June 18, 2015
Steven Egler, professor of music at Central Michigan University, will perform a recital on the refurbished organ at First Christian Church, Dixon, Illinois, on July 12 at 2 p.m. to mark his 50 years as a church musician. Egler’s first position was as assistant organist at this church.
He has commissioned a work by C.M.U. composer David Gillingham in honor and memory of Jane Weaver, Egler’s high-school guidance counselor and member of the church, and President Ronald Reagan, who attended the church during his boyhood years in Dixon. The work, “Laeta Memoria” (Joyful Recollection) incorporates the vowels of both names—Reagan and Weaver—as thematic and harmonic material.
Paul McNamara and Company carried out the refurbishment of the organ.
