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Message from the Dean

Dear Members,Our chapter Program Year for 2009-2010 begins officially this month with two events featuring Dr. Gerre Hancock: a recital on the newly restored organ in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on Tuesday, October 6th at 7:30pm, and a master class on Wednesday, October 7 at 7:00pm at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity on West 82nd Street.

 

Please note the change of date and artist for our November recital. Jeremy Filsell will perform on Tuesday evening, November 3rd at the Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal). Due to unforeseen difficulties in travel arrangements, Naji Hakim's program has been canceled and the Program Committee is grateful for Mr. Filsell's willingness to come to us on short notice. Once again we are grateful to Dr. Stephen Hamilton and the Church of Holy Trinity for their support and flexibility in planning this event with us.

 

As you will read in the Registrar's report, a significant portion of the chapter has already renewed their memberships for the coming year. We have several new members and several returning members to welcome as well. If you have not yet renewed your membership, please do so now to avoid a lapse in your membership and your subscription to The American Organist.

 

Please take a moment to visit the chapter website – www.nycago.org – and check on all the exciting events the chapter Program Committee has planned for us this year. Why not circle the dates in your calendar now so that we can see you as often as possible.Special thanks to each of you. Through your continued membership and contributions to the chapter and to AGO national, you help to make the work of the Guild possible.

 

Sincerely,

 

Frank L Crosio, FAGO,

Dean
Please click on the ad below for a larger image.

November Program

Organ Recital by Jeremy Filsell
Please note that this is a different program and time from the previous announcement.
Tuesday
3 November 2009
8.00 pm

Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal)
316 East 88th Street

Host: Stephen Hamilton

Co-sponsored by
Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal)

Jeremy Filsell maintains a career playing organ and piano throughout Europe and North America. The Guild label has recently released his recordings of the complete organ works of Marcel Dupré on 12 compact discs. His most recent CD, also on the Guild label, is a disc of the complete solo piano music of the English romantic composer Eugene Goossens.

At the age of 12 Jeremy Filsell made his debut as a pianist, appearing on BBC TV, and by age 19 as a student of Nicolas Kynaston he had earned his Fellowship in the Royal College of Organists, winning all of the major RCO playing prizes in the process and was awarded the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

He was Organ Scholar at Keble College, Oxford University, and later studied piano at the Royal College of Music. He was a prize winner in the 1993 St. Alban's International Organ Competition. He has served the music programs at Ely Cathedral and two London churches, St. Luke's in Chelsea and St. Peter's at Eaton Square, as well as singing as a lay clerk at Guildford Cathedral while studying at the Royal College of Music.

He is the Interim Organist and Choirmaster of Old St. Paul's Church in Baltimore.

Admission Free to NYC Chapter members
General admission: $20 ($15 students & seniors)


Rieger Orgelbau
Schwarzach, Austria (1987)
Mechanical key action
Electric stop action
3 manuals, 33 stops, 55 ranks

For organ details, click here
 

From the Editor

October Chapter Event this week: Gerre Hancock recital at the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, Tuesday, October 6 at 7:30, and Masterclass the following night, Wednesday, October 7. See last month's newsletter or the Chapter website for details.

Gregory Eaton, Dean of the Brooklyn Chapter, invites members to the following event:
Saturday, October 10, 7:00 pm – The Brooklyn Chapter, AGO presents the first in a series of silent films, accompanied by organist Ben Model on the 1918 JW Steere and Son organ at the New Baptist Temple of Brooklyn. The first film in the series will be the comedic-horror film, The Cat & the Canary (1927). Admission is $10, or $5 for students/seniors. The church is located at 360 Schermerhorn St. at Third Ave., in the heart of downtown Brooklyn. For further details and a downloadable poster, see the new Brooklyn AGO website: www.brooklynago.org. Come join the Brooklyn Chapter on the 10th for an early Halloween treat.

