An Overview of Russian Organ Music

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This presentation includes an historical overview of organ development, composers, repertoire, and major organ schools in Russia, from the Middle Ages through the present. Participants are also introduced to specifications and façades of important Russian pipe organs, including Cavaillé-Coll’s last instrument, located in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. The session concludes with a short performance featuring organ masterworks by Russian composers such as Mikael Tariverdiev and Valeri Kikta.

Katya Gotsdiner-McMahan

Katya Gotsdiner-McMahan, born in Russia, holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in organ and musicology from the Moscow Conservatory, and a Master of Music from the University of Kansas. She has performed at concert halls and churches in Moscow and throughout Russia, and in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. She has been featured on Russian state radio and television, and has performed and lectured about Russian organ music at UCLA, the University of Kansas, and in Amsterdam. She is currently organist at First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo, California where she is a founder and director of an organ concert series. On the Central Coast of California, she performs piano, organ, harpsichord, and celesta with the Lompoc Valley Master Chorale, North County Chorus, Symphony of the Vines, Santa Maria Philharmonic, San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra, and San Luis Obispo Opera.

The Kotzschmar Organ: The Road to the Centennial Renovation

John Bishop, chair of the Organ Committee of Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ in Merrill Auditorium, City Hall, Portland, Maine, describes the history of the Centennial Renovation of the beloved, iconic instrument from awaking realization that the instrument was in failing condition, through the process of requesting proposals and choosing an organbuilder, establishing a campaign to raise funds, and overseeing the actual renovation.  In August of 2012, FOKO hosted a Centennial Festival of workshops and concerts played by many “Old Friends” of the organ, culminating with a Gala Concert on the evening of the actual anniversary.  The following morning, the staff of Foley-Baker, Inc. of Tolland, CT began dismantling the organ for shipment to their workshop.  The first phase of installation of the renovated organ was completed in the summer of 2013.  In September of 2014, the renovated organ will be re-dedicated in a Festival Concert.

John Bishop

John Bishop has been involved in the design, building, maintenance, and playing of pipe organs for more than thirty years. He holds a degree in organ performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. He has served as director of music for large parishes in downtown Cleveland and suburban Boston, the latter for more than seventeen years. He served a nine-year apprenticeship with an organ builder in Ohio and as shop foreman for a New England firm before founding the Bishop Organ Company in 1987. The Bishop Organ Company has focused on the restoration and rebuilding of distinguished vintage pipe organs throughout New England. Principal clients have included Trinity Church in the City of Boston; The First Church of Christ, Scientist (The Mother Church); Boston University; Church of the Covenant; and First Church of Boston.

Gregorian Chant in the Diocese of Turku in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The Finnish language came into being as a written language at the beginning of the sixteenth century, though it had existed as a spoken language for a considerable time before this. Due to the influence of the Reformation, the Finnish and Swedish languages began to be used alongside Latin in the Diocese of Turku. This paper explores the few dozen manuscripts of liturgical sheet music in Finnish archives from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that contain chants in Latin, Swedish, and Finnish, modified from the original Latin chants, all unique with their own distinctive characteristics.

Jorma Hannikainen

Jorma Hannikainen, D.Mus., head of the church music department at Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland, where he supervises and tutors doctoral students at the DocMus (Doctoral School). His dissertation, Suomeksi suomalaisten tähden (“In Finnish for the Finns” [2006]) observed the relationship between text and melody in Michael Bartholdi Gunnaerus’ collection of Introits (1605), adapted to Finnish translations. Until 2007, he served as a church musician and a choir leader.

Bach’s Organ World

Though J.S. Bach’s musical interests were international, the organs he regularly played were all in central Germany. With the help of audiovisual aides, this paper introduces twelve instruments—organs that Bach knew and played, or that set standards for the performance of his music in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. These instruments include those at: Dresden Court Church, Pomssen village church, Störmthal village church, Naumburg St. Wenceslaus Church, Altenburg Castle Church, Tegkwitz village church, Halle Marktkirche (Reichel organ), Wittenberg Castle Church, Berlin ”Amalien-organ,”” Berlin Cathedral, Brandenburg Cathedral, and Tangermünde St. Stephen’s Church.

