The Pennsylvania Northeast Chapter, American Guild of Organists will present “Celebrate America: An Independence Day Concert” on Sunday, June 29 at 3:00 p.m. at The First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre, 97 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre.

The program will feature organists Bernard Gardzalla, Canon Mark Laubach, and Carl Ruck as well as vocal soloist M. Moses Andradé, pianist Dr. Alan Hack, percussionist Monica Spishock, a brass quartet, and a combined choir under the direction of John M. Vaida. Repertoire includes Peter Wilhousky’s arrangement of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Pamela and Joseph Martin’s “A Prayer for Our Time,” and Mack Wilberg’s stirring “Anthem of Peace”.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the church office at 570-824-2478.

The Mass in B-minor was the last work Johann Sebastian Bach composed and compiled, finished in late 1749 just months before his death in 1750. It was never performed complete in his lifetime but was announced at the promise of its publication in 1818 as “The Greatest Musical Art Work of All Time and All People.”

This lecture will explore the ways in which Bach created a 27-section masterpiece, a Missa tota, on the five Ordinary texts of the Mass.  Near the end of his life, the composer assembled his 1733 Kyrie and Gloria (a Missa brevis) written for the Dresden court, reworked a Leipzig Sanctus from 1724, and repurposed the best of his cantatas with more original music for the Credo and Agnus Dei.

What Bach’s original intention or destination was for the B-minor Mass is not clear, but it seems he was in fact writing “for his neighbor” as his Christian duty, creating a Vermächtnis, or legacy. Bach must have been well aware of his own genius, and it was incumbent upon him, given a gift from God, to share it with the world. Bach scholar Christoph Wollf has described the Mass as a “summary,” with “its variety of styles, compositional devices, range of sonorities and high technical polish,” which “preserved the musical and artistic creed of its creator for posterity.”  

Sarah Davies, organist and musicologist with a PhD from New York University, is an independent scholar and performer now living in Miami. She has given papers on a range of Renaissance German and Swiss lute and organ topics at international and American musicology and interdisciplinary conferences dealing with theology, German studies, Reformation studies, iconography, iconoclasm, organology and the devil.  

For the past twenty years, she has been a frequent lecturer for the series Music at St. Luke’s (Choir of St. Luke’s in the Fields) in New York City, covering a wide variety of early vocal repertoire, and has also been a regular lecturer for the early music vocal ensemble Polyhymnia. Her ongoing work on the organ sermon, the organ as a sign of confessional identity and the organ as an object of iconoclasm has been published by the University of Regensburg (2022) the University of Leuven (2019) and the Liszt Academy, Budapest (2003). Her recent focus has been on forgotten and understudied 17th-century German organ tablatures in the United States.

As a performer, Sarah has been heard in recital on early and historic organs in Switzerland, Germany and France, as well as on the earliest organs made in America (Tannenberg and Doll). She was the organ soloist for the 10th Anniversary of the NEPA Bach Festival, performing Bach’s Clavierũbung III, and later performed the Schübler Chorales for the Festival.  At the Boston Early Music Festival, the Holland Festival and the Dufay Festival in Boston, she was featured in the 15th-century repertoire of the Buxheimer Orgelbuch.  

Sarah’s first encounter with Bach and the B-minor Mass was as a newborn, when her mother, the soprano Lila Sprunger Miller, to whose memory this lecture is dedicated, was playing the recording and preparing the solos for performances in New York. Hearing it again at the first Philadelphia Bach Festival in 1962 triggered remembrance and, as an organist, a lifelong commitment to the composer.

The First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Northeast Chapter, American Guild of Organists, will present “Celebrate America: An Independence Day Concert” on Sunday, June 30 at 3:00 p.m. in the church’s sanctuary, located at 97 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre.

The program will feature organists Canon Mark Laubach and Carl Ruck, pianist Brian Farrell, vocal soloist M. Moses Andradé, a brass quartet, and a combined choir under the direction of John M. Vaida. Repertoire includes Peter Wilhousky’s arrangement of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Mack Wilberg’s stirring “Anthem of Peace,” and John Coates’ setting of the classic hymn “Amazing Grace”.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the church office at 570-824-2478.

