The 29th International Organ and Church Music Institute was presented June 15–17 by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance and directed by Marilyn Mason, devoted to the study of music by Franck and Messiaen, Gregorian, Anglican and responsorial chant, Luther’s musical thinking, hymn improvisation, and pipe organs around the world.
The Faucher Organ Company of Biddeford, ME has recently completed their Opus #9 for St.
Catherine of Siena Church in Preston, CT. It replaced an electronic. Budget
limitations and lack of available floor space almost precluded the option of a
pipe instrument. Faucher designed the main organ case to be completely hung off
the concrete wall allowing for head clearance for the choir members. The 16'
Bourdon chest was also symmetrically hung.
The Evergreen Church Music Conference took place July
24–30. Because the original site in Evergreen, CO (home of the conference
since its founding in 1907) was sold this past year, the conference was held at
the Iron Horse Resort Retreat in Winter Park. Donald Pearson,
organist-choirmaster of St. John's Cathedral in Denver, served as Dean of
the conference; John Repulski was conference coordinator.
The eleventh International Carillon Festival at Bok Tower
Gardens near Lake Wales, Florida, will take place February 10-18, 1996,
featuring guest carillonneurs Gideon Bodden (The Netherlands), Gildas Delaporte
(France), John Courter (Berea College, Berea, KY), Sam Hammond (Duke
University, Durham, NC), and Bok Tower carillonneur Milford Myhre and assistant
carillonneur William De Turk.
Isolde Ahlgrimm, harpsichordist, scholar, master teacher,
died in Vienna on October 11, 1995. Born July 31, 1914, Ahlgrimm was recognized
internationally as a major interpreter of the harpsichord repertoire, particularly the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Her virtually complete Bach cycle was recorded between December 1951 and May 1957 for Philips of Holland.
Harold P. Berg, of
Schaumburg, IL, died September 26 at the age of 82. He was born on June 14,
1913 in Chicago, and served as organist and choir director of Edison Park
Lutheran Church, Chicago, from 1932-46. He then served as organist and choir
director at St. Paul United Church of Palatine until 1992. In 1982, St. Paul's
Church honored Mr. Berg's 50 years as a church musician by confering on him the
title Minister of Music.
Information supplied by George Edward Damp, University
Organist, Associate Professor of Music, and Chair, Departments of Music History
and Historical Keyboards, and by John Brombaugh.
The Centennial Facsimile Edition of The Organ, Vols. I
& II, May 1892-April 1894, Everett E.
Truette, editor and publisher, Boston, was published in 1995 by The Boston
Organ Club Chapter of the Organ Historical Society, P.O. Box 104, Harrisville,
NH 03450-0104. It was prepared
from an original copy owned by the Spaulding Library, New England Conservatory
of Music, Boston, under the direction of E.A. Boadway, Alan Miller Laufman, and
Martin R. Walsh.
One of the leading events to make news on the
OrganNet--technical name, PIPORG-L--was the 1995 convention of the American
Institute of Organbuilders in San Jose, California. Dave Schutt, a founding
member of Piporg-L, lives in San Jose and, with several members of the list,
gave play-by-play descriptions of events as they occurred. High points included
presentations on San Francisco Bay area organbuilding, including a visit to the
Schoenstein Organ Shop, hosted by Jack Bethards.