Quentin Faulkner is Larson Professor Emeritus of Organ and Music Theory/History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he taught organ and developed a series of courses in church music. During the winter semester 1998–1999, he was Fulbright Guest Professor at the Protestant College of Church Music, Halle/Saale, Germany. He has performed numerous organ recitals in the United States and in Europe, in particular on historically significant organs. He is the author of J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Technique: A Historical Introduction (1984); Wiser than Despair (1996), a book on the history of ideas in church music; and Basic Bach (1997), an edition of Bach’s Orgelbüchlein and three free works. Since 2008, he and his wife, Mary Murrell Faulkner, have led four Bach’s Organ World tours to Central Germany.

Fashioned in the Sound of our Peculiar God: Queer Theology and its Implications for Music and Liturgical Musical Practice

Building on extant feminist deconstructions of musical subjectivity, this paper examines feminism’s progeny, queer theory, and its implications for music and musical theologizing, with specific implications for liturgical musical practice. Questions to be considered include: How can historical modes of expression and newly unfolding explorations in music coexist? What can the past offer us when examined through a new lens? How do cultural attitudes about harmonic resolution and dissonance support or subvert liturgical objectives?

Sean Glenn

Sean R. Glenn holds degrees from the Boston University School of Theology (M.T.S., 2013); Queens College, CUNY (M.A. Music, 2011); and Cornish College of the Arts (B.M., 2009). He has had an extensive career as a liturgical musician, having spent time as a chorister as Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle; The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City; Boston University Marsh Chapel; and The Church of Saint John the Evangelist, Boston; and has also served as director of music for the Boston University Episcopal Chaplaincy and assistant organist at the Church of Saint John the Evangelist, Boston. His work has been musical and scholastic, yet always with an eye on implications for ministry. He is an active composer and singer, writing music primarily for use within liturgical settings. Academically, his work focuses on theologies of music through the lens of queer experience and Anglican identity.

Bach the Teacher

No detailed description of Bach’s keyboard instruction has yet come to light, but information from his students and contemporaries allows a reasonably accurate reconstruction. Though distinguished by its rigor, Bach’s keyboard instruction followed procedures common in eighteenth-century Germany: proficiency in basic figured-bass and the realization of figured-bass chorales, leading to ever-more elaborate musical forms and processes, and culminating in the simultaneous mastery of keyboard improvisation and composition.

Quentin Faulkner

Quentin Faulkner is Larson Professor Emeritus of Organ and Music Theory/History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he taught organ and developed a series of courses in church music. During the winter semester 1998–1999, he was Fulbright Guest Professor at the Protestant College of Church Music, Halle/Saale, Germany. He has performed numerous organ recitals in the United States and in Europe, in particular on historically significant organs. He is the author of J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Technique: A Historical Introduction (1984); Wiser than Despair (1996), a book on the history of ideas in church music; and Basic Bach (1997), an edition of Bach’s Orgelbüchlein and three free works. Since 2008, he and his wife, Mary Murrell Faulkner, have led four Bach’s Organ World tours to Central Germany.

Hook Morning at Cathedral of the Holy Cross

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George Bozeman, moderator

Hook Morning at Holy Cross begins with a PowerPoint presentation by Barbara Owen on the History of Hook and Hook & Hastings organs, followed by a demonstration of the Holy Cross Cathedral organ by its long-time Organist and advocate, Leo Abbott, with its restorer, Robert Newton of Andover Organ Company.  A presentation by Scot Huntington on the Hook Legacy: what the organs teach us and why we should care, will follow.  Fritz Noack discusses Hook’s best period using the restoration at Mechanics Hall, Worcester, as example.  The morning ends with a panel discussion among the morning’s presenters on the Influence and Legacy of E. & G. G. Hook (and Hook & Hastings) on the 21st Century, with George Bozeman, moderator.

