2009 Noontime Summer Organ Concert Series
It’s that time of year again! Come and enjoy outstanding organ repertoire performed by brilliant artists at Philadelphia Cathedral.
Philadelphia Cathedral is delighted to announce its 2009 Summer Noonday Organ Concert Series. The Cathedral is committed to enriching and enhancing the cultural life in the city of Philadelphia, the surrounding region and especially in our own West Philadelphia community.
The concerts will take place each Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. beginning on July 8 and continuing through August 12th. Bring a brown bag lunch, find your own special place in the Cathedral and enjoy the wonderful music in our air-conditioned sanctuary.
This is the fourth year for offering this series and it continues to grow in popularity among those of all ages. The Summer Organ Concert series provides a unique opportunity for talented musicians from our region as well as from around the country and the world to share their gifts as they perform on the Cathedral’s 1907 Austin pipe organ. We look forward to seeing you. * Free will offering.*
12:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 8, Riyehee Hong
PROGRAM
No 2 “Requiem pour les morts de l’espace” from Sagas** **
Jean Guillos (b. 1930)
Dyptique from Purificatio BMV from L’Orgue Mystique ** Charles Marie Tournemire (1870-1939)
Scherzo Symphonique Improvisation
transcribed by Jeremy Filsell (b. 1964)
Pierre Cochereau (1924-1984)
Fugue from Prelude and Fugue in the name of Alain
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
Dr. Riyehee Hong is Director of Music and the Arts at Philadelphia Cathedral where she oversees all music and art programs as well as all the liturgies at the Cathedral and the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. She is also Artistic Director of the LeClair Ensemble, a group focused on 17th and 18th century French chamber music. Dr Hong is also a recitalist and has performed numerous concerts in the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, and France. As a scholar, her article Lasceux, Bedos et Le Livre d’orgue de Michigan (1771-1772) has been included in Cahiers d’Artes consacré à Dom François Bedos de Celles, no. 2, 2006, Miche de Montaigne University France, and her study and edition of a hitherto unattributed 18th-century manuscript has been accepted for publication by Wayne Leupold Editions. Recently a paper on “New source for French Post-Classical organ registration” was presented at the Keyboard Music and Colonial Philadelphia Conference in March at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA, and a lecture on “Journal de pieces d’orgue – Newly discovered organ music of Guillaume Lasceux” was presented at Colloque International Conferences at Bordeaux, France for the 300th anniversary of Dom Bedos de Celles. She holds a DMA from the Moores School of Music, the University of Houston where she was a lecturer in Music History and Music Theory. She holds a Master of Music degree from Boston University and was the Associate University Organist at Marsh Chapel where the services were broadcasted on WBGH radio. She also has a M. Div. from Hanshin University focused on Liturgy and Music, and a B. Th. in Social Ethics from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.
12:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 15- Jeffrey B. Fowler
PROGRAM
Fantasy in f minor (Ein Orgelstück für eine Uhr), K.608
W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Organ Sonata No. 6 in d minor, Op. 65
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
I. Chorale and Variations: Andante sostenuto
II. Allegro molto
III. Fuga
IV. Finale: Andante
Apparition de l’Eglise Eternelle Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Dr. Jeffrey B. Fowler has been working as a church musician in the Philadelphia and Detroit metropolitan areas since 1970. Jeff grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and received his undergraduate degree from West Chester University in Pennsylvania in 1971. In the 1980s, he moved to Michigan where in 1991, he was awarded the degree Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. At Michigan he studied under and worked as teaching assistant to University Organist, Marilyn Mason, and was awarded the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship and the David McK. Williams Scholarship. Jeff has been the Minister of Music at Wayne Presbyterian Church since 1992, during which time the music program has grown from about 150 participants in six choirs to over 500 participants in ten choirs. The oratorio choir has performed fifty major works under his direction since their reorganization in 1992. He is also adjunct faculty at Eastern University in St. Davids where he teaches organ. He has performed for audiences in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, as well as for Sunday High Mass at the Vatican. the Kimmel Center.
12:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 22 – Ahreum Han
PROGRAM
Te Deum, Op 11
Jeanne Demessieux ( 1921-1968)
Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Clair de Lune, from Piece de fantasie, Op. 53, No.5
Louis Vierne (1870 -1937)
Impromtu, from Piece de fantasie, Op 54, No.2
Louis Vierne (1870 -1937)
Carillon de Westminster, Op.54, No. 6
Louis Vierne (1870 -1937)
Fantasy in F minor, KV594
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Hamburg Totentanz
Guy Bovet (b. 1942)
Choral Fantasy on “Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme”
Max Reger (1873-1916)
Ahreum Han was born in Seoul, Korea. In her ninth grade, her family immigrated to Atlanta, GA. She graduated with a bachelor degree in organ performance from Westminster Choir College, where she studied with Ken Cowan. In May 2007, she graduated with an artist’s diploma from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music where she studied as a full scholarship student of Alan Morrison.
