Richard Webb and Matthew Vangjel play Persichetti

Variations Pastorales by Marcel Samuel Rousseau (1882–1955) 
The St. Cecilia Duo - Rebecca Todaro, harp, and Richard Webb, organ

The Music Club of Baton Rouge, Louisiana was established in 1909 and in consecutive seasons has presented live concerts, study groups and scholarship award competitions to encourage and support the study and performance of music.  During the seasons of the Covid pandemic, all concerts and study groups, including this work from a concert by the St. Cecilia Duo, were presented virtually, through live streaming and/or recorded videos via brmusicclub.com, facebook.com/TheMusicClubBatonRouge and YouTube. MCBR has returned to in-person programing—along with continuing virtual events—and looks forward to its 114th year of fulfilling its mission.  The recordings were made at First United Methodist Church of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, utilizing its 2020 four-manual, 57-rank Casavant Frères organ. 

Rebecca Todaro began her harp studies at the age of nine with Elizabeth Roth in Charlotte, North Carolina. She studied harp at the North Carolina School of the Arts and Louisiana State University. She has taught on the music faculty at Louisiana State University, University of Western Florida, the Runnels School, after-school harp at St. Luke’s Episcopal School, and currently at Grace Notes School of Music. One of three competitors from the USA, she was a participant in the 1995 USA International Harp Competition and won third prize in the Young Professional division of the American Harp Society (AHS) Competition in 1996. She has served as president of the local AHS chapter, as well as on the executive committee as national treasurer and a director at large. In addition to performing with Dr. Richard Webb as the St. Cecilia Duo, Rebecca Todaro also concertizes with harpist Catherine Anderson as Quintessential Harp.

Richard Webb, keyboardist of the St. Cecilia Duo with harpist Rebecca Todaro, was lauded by the Bristol Herald-Courier as “a musician foremost.” Highly regarded as a facile, sensitive, and uniquely synchronous accompanist on all keyboard instruments, he is in significant demand as a collaborative partner for singers and instrumentalists, as well as a solo artist. Dr. Webb is Organist Emeritus of First United Methodist Church, Organ/Harpsichord Principal of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Louisiana Touring Directory, is engaged as a collaborative artist and chamber musician by Bach's Five Productions and is represented as a concert organist by Concert Artist Cooperative. He is a featured artist on both Organiste.net and The Diapason Artist Spotlights and was named a Louisiana Artist Fellow for Excellence in the Arts. 

Jackson Borges is Organist & Minister of Music for Statesboro First United Methodist Church and adjunct professor of music at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.  Prior to his appointment, Jackson held positions with the Episcopal Parish of All Saints’ Church & St. George’s Chapel in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as well as The Princeton Girl Choir, The American Boychoir, and Morristown United Methodist Church in New Jersey. 

In addition to his church music ministry, Jackson is a frequent recitalist and silent movie accompanist, both at home and abroad.  He has been heard in important venues such as Grace and St. Mary’s Cathedrals (San Francisco), the Spreckels Organ Pavilion (San Diego), Fourth Presbyterian Church (Chicago), Grace Church (Episcopal) and Central Synagogue (New York City), the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart and Princeton University (New Jersey), Trinity Church (Boston), Longwood Gardens and the Kimmel Center (Pennsylvania), and Khandallah Presbyterian Church (Wellington, New Zealand).  Jackson’s orchestral debut was made in 2005 as organ soloist for Joseph Jongen’s monumental Symphonie Concertante with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony.  He has also appeared in Europe as duet partner and vocalist with American concert organist Stephen Tharp and has premiered new organ works and transcriptions by American composers Stephen Tharp, Daniel E. Gawthrop, Carolyn Hamlin, and Jason Klein-Mendoza. 

Jackson is an accomplished chamber musician, continuo player, and accompanist, and has been heard in concert with members of the San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera Chorus, Center City Chorale of Wilmington, Delaware, Delaware Symphony, Princeton Pro Musica, as well as numerous other professional organizations across the country. 

As a composer, Jackson has written works which range from those for solo organ, voice, and choir, as well as arrangements for choir, congregation, and instrumental ensembles.  His work “The St. George Responses” was given its first performance at St. George’s Chapel in Harbeson, Delaware on the Feast of the Epiphany, 2016. 

Jackson Borges is an active member of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and has served on the executive boards of the Palomar and San Diego (CA) chapters, the Delaware chapter, and the Southern Delaware chapter.  He has taught at Pipe Organ Encounters (POE) and given workshops for the AGO on both coasts and has performed at regional and national conventions of both the AGO and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). 

As a vocalist, Jackson has performed in many important venues, such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, under conductors Pierre Boulez, Mariss Janssons, Ton Koopman, and Kurt Mazur.  In the realm of musical and dramatic theatre, Jackson has appeared as pianist, music director, performer, and educator, both in academic and community settings. 

Jackson Borges holds degrees in organ performance from San Diego State University, Westminster Choir College, and The University of Alabama.  He has won top scholarship and competition awards from the American Guild of Organists, the Spreckels Organ Society, and the Pacific Council of Organ Clubs.  Jackson’s major teachers have included Robert Plimpton, Alan Morrison, Faythe Freese and the late Tom Hazleton, with additional instruction in improvisation from Bruce Neswick and Stephen Tharp.  He has participated in masterclasses and individual coaching sessions with Todd Wilson (Cleveland Institute of Music), Weston Noble (Luther College, Iowa), Vance George (San Francisco Symphony Chorus), John Ferguson (St. Olaf College), Pierre Pincemaille (Basilique St-Denis, Paris, France). 