You are cordially invited to “A Celebration of Music for the Month of November” at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, 315 Wyoming Avenue, Scranton on Friday, November 3 at 6:30 p.m. The program will feature music that celebrates some of this month’s liturgical themes including All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Saint Cecilia’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christ the King. Enjoy music for brass and organ, solos and duets performed by the Cathedral cantors, and congregational hymns. This event is free and open to the public, and is presented in conjunction with First Friday Scranton.

On Sunday, October 22 at 5:00 pm, a Choral Evensong (Rite One) will be offered at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 35 South Franklin Street, Wilkes Barre. St. Stephen’s Choir will be joined by local singer friends and guest singers from the Choirs of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Harleysville, PA and All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Princeton, NJ. Organist and Choirmaster Canon Mark Laubach will be assisted by Sue Ellen Echard (Minister of Music and Organist, COHS Harleysville) and Kevin O’Malia (Organist and Director of Music, All Saints’ Church, Princeton).

Choral music will feature compositions by Robert Lehman, George Mursell Garrett, Herbert Murrill, and Felix Mendelssohn. Organ music performed by Canon Laubach will include compositions by Max Reger, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, and Louis Vierne. Offerings of money, food, and clothing will support St. Stephen’s Food Pantry and Clothing Closet.

First Presbyterian Church Stroudsburg, PA invites you to an incredible in-person concert with renowned organist Peter Conte on October 22, at 4:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased directly through the church by calling 570-421-7751 or stopping by the church office during office hours. Tickets are also available online through Eventbrite.

First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Northeast Chapter, American Guild of Organists, will present “Celebrate America: Music for Independence Day” on Sunday, July 2 at 3:00 p.m. in the church’s sanctuary, located at 97 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre.

The program will feature organ music performed by Canon Mark Laubach in addition to readings, hymns, and a combined choir under the direction of John Vaida and accompanied by Carl Ruck. Repertoire includes Mack Wilberg’s stirring “Anthem of Peace,” John Rutter’s arrangement of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and Gwyneth Walker’s setting of the classic American folk hymn, “How Can I Keep from Singing?”.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, please call the church office at 570-824-2478 or email us.

Happy 200th Birthday, César Franck!
Performances of the Complete Major Organ Works
Friday, November 4 — Sunday, November 13 — Sunday, November 20, 2022

Canon Mark Laubach, Organist
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 35 S. Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701

Phone: (570) 825-6653 / Website: http://www.ststephenswb.org

César-Auguste Franck was born in Liège, Belgium on December 10, 1822 and died in Paris, France on November 8, 1890. In 1836, he and his family moved to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life. As such, he would come to be regarded as one of the truly great nineteenth-century composers in France. While he composed for a wide variety of musical genres, ensembles, and solo instruments, he was most widely known as a virtuoso pianist and organist. He composed well over 100 organ works, but he is primarily regarded among organists for his twelve major organ compositions, the Six Pièces (Six Pieces) composed between 1856 and 1863, the Trois Pièces (Three Pieces) composed in 1878, and the Trois Chorals (Three Chorals), composed in the last months of his life in 1890. Among organists he is widely regarded as perhaps the most important composer of organ music after Johann Sebastian Bach.

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Franck’s birth, Canon Mark Laubach, Organist and Choirmaster of Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, will perform the complete major organ works in a series of three recitals at Saint Stephen’s in November 2022. Each recital will be between 60 and 70 minutes long with a very brief intermission. Here follows a list of the dates and times of each recital, and the pieces that will be performed in each program.

There is no admission charge for attending these recitals, although free-will offerings will be gratefully received in support of Music from Saint Stephen’s and the Outreach Ministries (Food Pantry and Clothes Closets) of Saint Stephen’s Church. Canon Laubach is dedicating these recitals to the glory of God and in loving memory of Dr. Donald Gordon McDonald (February 22, 1925 – August 6, 2022), his organ professor at Westminster Choir College from 1979 to 1982.