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In This Issue
From the Dean
Next Chapter Event
Welcome Back to New York, Dr. Judith Hancock!
Advertise in the Newsletter and Annual Directory
Members From the Past
Can You Identify This Member From the Past?
 
Links
  Keith S. Tóth, Dean, NYC Chapter, American Guild of Organists
  Keith S. Tóth, Dean

From the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

I hope that this summer has provided you with abundant rest and relaxation and that you are now refreshed and ready to greet the new season. Amidst personal holidays, the chapter board has kept busy this summer planning the 2013–14 program season along with carrying out the regular business of the chapter. We are now excited and energized to begin this new program season.

Our program year begins on Monday, September 23 at 5:30 PM when Dr. Patrick Allen and the Grace Church parish graciously welcome the chapter to an open house and demonstration of their newly installed Taylor & Boody organ. A reception will follow the demonstration. More information on this program may be found later in this newsletter. We are most grateful to Dr. Allen and Grace Church for hosting this wonderful event.

As we begin a new season, I would like to encourage those who have not yet renewed their dues for the 2013–14 season to please do so now. If we do not receive your dues, you will not be able to take advantage of the wonderful programs we have planned that are, in most cases, free of cost to chapter members. Your subscription to The American Organist magazine will also cease if you do not renew soon. The chapter relies upon your dues so that we can provide the first-class programming that you have come to expect from us. Information on renewing your membership can be found at our website, www.nycago.org. Thank you in advance for your prompt renewal!

In closing, please accept my very best wishes to you as we all begin another season of hard work and great music. I look forward to seeing you at Grace Church on September 23.

Respectfully yours,

Keith S. Tóth
Dean
David Enlow FAGO   David Lloyd ben Yaacov Klepper   Best Wishes to All from Yvonne L. Sonnenwalk-Melin
  Taylor & Boody Organ, Op. 65 (2013) at Grace Church - New York City

Next Chapter Event

Monday, September 23, 2013, 5:30 pm

Open House at Grace Church

Grace Church, Lower Broadway is celebrating the installation of its new Taylor & Boody organ. Dr. Allen has graciously invited the Chapter to hear his new instrument under the fingers of surprise guest demonstrators and his organ scholar, Phillip Lamb.

Dr. Patrick Allen, host

A reception follows

Welcome Back to New York, Dr. Judith Hancock!

Dr. Judith Hancock  

After nine years teaching at the University of Texas in Austin, together with her late husband, Dr. Gerre Hancock, Judith Hancock has moved back to New York. Welcome home, Judy!

Those who would like to be in touch may reach Judith at judith.hancock763@gmail.com or

1735 York Ave., #33H, New York, N.Y. 10128

Advertise in the Newsletter and Annual Directory

As many of you may have noticed, the prices for placing an ad in the newsletter were reduced in the spring. Now ad prices have also been reduced for the Annual Directory.

Depending on the size of the ad, a free ad in the newsletter is also included. The new prices, terms and ad sizes may be found on the chapter website. If you have never placed an ad in the newsletter or Directory, take advantage of this new opportunity and do so this year! The deadline this year for the receipt of ads is November 1, 2013. Information and order forms may be found on the chapter web site. For more information be in touch with Bernadette Hoke.

Advertising Rates for the Monthly Newsletter

Full Size Ad (1) 400 pixels wide by 200 pixels high (4.5" x 2.25") $100

Full Size Ad (2) 468 pixels wide by 150 pixels high (6.5" x 2") $100

Banner Ad 468 pixels wide by 72 pixels high (6.5" x 1") $50

1/2 Banner Ad 225 pixels wide by 72 pixels high (3.125" x 1") $40

1/3 Banner Ad 150 pixels wide by 72 pixels high (2" by 1") $25

Personal Ads 150 pixels wide by 72 pixels high (2" by 1") $10 each, or 7 ads through the year for $60

May include up to six (6) lines of information

Rates for the Annual Directory

Cover $800 includes two free ads of any size in the chapter newsletter

Back cover $550 includes one free ad of any size in the chapter newsletter

Inside front cover $450 includes one free ad of any size in the chapter newsletter

Full page ad $200 includes one free ad of any size in the chapter newsletter

1/2 page ad $120

1/4 page ad $80

1/8 page ad $60

Professional card $50

David Lloyd ben Yaacov Klepper   Arthur Lawrence
  Walter Baker (1910-1988), organist

Members from the Past


Doug Keilitz, Steven Frank, Fred Swann, and Donald McDonald each correctly identified Walter Baker in last month's issue.

Walter Baker, 1910-1988, was widely regarded as one of the leading concerts organists of his generation. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1938 where he was among the first pupils of Alexander McCurdy. Prior to that he spent some time in California as a semi-professional boxer.

While still a student at Curtis, he became the organist and choir director of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, founded the Oratorio Society of Philadelphia, and was added to the roster of organists who toured under the management of Bernard LaBerge.

In 1948 he left First Baptist Church and increasingly became involved in conducting in Philadelphia and New York. He was from 1948-51 assistant to Dimitri Mitropoulos for concerts by the New York Philharmonic. He also worked closely with the music department of the Wanamaker store in Philadelphia, which at that time often featured concerts with full orchestra and organ. On Good Friday 1948 he conducted what is believed to be the first televised performance of Wagner's Parsifal with the Philadelphia Orchestra and a chorus of 300 in the Wanamaker Grand Court.

From 1949-59 he was the organist of the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity in New York and taught, at various time, at Westminster Choir College, Peabody Conservatory, and the Mannes College of Music. The last years of his life were plagued with ill health and a series of strokes curtailed his activities, although he continued to play on occasion.

Can You Identify This Member From the Past?

. . . now deceased?

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The next chapter newsletter is the September 2013 issue. The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2013. 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 Larry Long, Registrar.