Ms. Han is active as organ soloist. She has performed with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the University of Pennsylvania Orchestra at Irvine Auditorium, as well as solo performances at the Kimmel Center’s widely-acclaimed Cooper Memorial Organ, Ocean Grove Auditorium, St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City, Trinity Church at Wall Street, St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta, Jack Singer Hall in Calgary and the Princeton University Chapel etc. In May 2009, she graduated with a Master degree in organ performance from Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she studied as a full scholarship student of Thomas Murray. She also served as an organist at Marquand Chapel of Yale Divinity School and the Berkeley Divinity School of Yale University. She is currently the organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Stamford, CT.
12:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 29 – Leah Kim, Violin, Riyehee Hong, Organ
PROGRAM
The Lark Ascending
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Tzigand, - Rapsodie de concert
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Violinist Kyoungwoon Leah Kim, former associate concertmaster of the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra (Korea), has won numerous competitions, awards and recognition as a soloist: including a live broadcast on WQXR (New York Times Radio Station) for the Young Artist Program with Paganini Concerto no2, and a feature article in STRAD Asia. Ms. Kim was finalist at Jean Francaix International Competition in Paris, and winner of Music Teacher’s National Association Competition as well as achieving the highest score (200 points) ever received in the history of New York State School of Music Association competition. Ms. Kim has performed as soloist with the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, Pusan Symphony Orchestra (S.Korea), Long Island Symphony, and in Seoul Arts Center, Pusan Arts Center (S.Korea),Osaka Philharmonic Hall (Japan), Lincoln Center, Steinway recital hall in New York.
Since Ms. Kim has moved to Philadelphia she has been a concertmaster for Philadelphia Camerata, and a guest concertmaster for Pottstown Symphony. She spends most her time as an artist in residence / adjunct faculty of Temple University, West Chester University, Eastern University, Lehigh Performing Arts High School and West Catholic Conservatory. Ms. Kim is the Music director for the Rebecca Davis Dance Company and an Artistic director of Philadelphia Camerata.
12:30 p.m., Wednesday, August 5 – Paul Fejko
PROGRAM
Prelude and Fugue in C minor BWV 537
J. S. Bach (1685- 1750)
Organ Sonata No. 4 in B flat Major
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Chorale in A Major
César Franck (1822-1890)
If it has something to do with musical performance, Paul Fejko probably does it. Paul was accepted into Curtis Music School at the tender age of 14. He graduated in 1975 and went on to achieve international renown as a composer and performer. His greatest influences while at Curtis were Alexander McCurdy, Rudolf Serkin, Dino Yanopoulos and Max Rudolf. He has worked with Maurice Bejart’s Ballet of the Twentieth Century in Brussels, Belgium and was Music Director of the Ballet of Lyon, France.
Presently, in addition to being Music Director of Gloria Dei, he is the Music and Technical Director of the Southern New Jersey Academy of the Performing Arts. He also collaborates with numerous theater and dance groups in Philadelphia and New York City.
12:30 p.m., Wednesday, August 12 – Four Hands/Four Feet
Max Kenworthy & Nicholas Grigsby
PROGRAM
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
Sonata for Two Organists
Gustav Merkel (1827-1885)
Ride of the Valkyries
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
A native of Yorkshire, England, Max Kenworthy is a freelance organist, pianist, singer and choral conductor based in London. He began his musical career as a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London and later studied music at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was also organ scholar. In 2002 Max was appointed Assistant Director of Music at Wellington Cathedral, a post he held for five years before going freelance. During this time he rekindled his interest in jazz by forming a jazz trio who specialised in jazz arrangements of the music of J.S. Bach. Max has made several recordings and has also worked as a concert reviewer and contributor for Radio New Zealand, most recently writing and presenting a programme on the organ works of Messiaen.
Nicholas Grigsby is a New Zealand based concert organist, harpsichordist, broadcaster and academic. He is currently completing a PhD thesis on the earliest aspects of the life of Johann Sebastian Bach, for which in 2008, he was awarded a Visiting Fellowship by Harvard University. During 2009, he will present recitals and lectures in the USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. For the past six years he has regularly presented a range of work on the National Radio network Concert programme in New Zealand. This year, projects have included profiles on composers Roxanna Panufnik and Thomas Adès, as well as an upcoming sequence of interviews with a range of contemporary New Zealand musical personalities. He and his wife Fenella manage a small farm in South Taranaki, on New Zealand’s North Island.
About the Four Hands/Four Feet Concert Tour
Max and Nicholas gave their first organ duet recital together at the Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul, New Zealand, in May 2004. Initially an experiment, the success of this recital led to numerous further performances and a greatly expanded repertoire encompassing the sphere of organ duets, including transcriptions and works specifically conceived for the idiom. They have toured extensively, and their 2008 international tour took them to New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, France, Germany and the UK including concerts at Melbourne Town Hall, The Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Lincoln Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
For more information, please call 215.386.0234, ext 104.
10 Jun, 2009 — Daniel Tomko