Veterans' Day, November 11 there will be a group from the Suffolk AGO chapter sponsoring a visit to All Saints RC Church at 129th and Madison Avenue, to see the church (the last designed by James Renwick, Jr., who also designed St. Patrick's Cathedral and Grace Church), and the organ. Anyone from the NYC chapter is invited to join us around 2:00 to see this magnificent church and hear the vintage Roosevelt/Welte-Tripp organ, pictures and details of which are on the Chapter website on the NYC Organ Project pages. There will be an open console. For further information: contact Christopher Cusumano, at 631-271-4635.

Craig Williams, organist of the USMA Cadet Chapel, West Point invites members to a hymn festival at the Cadet Chapel led by Richard Erickson, Cantor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, October 18 at 3:00 p.m. This event will be sponsored by the Central Hudson Valley AGO chapter and will feature Rick leading and teaching a number of older and newer hymns focusing on the seasons of fall: Education, Reformation, All Saints, Harvest, and Advent. Singers of all experience levels and ages are encouraged to attend, including organists, choir directors, and individual choir members from their church.

Dues: If you have not yet renewed your registration and sent in dues for the current year, please do so as soon as possible. Send to Paul Sanner, Registrar, PO Box 1896 Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025.

Directory: Our handsome annual directory is in production and will be ready soon in the new year. If you have suggestions for businesses or corporations who might benefit from taking out an advertisement, please pass that along to Walter Klauss at wlkauss@aol.com. Also, consider taking out an ad for yourself or your church, temple, or school. It will not only help offset the cost of the directory, but will become part of the permanent record of your participation in the rich life of the chapter in New York City.

Remember: WQXR moves to 105.9 October 8 at 8:00 p.m.
 

From the Registrar

Thanks to all for your renewals. The summer backlog has now been cleared. Thanks again for your patience, and I do apologize for any inconvenience.

We would like to extend an NYC chapter welcome to new members David Anderson, Chelsea Chen, David N. Childs, Mitchell C. Crawford, William G. Eckfeld, Michael Hey, Brian Hill, Gloria Insel, Timothy Palmer, Gregg Patruno and Marilyn Seits. Also, a warm welcome back to returning members Alexander Constantine, Kenneth Starr, Robert Bader, Jeffrey C. Johnson and Gordon King.

If you haven't yet renewed your membership, now is the time to do so. Please renew by October 15 to ensure continuous receipt of The American Organist, otherwise, November will be your last issue. Also, the deadline for inclusion in the annual chapter membership directory is November 1. If you are planning to be at Gerre Hancock's recital on October 6, please feel free to bring your renewal information at that time. Otherwise, please send it to our mailbox. If you do not have your renewal form, you may print one from our chapter website www.nycago.org.

Best wishes to all, and I look forward to seeing you at the various chapter events this season.

Paul Sanner
 

Members from the Past

 

Congratulations to Steve Lawson and Rick Alexander who each correctly identified Jack H. Ossewaarde (1918-2004) at Calvary Church in last month's issue.

The photo was from the March 1951 issue of The Diapason together with an article about a program at Calvary Church featuring the music of Henry Wellington Greatorex, a 19th century organist of the church.

Jack went to Calvary in 1948 (following Harold Friedell when he went to St. Bartholomew's) and he stayed there until he left for Houston in 1953 to be Organist and Choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral and Organist and program annotator of the Houston Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stowkowski.

When Friedell died in 1958, the Rev. Terence J. Finlay, Rector of St. Bartholomew's, called Ossewaarde to succeed Friedell again, and he stayed at St. Bartholomew's for 24 years until he retired in 1982. He lived in Stamford, CT and was the conductor of the Greenwich Choral Society for several years. In his retirement he substituted for several local churches and assisted senior citizens in the preparation of their income tax returns.

Jerome Butera, Editor of The Diapason, graciously permits use of photos with the sole request that readers be reminded that if you would like to subscribe or receive a complimentary copy of The Diapason, write or call him at jbutera@sgcmail.com / 847-391-1045.
The next chapter newsletter is the November  2009 issue. The deadline for submissions is October 15th. Material may be submitted to Neal Campbell, editor. Nine issues are published through the year on a monthly basis with combined issues for December/January, May/June, and July/August. To make changes in your email address or to subscribe to the e-newsletter, please contact Paul Sanner.