February 17–18, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Music in the Black Church: A Kaleidoscope of Colors is a free 2-day Black History Month event sponsored by the American Guild of Organists Ann Arbor Chapter, the American Center for Church Music, Willis C. Patterson Our Own Thing Chorale (WCPOOTC), Virginia Sory Brown, and the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor.
Balint Karosi demonstrates the Klais / Fisk organ at Saint Peter’s Church, New York City.
Performed on the Aeolian organ at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania: four manuals, 146 ranks, and 10,010 pipes.
Bryan Anderson is the 2023 First Prize Winner of the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, where he also received the Philadelphia AGO Chapter Prize for the best performance of a prescribed work by the judges. He also took prizes at the 2021 Canadian International Organ Competition and the 2019 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, and is a past first-prize winner of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition.
July 15–19 in Haarlem, the Netherlands
The 55th Haarlem International Improvisation Competition will take place July 15–19 in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
Bryan Anderson plays Live Wire by Iain Farrington.
Performed on the Aeolian organ at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania: four manuals, 146 ranks, and 10,010 pipes.
THE DIAPASON is accepting nominations for its third Gruenstein Award to honor S. E. Gruenstein, founder and first editor of THE DIAPASON, which commenced publication in December 1909. For the journal’s 110th anniversary, THE DIAPASON established the Gruenstein Award to recognize the scholarly work of a young author who has not reached her or his 35th birthday. The winner of the first award in 2020 was Alexander Meszler; the second Gruenstein Award was presented in 2024 to Colin MacKnight.
Bryan Anderson
2023 First Prize Winner of the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition
Raymond Glover Grant for Episcopal Liturgical Music
The Association of Anglican Musicians (AAM) announces the recipient of its inaugural Raymond Glover Grant for Episcopal Liturgical Music, Sean Vogt, director of music for Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Vogt will use the grant to study liturgical improvisation with George Baker and Robert McCormick and will create a video/tutorial/podcast of his process.
Died January 1 in Sun City West, Arizona
Byron Lloyd Blackmore died January 1 in Sun City West, Arizona. He was born March 24, 1935, in Flint, Michigan. In 1953 he graduated from Flushing High School, Flushing, Michigan, where he was valedictorian of his senior class. He was an active high school musician and piano accompanist for several choral groups, becoming a church organist in 1950, when he was a freshman.
Ancilla Domini Chapel, Plymouth, Indiana
Taylor & Boody Organbuilders, Staunton, Virginia, has completed a new organ for Ancilla Domini Chapel, Plymouth, Indiana. Their Opus 83 comprises 36 stops, 52 ranks, 2,486 pipes across two manuals and pedal.
