent CD release of the works of Bach (Trio Sonatas and Preludes, Loft LRCD-1102-03, 2 discs) has won critical praise. "Christa Rakich's new recording of the Six Trio Sonatas of Bach is remarkable for its variety, ingenuity, elegance, and scholarship....Adding to that the precision, clarity, and vitality of the playing, there is every reason to welcome this outstanding recording to the Bach discography." (Robert Fertitta, The Amercian Organist, July 2009) She recently performed as a return featured artist at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists.In addition to the solo recitals, Miss Rakich will team up with Susan Ferre for a performance of the Concerto for two harpsichords in C Major. She and Miss Ferre will play on the chamber music programs as well. Also featured will be William Rees, playing Baroque flute, and Charles Lang, playing viola da gamba and violoncello, both founding members of the Texas Baroque Ensemble. A wide variety of instruments will be used on the chamber music programs, which will highlight some of the superb solo writing by Bach. Concerts will be offered in Gorham, Berlin and in Randolph. The Festival will begin on Saturday with two concerts at Chapel Arts New England in Gorham (across from the Town Common, intersection of Rts. 2 and 16 south), on Sunday afternoon at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Berlin (on Main and High streets), and ending Sunday evening at the little white church on Rt. 2 in Randolph, the historic Randolph Church. Afternoon concerts begin at 4 pm, evening events at 7:30 pm. Following the closing recital at the Randolph Church at 9:30 pm a unique Compline service will be offered by area residents. Popular around the country the historic service is completely sung and chanted in candlelight, closing the day in a quiet celebration. This closing event is free. Tickets to the Big Moose Mini-Bach Festival can be purchased at the door: $12 for single events, $6 for students, and passes for all four concerts at $38. The festival is sponsored by Music In the Great North Woods, a newly formed non-profit organization which promotes concerts in the North country.
Union Congregational Church in Groton, MA The Union Congregational Church is pleased to announce the rededication of it's unusual and unaltered 3-manual 1932 Estey (Op. 3040) by John Weaver. The 42 rank organ complete with full Echo Division was recently restored by Andover Organ Company.The concert will take place Sunday, September 20 at 3:00PM at Union Church, 218 Main St., Groton, MA (978-448-2091). Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, proceeds going toward the restoration fund. Come hear a world-class organist play a truly fine historic instrument.
Unique Opportunity for an NHAGO Radio Program, "Pipe Up!" Dear members of the NHAGO - we have a unique opportunity to share the music of our instrument with the greater public through the medium of radio. WKXL 1450 in Concord would like to add an organ program to its lineup of locally produced radio shows. This is a great opportunity seeing that many areas are discontinuing NPR’s "Pipedreams" for simply business and/or financial reasons. This program will be far more significant if a lot of NHAGO members step up to the plate and assist in its production. It would quite likely be unique throughout the national organization to have a chapter behind the creation of an organ radio broadcast. All that is needed is for members to pick a favorite organ recording and assist in recording announcements for each piece presented. Approximately 34 - 37 minutes of music is needed along with spoken announcements to fill the 44 minutes required for an hour of commercial radio time. Mark Frazier will assist those in the actual recording and preparing for broadcast. Please let him know which recording you would like to hear broadcast, and make arrangements with him for about 30 minutes to an hour of your time to record the spoken parts!
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Week at POE - Rachel Fairfield