George Bozeman

George Bozeman majored in organ at North Texas State College (now North Texas University) under Dr. Helen Hewitt. He apprenticed as an organ builder with Otto Hofmann of Austin, Texas. Later work was with Joseph E. Blanton, Sipe-Yarbrough, and Robert Sipe. In 1967, he received a Fulbright grant to study at the Academy of Music in Vienna. He then worked for Fritz Noack, before starting his own firm in 1971. With his partner David Gibson, and later as sole proprietor, Bozeman’s firm completed some sixty projects in more than twenty states. Among these were several pioneering restorations of nineteenth-century American organs. He has maintained a church music career and played recitals across the United States and in Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe. He is organist at First Congregational Church of Pembroke, New Hampshire, where he presides over Hook & Hastings’ Opus 1129 (1883).

Fritz Noack

Fritz Noack was born in 1935 near the Baltic in Germany. During his school years, he developed strong interests in music, in particular violin and early music, and architecture, leading to an early decision to build organs. From 1954 through 1958, he apprenticed with Rudolf von Beckerath in Hamburg. Journeyman time with Klaus Becker, Ahrend & Brunzema, and—after immigrating to the United States—Charles Fisk preceded the founding of The Noack Organ Company in 1960. This firm has built 157 organs to date in most parts of the United States, Japan, and Iceland, and restored several important historic American organs. Mr. Noack has taught organ design at New England Conservatory and trained many organ builders in his workshop. From 2000 through 2006, he was president of the International Society of Organ Builders. He and his wife, Betje van Dam, a psychotherapist, live in Newbury, Massachusetts.

Leo Abbott

Leo Abbott is a graduate of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School, Cambridge, and the Chaloff School of Music, Boston. His teachers include Theodore Marier, George Faxon, Clarence Watters, and Flor Peeters in organ; Naji Hakim in improvisation; and Julius Chaloff in piano. He holds the Fellowship and Choirmaster certificates of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), has won first prize in several international and national competitions, and was a finalist at the Grand Prix de Chartres in 1984. In 1986, he was appointed music director and organist of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston. He has performed throughout the United States and in France, Belgium, and Ireland, and for conventions of the AGO and the Organ Historical Society. He is an active member of the AGO, the Organ Historical Society, and the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musician. In 2010, he performed at Notre-Dame and Saint-Sulpice, Paris.

Robert Newton

Robert Newton, a Vermont native, studied mathematics at the University of Vermont. He is director of the Old Organ Department of Andover Organ Company, a leading restorer of nineteenth-century American organs. A nationally recognized authority on E. & G.G. Hook and Hook & Hastings organs, he has overseen the restoration of several important E. & G.G. Hook instruments, including those at First Parish Church in Bridgewater, Mass. (1852), Old South Church in Newburyport, Mass. (1866), and Andover’s work at Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston (1875); the latter, with work conducted by Andover, included the design of the new reproduction console and the restoration of the Great 8’ Doppel Flöte and Pedal 32’ Contra Bourdon. Mr. Newton has served on the National Council of the Organ Historical Society and on several Society convention committees, most recently that of the 2013 Vermont Convention.

Scott Huntington

Scot Huntington is president of S.L. Huntington & Co., a nationally respected firm devoted to the building and restoration of historically informed pipe organs in Stonington, Connecticut. He began his organ study at Alfred University while in high school, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree, cum laude, in organ performance from the State University of New York, Fredonia. He has served the Boston AGO Executive Committee as a member-at-large, and has been a member of the chapter’s Organ Advisory Committee since its inception in 1984. He currently serves the American Institute of Organbuilders as chair of the Editorial Review Board, has chaired two conventions of the Organ Historical Society, and has served that organization as vice president, national councilor, founder and chair of the Publications Governing Board, and, most recently, as president. He has been organist of the United Church in Stonington, Connecticut since 1994.

Barbara Owen

Barbara Owen holds degrees in organ performance and musicology from Westminster Choir College and Boston University. She is author of numerous articles, entries in The New Grove Dictionary of Music, and books, including The Organ in New England, E. Power Biggs: Concert Organist, The Registration of Baroque Organ Music, The Organ Music of Johannes Brahms, and The Great Organ of Methuen. She was Music Director of the First Religious Society of Newburyport (1963–2002) and Librarian of the AGO Organ Library at Boston University (1985–2012), and is currently active as organist, lecturer, and consultant. A former AGO regional councillor and dean of two chapters, she is past president of the Organ Historical Society and a trustee of Methuen Memorial Music Hall. Honors include the American Musical Instrument Society Curt Sachs Award, the Westminster Choir College Alumni Merit Citation, the Max Miller Book Award, and the Organ Historical Society Distinguished Service Award.

