Coming soon...an exciting event!

On Sunday, February 26, 3:00 pm, organist David Baskeyfield will present an organ recital on our 3-manual Möller organ.  The program will showcase one of the rising talents in the organ world and some of the most impressive music in the organ repertoire.  Music will include major works by Buxtehude, Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Vierne, and his own improvisation.

David is currently a doctoral student at the Eastman School of Music under David Higgs and William Porter.  Before that he read Law at Oxford as organ scholar at St. John's College.  Between Oxford and Eastman he spent a year as organ scholar of Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.  Some recent and upcoming recital engagements include Washington National Cathedral, National City Christian Church, St Thomas' 5th Avenue, King's College, Cambridge, St Albans Cathedral, St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, St Peter's Cathedral, Worms (Germany), St Bavo, Haarlem, Chartres Cathedral and St Sulpice.

David Baskeyfield is the winner of the 2011 John R. Rodland Memorial Scholarship, 1st prize an audience prize, AGO National Competition in Organ Improvisation 2011, and 1st prize and audience prize at the St Albans International Organ Competition, 2011. Following success in a number of earlier competitions (1st prize, audience prize, Miami International Organ Competition 2010; 1st prize, Mader Memorial Organ Competition, LA, 2010; 2nd prize, Dublin International Organ Competition 2011) he has launched a performing career encompassing both interpretation and improvisation.

Aside from solo performance David is active as an accompanist, continuo player and occasional cocktail pianist. As an outgrowth of his interest in classical organ improvisation, he has taken to accompanying silent movies; recent engagements have featured The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Nosferatu (1922). He also enjoys  occasional access to the large Wurlitzer organ in the Auditorium Theatre in downtown Rochester, and has gone some way to legitimising this private indulgence in being elected as a director on the Board of the Rochester Theatre Organ Society. He has been broadcast a number of times on American Public Media's Pipedreams, playing repertoire and improvisations.  He is enthusiastic about food, red wine, microbrews, and Malawi cichlids.  

Our Church is privileged to be able to present David in this recital.  The event is free and open to all, with a freewill offering and reception following.  Please share the news!

Here's an opportunity to learn to read music and to sight sing!

If you've ever wished you could read music and sing by looking at the notes, you are invited to come for short lessons on Thursdays during Feburary and March, 7:15 - 7:30 pm, in the Chapel.  We will be using materials from John Bertalot's method "Teaching adults to sight sing."  No strings attached, but you are also invited to stay and listen to or sing with the choir in their weekly rehearsals at 7:30 pm, Thursdays. Or just come for 15 minutes of fun and learning.  

Our Organ Restoration Project continues on schedule with the committee beginning to examine proposals submitted by a number of highly regarded organ companies.  For me, it has been a great learning experience and one that has only deepened my appreciation for our 3-manual Möller organ, for its history and for the high quality of craftsmanship that  enables it to speak and to breathe life into some of the greatest organ music.  Stay tuned for developments in this project.