William Tortolano will present an organ recital of varied styles of organ music, including
a tango, at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 2 Cherry Street, Burlington, Vermont on Tuesday,
October 9 at 12:00 noon. This is part of the church's Tuesday: 12 to 1 series, a free, informal
noontime concert series for which people are invited to bring a bag lunch, with coffee and tea provided.
Philip Stimmel and Ed Boadway are arranging an organ tour for Saturday afternoon,
October 13, beginning at noon in the Congregational Church, West Brattleboro. The schedule includes organs
by Steere, Erben, Woodbury, Nutting, Hamill and Hook & Hastings, with a visit to a museum and the demonstration
of a recently-renovated electropneumatic Estey two-manual reed organ. More details about this event are included
in this newsletter.
The 7th Katharine Dopp Organ Recital will take place on October 21 at 3:30 PM at
First Baptist Church, 81 St. Paul Street, Burlington, Vermont. A.G.O member George Matthew
will be playing the 1864 E. & G. G. Hook tracker organ, op. 342. George will play a distinctive program
including works by Bach and Buxtehude, to be sure, but also DeLamarter, Weinberger, Sowande and everything in
between, including two pieces by A.G.O. member Sherri Matthew.
The Wills Memorial Pipe Organ Concert Series will be held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church,
Bennington, Vermont as part of the Cornerstone Centennial Celebrations, 2007-2008. These events feature
the refurbished 1938 Estey Pipe Organ given in memory of Harry Wills by William Wills, Lt. Governor of Vermont,
1937-1941, and Governor of Vermont, 1941-1945. All concerts are Sundays at 3:00 PM. Tickets
are $20 for the 3-concert series or $8 each. Call (802) 442-2911 to reserve tickets. After-concert
receptions will be held in the St. Peter's Guild Room. This series is sponsored by Wills Insurance and
Bob and Cora May Howe. The dates and organists performing are:
Nov. 4 John Riddle
Jan. 13 Randall Krum
Apr. 13 Anne Marcure
St. Denis Parish, Hanover, N.H. is featuring a N.H. Master Chorale Concert, November 18
at 4:00 with conductor Dan Perkins. Admission is free. This concert is part of the church's on-going
centennial celebration. Works include a newly commissioned set of pieces by Jonathan Santore, and "Night
Pieces," by J. A. C. Redford. Harp, English horn, French horn, viola and cello will accompany these two
works. Additional music is by Distler, Bruckner, Gjeilo (a Norwegian composer), as well as two Peruvian
pieces from the chorale's recent summer concert tour.
Christa Rakich, concert and recording artist, and Distinguished Artist in Residence at First
Lutheran Church in Boston who plays the Richards & Fowkes Opus 10 organ, will present a recital on
this organ on Sunday, November 11, 2007, at 3 PM, at The First Church of Deerfield,
71 Old Main St., Deerfield, MA. This event is part of The Brick Church Music Series at the church. A
reception will follow the concert. Suggested donation: $10.00. For more information contact Jean Pitman
Turner, A.G.O. Springfield Chapter: (413) 774-2657.
The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Burlington, Vermont will offer a special service on
Sunday, December 16 at 5:00 PM featuring The Great O Antiphons of Advent. The Cathedral
choirs, under the direction of Mark Howe, sing at this festive candlelit evening service. Music will
include Peter Hallock's setting of the seven Great O Antiphons, as well as works by William Byrd, Ellen
Gilson Voth, Michael Fleming, and others. Festive banners designed by Judith McManis will adorn the nave.
The Vermont Chapter of the A.G.O., the Estey Foundation, Inc. and E. A. Boadway & Co. are teaming up
to present a fall Organ Tour in southeastern Vermont on Saturday, October 13, beginning at 12:00 noon. The
tour will commence at the First Congregational Church in West Brattleboro (Route 9 west, right in the center
of the village area), then head north to Dummerston Center, Putney, Saxton's River, and Grafton, and
returning through Townshend to West Brattleboro. While this area is noted for its Estey organs, this tour
is intended as a mostly non-Estey tour.
Organs to be visited include such builders as Henry Erben, Jesse Woodbury, J. W. Steere, William Nutting,
S. S. Hamille, Hook & Hastings and Estey. As usual, there will be extensive notes and stop lists provided
courtesy of Ed Boadway. There will be a brief demonstration of each organ and opportunities for attendees to
"get up close and personal" with the instruments.
The tour will conclude between 5 and 6 PM with refreshments at the home of Phil Stimmel in West
Brattleboro and a viewing of his collection, which includes organs by Estey, Alexandre, Scheidmeyer, Mason
& Hamlin, Ross & Morse, & Williams. Of particular interest are a rare Estey Phonorium reed organ and a
"luminous" console from an Estey theatre organ.
During the past two years the response from our membership regarding the
development of an organ music lending library for VT AGO membership has
been outstanding. Currently, there are over 200 listings in our
collection. (I didn't realize there are so many different editions of
some of the most standard organ literature - some good and not so good!)
Through our web page, AGO members from all around the country have
borrowed music from us.
I invite you borrow from the collection found on our chapter web page. I
will also continue accepting music contributions and challenge you to
"weed" through your unwanted music. It can be mailed to me at Green
Mountain College, Poultney, VT 05764 or arrangements can be made for me
to pick up larger collections during my travels.
I believe that through the library, our little VT chapter is providing
an important service to our colleagues here and throughout the country.
This letter was written to Marilyn Polson and to be shared with the Vermont Chapter A.G.O. membership:
Dear Ms. Polson:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all the members of the VT. A.G.O. for sponsoring
my attendance at the Springfield POE this summer.
During my week there I learned a great deal about the pipe organ and how to improve my playing. It was
great to meet a lot of new people, and make new friends who are fellow organists and musicians. Everyone
had daily lessons with another POE student at a local church. Besides working on technique we practiced
our pieces for the student recitals. My performance piece was the Prelude section from Cesar Franck's
Prelude, Fugue, et Variation.
Every evening we would have a lecture and recital given by one of the faculty members. Ms. Margaret
Irwin-Brandon gave her lecture and recital on early organ music. Mr. Peter Krasinski gave a lecture on
improvisation and then accompanied a silent movie on the organ. We travelled to Hartford, Conn. to hear
Mr. Ezequiel Menendez perform on the organ at St. Joseph's Cathedral. Finally we were privileged to attend
a lecture, masterclass, and recital presented by Paul Jacobs.
Other exciting activities included an awesome visit to the Austin Organ Factory where I saw the complete
process of building the 'King of Instruments.' I also attended an informative and interesting lecture on
registration. During the course of the week I also learned a great deal about a subject I knew nothing about:
unequal temperaments!
Overall, the week greatly exceeded my highest expectations, and I am very grateful to you for sponsoring
me to go. Thank you again.
A small but lively Episcopal church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, in the Northeast Kingdom, seeks a creative,
hopefully experienced organist for 3 Sunday morning services per month with occasional special services.
Wonderful Hook and Hastings tracker-action organ. Salary can be discussed. Contact Diane Montague at (802)
751-8646.
The deadline for the November issue of Pipe Notes will be October 20. If you are sending information
for the newsletter, please try to have it in by the 20th so your editor does not have to reconfigure a
developing newsletter to accomodate late entries. Thank you!