He is exclusively represented by Concert Artist Cooperative, and more information may be found at his website, www.jacksonborges.com, and at www.concertartistcooperative.com.

Faythe Freese, Professor of Organ Emeritus at the University of Alabama School of Music, is in demand as a recitalist throughout the United States, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, and Singapore. Dr. Freese is the recipient of the Indiana University Oswald Ragatz Distinguished Alumni Award for 2017. She is the first American woman to have recorded at L’Eglise de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, on the landmark instrument where Guilmant, Messiaen, and Hakim were titular organists. Her fourth compact disc entitled Faythe Freese à l’Orgue de l’Eglise de la Sainte Trinité has received critical acclaim in The Diapason, The American Organist. and Tracker Magazine. Her fifth compact disc, recorded at Magdeburg Cathedral, Germany, entitled The Freese Collection, is Dr. Freese’s most recent release. The solo organ work entitled The Freese Collection, a work by Dr. Pamela Decker, was commissioned and premiered by Dr. Freese in January 2013. Dr. Freese has also commissioned the following new works for solo organ: Passacaglia on BACH by Pamela Decker, To Call My True Love to My Dance by Naji Hakim, and Out of Egypt by John Baboukis.

Dr. Freese lived in Magdeburg, Germany for over three months in spring 2015 during her sabbatical and played and performed on over fifty historic organs in nine countries. She collaborated with early performance practice experts such as Ton Koopman, Montserrat Torrent, Pieter van Dijk, Aude Heutermatte, and João Vaz on period repertoire. Her most recent recitals upon her return incorporated the historic repertoire performed by Dr. Freese and were accompanied by a slide show of the historic instruments upon which she performed during her sabbatical.

She was a featured lecturer at the 2014 American Guild of Organists national convention in Boston, Massachusetts; and was a featured lecturer and concert artist at the 2010 AGO convention in Washington, D.C.; the 2011 AGO Region IV convention in Greensboro, NC; the 2001 AGO Region VII convention in San Antonio, TX.; and the 2011 Association of Lutheran Church Musicians biennial convention. Dr. Freese’s performances have been hailed as “powerful …masterful… impressive … brilliant.” Dr. Freese was also director, faculty, and featured performer at the 2017 Birmingham Pipe Organ Encounter (POEA), the 2017 Atlanta POE-Tech, the 2017 Hartford POE, the 2016 Atlanta POE, the 2011 Boston POEA, the 2011 Birmingham POE, the 2012 Gainsville POE, and the 2004 Atlanta POE. She was invited to review the concerts for the 2018 Kansas City national convention. In 2018, Dr. Freese recorded The Freese Collection on the compact disc entitled Museum of the Dance, Volume 4 of Decker Plays Decker (2019 release, Loft Recordings).

Dr. Freese holds degrees in organ performance and church music from Indiana University. She has held faculty positions at Indiana University, Concordia University in Austin, University of North Dakota-Williston, and Andrew College. As a Fulbright scholar and an Indiana University/Kiel Ausstausch Programme participant, she studied the works of Jean Langlais with the composer in France, and the works of Max Reger with Heinz Wunderlich in Germany. Her organ teachers have included Marilyn Keiser, Robert Rayfield, William Eifrig, and Phillip Gehring. She has coached with Dame Gillian Weir, Simon Preston, and Daniel Roth.

The following compact discs are available by contacting emailing Faythe Freese. 
The Freese Collection, Raven, Raven OAR-948
Faythe Freese à l’Orgue de l’Eglise de la Sainte Trinité, JAV173 
Roaring Ranks with Faythe Freese, Arkay AR6176
Sowerby at Trinity, Albany Records Troy 368 
Faythe Freese in Concert, Arkay AR6174

Dr. Freese is the author of publications: Five Chorale Preludes & Free Hymn Accompaniments; Sunday Morning Organist: A Survivor’s Guide for the Pianist; and Sonus Novus: Intonations and Harmonizations (Concordia Publishing House). 

Watch Dr. Freese's video of Naji Hakim's To Call My True Love to My Dance, performed on the Frobenius organ at Christianskirken, Fredericia, Denmark:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjOiz58xWY8

Faythe Freese is a member of Concert Artist Cooperative.

Tyler A. Canonico plays Fanfare for a New Century by Aaron David Miller.

Létourneau Opus 136 resides at Market Square Presbyterian Church, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The organ comprises 83 total stops, 83 ranks, 4,683 pipes over four manuals and pedal. This organ was featured on the cover of the June 2022 issue of The Diapason.

https://www.thediapason.com/news/orgues-letourneau-opus-136

https://www.thediapason.com/content/cover-feature-letourneau-opus-136

https://www.letourneauorgans.com/organs/opus-136

Tyler A. Canonico is the minister of music and organist at Market Square Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, also an adjunct instructor of music at Lebanon Valley College where he conducts the seventy-plus member College Choir. In addition, he is the organist for the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and the founder and conductor of the Harrisburg Camerata. He is represented by Concert Artists Cooperative.

https://tylercanonico.com/

https://www.concertartistcooperative.com/

Létourneau Opus 137 is located at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minnesota. The organ comprises 59 stops, 60 ranks, 3,591 pipes, and is featured on the cover of the June 2023 issue of The Diapason.
https://www.thediapason.com/content/cover-feature-letourneau-opus-137

The organ was delivered to the church in late October of 2022 and was installed in collaboration with the Organ Clearing House. The voicing of the instrument commenced after Thanksgiving with the welcome participation of Jonathan Ortloff for several weeks, and the project was wrapped up in the New Year.

Létourneau’s Opus 137 was played by Tim Strand in its first solo concert on April 23, 2023. 

For information: https://www.letourneauorgans.com/organs/opus-137