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Organ Concert Series, 2024-2025
All performances begin at 4:00 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) and are free to the public.
Donations are gratefully accepted.
To give online, please click HERE.
Be sure to select “Organ Concert Series” as the designated fund.
Doppelflöte
Sunday, November 10th, 2024
@4pm
Praised for their “stylistic integrity and convincing artistry,” flutist Melissa Freilich and organist Vincent Ryan make up Doppelflöte, a duo from the Philadelphia area that has performed together since 1998 and recently made their international debut in Wittenberg, Germany. Comfortable with a wide variety of music, they continually strive to expand their repertoire, occasionally commissioning and premiering new works. This concert will include the world premiere of Seascapes for flute and organ, composed by Brenda Portman. Melissa is active as a flutist and flute teacher, and Vince is Minister of Music at Advent Lutheran Church in Harleysville, PA. More information about the duo can be found at https://ourflutestudio.com/doppelflote.
Bonus Event:
Orgelkids USA workshop for all ages
Saturday, November 9th, 2024
@1pm
An “Orgelkids kit” is a real, portable pipe organ that you build and play. It will capture, excite and engage your imagination! In less than an hour, you will assemble 133 individual pieces into a beautiful instrument, then make beautiful music. You’ll also learn about science and technology, woodworking and teamwork. And of course you will have fun! Build a real pipe organ! (Then cross it off your bucket list.)
Since 2019, Vincent Ryan has presented Orgelkids to thousands of people from age 5 to 95. Whether the group is elementary through high school, mixed ages, 50+, or differently-abled, he skillfully adapts each build to the group’s makeup. The sessions are filled with wonder, delight, and an abundance of smiles.
Schultz-Yates duo
Sunday, February 2nd, 2025
@4pm
The Schultz-Yates trombone & organ duo features Brad Schultz, San Francisco-based organist and musicologist, and Benjamin Yates, Associate Professor of Trombone at the University of Louisiana. Both Schultz and Yates perform regularly as duo and solo artists throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. Most recently, the duo premiered two new works for organ and trombone at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Belvedere, CA in the spring of 2024.
Interested in both historically informed performance of original works and commissioning new music for trombone and keyboard (organ, harpsichord, piano) duo, Schultz and Yates continue to perform at concert series and universities throughout the country. Recent commission projects and recording projects include music composed by Brenda Portman, Brooke Joyce, Sky Macklay, and David Wilborn. More information about the duo and recordings are available at benjaminyatestrombone.com.
Organized Rhythm
Sunday, March 30th, 2025
@4pm
Since the fall of 2004, concert audiences across the United States, Europe and Asia have been brought to their feet by a pairing of musical personalities as improbable and winning as Organized Rhythm’s combination of the pipe organ and multi-percussion. British organist Clive Driskill-Smith, trained at Eton and Oxford, whose solo performances around the world have earned him recognition as one of his generation’s star organists, is wry and reserved—until he lets loose an astonishing battery of effects at the keyboard. He’s complemented in Organized Rhythm by the athletic movement of Joseph Gramley, a physically towering Oregon native, whose own crowd-pleasing solo concerts and work with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble have made him one of the leading multi-percussionists performing today.
Casavant Organ Specifications
Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church Organ by Casavant Frères, Opus 3671 The organ at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church (Opus 3671) was built by Casavant Frères of Quebec, Canada. It was completed in 1990 and was first heard in a dedicatory recital given on September 25 of that year by organist and director of music, Mark Schaffer, who with his predecessors, Edwin Domb and Todd Wilson, assisted in the design of the instrument.
In 2015, the organ celebrated its 25th birthday. Thanks to a generous gift from the estate of the late Dr. Olga Platz, a significant console technology upgrade was completed by Denis Blain of Casavant Frères in August 2015. During the upgrade project, the piston layout was reorganized by consolidating chancel and gallery divisional pistons and converting 11 unused divisional pistons into general pistons (for a new total of 19 generals). The organ’s memory was doubled from 32 to 64 levels, piston sequencing and manual transfer were added, and a set of chimes was installed in the gallery swell division. The improvements offer the organist much greater versatility and ease of playing across the entire breadth of organ repertoire up to and including the 21st century.
Summary
Gallery: 44 Stops, 63 Ranks ~ Chancel: 18 Stops, 25 Ranks ~ Total: 4843 Pipes
Thank You To Our Donors
The Organ Concert Series at HPCUMC is committed to offering top-quality musical performances to the community without an admission price, but we need your help. The series has been sustained solely through private donations and receives no assistance from the church budget. If you have been blessed by this ministry of music, and if you share our mission of promoting excellent music on an excellent organ, played by some of the world’s finest concert organists, please consider giving a gift to The Organ Concert Series Fund. Your contributions are tax-deductible and will enable us to continue to offer these concerts for many years to come.
2023-2024
Paul Jacobs, Wesley Hall, David Briggs, Brenda Portman & Kentucky Symphony Orchestra
2022-2023
Carolyn Craig, David von Behren, Caroline Robinson
2021-2022
Damin Spritzer, Aaron David Miller, Stephen Price
2020-2021
Rhonda Sider Edgington, Graeme Shields & Brenda Portman, Dexter Kennedy
2019-2020
Thomas Gaynor and Katelyn Emerson
2018-2019
Thomas Heywood, Eric Plutz, and Bálint Karosi
2017-2018
Jean-Baptiste Robin & Romain Leleu, Kola Owolabi, Renee Anne Louprette
2016-2017
Greg Zelek, Ken Cowan & Lisa Shihoten, Tom Trenney, Amy Johansen & Robert Ampt
2015-2016
CCM Wind Ensemble with Brenda Portman & Michael Unger, Rachel Laurin, Stephen Tharp, David Baskeyfield
2014-2015
Jonathan Ryan, Christoph Bull, Huw Lewis
2013-2014
Jeannine & David Jordan, Organized Rhythm (Clive Driskill-Smith and Joseph Gramley), Raúl Prieto Ramírez, The Canterbury Brass with Brenda Portman
2012-2013
Ken Cowan, Christian Lane, Janette Fishell
2011-2012
Frédéric Blanc, Michael Unger, Douglas Cleveland
2010-2011
Clive Driskill-Smith, Brenda Portman, Raúl Prieto Ramírez, Isabelle Demers
2009-2010
Christopher Houlihan, Anthony & Beard, Bradley Hunter Welch
2008-2009
Thomas Trotter, The Chenaults organ duo, Lynne Davis
2007-2008
Alan Morrison, New York Organ & Piano Duo (Daniel Sullivan, organ, and Jason Cutmore, piano), and Thierry Escaich
2006-2007
Vincent Dubois, Martin Jean, and Anthony & Beard (Gary Beard, organ, and Ryan Anthony, trumpet)
2005-2006
Stefan Engels, Olivier Latry, and Carol Williams
2004-2005
Pierre Pincemaille, Sonia Kim, and Paul Jacobs