Harpsichord Boot Camp for Organists

An organist may wish, or be called upon, to play harpsichord continuo with instrumental or vocal forces. Harpsichord Boot Camp for Organists offers practical ideas for greater understanding of harpsichord touch, distilled from historic sources and personal experience—the importance of the pluck, sound and silence, and achieving dynamic contrasts. Beyond simple practicality, the workshop explores how the various possibilities of expression on the harpsichord translate beyond wire and quill to pipes and pallets. The goal is to provide the means to new inspiration and confidence for the organist—at either keyboard—and refinement of technique on both.

Margaret Irwin Brandon

Margaret Irwin-Brandon specializes in early keyboard instruments. Her performances of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, l and II, at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and received critical acclaim. She has been a soloist in European and American organ festivals and at American Guild of Organists and Organ Historical Society national and regional conventions. She was on faculty at Mount Holyoke College, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and the University of Oregon. As founding artistic director emerita of Arcadia Players Baroque Orchestra, she produced and directed multimedia performances and played continuo for more than 250 programs. She is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Boston Clavichord Society and the Westfield Center, and is an associate fellow of Davenport College, Yale University. She holds degrees from Pacific Lutheran University and New England Conservatory. As a Fulbright scholar in Germany, she studied organ with Karl Richter and continued harpsichord studies with Gustav Leonhardt.

Hymn Playing 101 and 102: Learn the Basics and More

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Empower your congregation to enjoy singing with comprehension of the music. Topics for discussion and demonstration include: the BIG beat and breathing; leading the congregation, our largest choir, in song; hymn life beyond accuracy; painting the text; and giving the hymn the treatment—a demonstration of ways to enliven the hymn through improvised hymn introductions, free hymn accompaniments, and other easy improvisational ideas.

Faythe Freese

Faythe Freese, D.Mus., professor of organ at the University of Alabama, has performed throughout the United States, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, and Singapore. She is the first American woman to have recorded at L’Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris on the landmark instrument where Guilmant, Messiaen, and Hakim were titular organists. She was a lecturer and recitalist at the 2010 national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Washington, D.C., various regional Guild conventions, and many Pipe Organ Encounters. Her performances have been hailed as “powerful…masterful…impressive…brilliant.” As a Fulbright scholar, she studied the works of Jean Langlais with the composer in France, and the works of Max Reger with Heinz Wunderlich in Germany. She studied with Marilyn Keiser, Robert Rayfield, William Eifrig, and Phillip Gehring, and coached with Dame Gillian Weir, Simon Preston, and Daniel Roth.

Teaching Treble Bell Techniques

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This workshop enables both new and experienced church musicians to understand and implement the special skills necessary to ring treble handbells both musically and healthfully. Members of the Back Bay Ringers guide participants through warm-ups, four-in-hand techniques, advanced treble skills, and score analysis, and discuss how to effectively communicate tips and techniques to your musicians.

Norah Piehl

Norah Piehl is executive director of the Back Bay Ringers. She was introduced to handbells in middle school, but took a long hiatus before joining the handbell choir at Trinity Church, Boston in 2001. She joined Back Bay Ringers in the fall of 2005, and quickly assumed a leadership role, publishing the ensemble’s e-newsletter and participating in marketing campaigns. In early 2007, she was named the organization’s executive director, following the departure of co-founding director Peter Coulombe. She has also become a leader in Handbell Musicians of America Area 1, presenting workshops on marketing, branding, and treble bell techniques at directors’ seminars and at the Area 1 Festival/Conference. She currently serves as secretary on the Area 1 Board of Directors and has served as registrar for the Festival/Conference. Her professional background is in the publishing industry. Currently, she is deputy director of the Boston Book Festival.