On Sunday, 6 December 2015 at 3:00 PM, the Cathedral Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Peter V. Picerno, will present a Festival of Lessons and Carols for Advent. Scripture, solos, hymns, and anthems will mark the liturgical season of Advent in preparation for Christmas. There is ample parking surrounding St Stanislaus Cathedral which is located at 529 East Locust St. in Scranton. The Festival is open to the public regardless of church affiliation.
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Nanticoke, is looking to hire an organist. Sunday services are at 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and coffee and pastries are available between the services. It is preferred that the organist be available to play the 11:15 a.m. service at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Pond Hill (St. John’s partner parish) as well. St. John’s features a Rodgers electronic organ and St. Mark’s features an Allen electronic organ. Service music and hymns are chosen by Worship and Music Committee. The organist is encouraged, but not required, to participate on the Committee. St. John’s is a welcoming and friendly community of believers. A competitive salary is offered. St. John’s will be happy to meet with candidate and answer any questions. For information or to apply, please contact the Pastor, Rev. Debra North at 570-735-1760 or email debn615@yahoo.com.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2015, 7:30PM
INAUGURAL RECITAL BY KEN COWAN
Ken Cowan, one of North America’s finest concert organists, presents the new 101 rank Glück, opus 20 pipe organ in concert for the very first time. Praised by audiences and critics alike for his dazzling artistry, impeccable technique and imaginative programming, he maintains a rigorous performing schedule which takes him to major concert venues in America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. www.OrganistKenCowan.com
“… one of the most outstanding young organists on the scene today. His unassuming manner and his sure and relaxed technique hide a fiery yet totally musical approach to organ playing.” – The Diapason
Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 for students/seniors
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2016, 7:30PM
RICHARD ELLIOTT IN CONCERT
Richard Elliott is Principal Organist of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, where he participates in the daily recital series on the 206-rank Æolian-Skinner organ and accompanies the choir on its weekly radio and TV broadcast, Music and the Spoken Word. Elliott has performed in many of the world’s great halls and appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including the NBC Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, CBS Sunday Morning, and A Prairie Home Companion. http://www.MormonTabernacleChoir.org.
Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 for students/seniors
FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016, 7:30PM
DIANE BISH IN CONCERT
Diane Bish is one of the most visible and influential classical organists performing today. Concert and recording artist, composer, conductor, and international television personality, Diane Bish displays her dazzling virtuosity and unique showmanship the world over to international acclaim. Her acclaimed international television series, The Joy of Music, has served since 1982 to broaden appreciation for “the king of instruments.” The Joy of Music combines exhilarating organ and ensemble performances with an informative, inspirational narrative and exciting world travel. www.TheJoyofMusic.org.
Tickets: $25 general admission; $20 for students/seniors
For more information, visit www.marblechurch.org.
Are you looking for some new organ repertoire? Would you like to browse through boxes of organ and choral music and take what you like for free? Do you have repertoire to share, perhaps a set of anthems your choir no longer sings or a book of organ voluntaries that are not applicable to your current situation and want to find it a new home?
Join members of the Pennsylvania Northeast AGO chapter for a Music Swap at Church of Christ Uniting, 190 South Sprague Avenue in Kingston, on Sunday, October 11, 2015 between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite organists, piano teachers, choir directors, etc.
Chapter Members and friends are invited to dinner at a local restaurant after the Music Swap. Please RSVP by October 4. Call Raphael Micca, Dean, at 570-301-9253 or email dean@agopane.org.
The pipe organ has been called the “King of Instruments.” The sounds of the pipe organ have inspired worshippers for centuries. Great composers have written countless works for the instrument. Pipe organs have been installed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and theaters. The American Guild of Organists is passionate about the pipe organ and we want to share our love with a new generation.
Join us on Sunday, November 8 at St. Stanislaus Cathedral in Scranton from 2:00 – 4:00 PM for Pedals, Pipes, and Pizza. Participants will receive a behind the scenes tour of the instrument in addition to a chance to play it themselves (and eat some pizza!). All are welcome to attend. Students currently studying the piano are encouraged to bring a piece to play on the organ
TO REGISTER FOR PEDALS, PIPES, AND PIZZA, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Thirty years ago, in September 1985, an organ built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, CT, was installed in the choir gallery of St. Stanislaus Cathedral in Scranton. For the past three decades the organ has sounded forth under the hands and feet of several organists almost daily leading the congregation in song, accompanying the choir, providing music for weddings, funerals, and the various services held at the Cathedral. Despite its faithful service to the church, this instrument has almost never been heard in concert. Considering that with its three manuals (keyboards), pedals, and forty-four stops it ranks as one of the larger organs in the city, the organ has had the status of a well-kept secret.
On Sunday, 13 September, 2015, at 4:00 PM the organ will be heard in concert as the cathedral’s Director of Music and Organist, Peter V. Picerno, presents a recital to commemorate the organ’s thirtieth birthday. Music by J. S. Bach, John Rutter, Leo Sowerby, Maurice Duruflé, Louis Vierne, and others will provide a tour of the organ’s tonal resources as well as present music not usually heard in the context of church services.
Dr. Picerno, who began his work at St. Stanislaus Cathedral in January, holds degrees in organ performance and musicology from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, the University of Oregon, and the University of Kansas. He also spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar pursuing studies in Italy. Before moving to Scranton, he served churches in Ohio, Oregon, Kansas, Tennessee, and Florida. He has performed organ recitals throughout the USA and has performed at regional and national gatherings of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society.
The concert is free and open to the public. Ample free parking is available surrounding the Cathedral which is located at 529 East Locust Street.
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), Mechanicsburg, is in need of part-time minister of music. Duties include organ accompaniment at all services, maintenance of music library, direction of vocal and bell choirs. Salary commensurate with experience. Position starts July 1st. Send resumes to trinitymburgoffice@gmail.com.
Sarah Davies, organist, and Elise Quagliata, mezzo-soprano, along with Thomas Heinze, oboe, will present “From Leipzig to Lübeck: Works of Bach and Buxtehude” at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton on Sunday, February 15 at 2:00 p.m. Please spread the word!
A little about the artists…
SARAH DAVIES, Organist and Musicologist, earned her Ph.D. from New York University with a dissertation on Swiss and German Renaissance tablatures for lute and organ. Over the past dozen years, she has given papers at more than twenty music and interdisciplinary conferences in the U.S. and Europe, and in March will present her work on early organ sermons for the international Renaissance Society conference in Berlin. Before returning to academe, the artist was an agent, manager and publicist in the New York music business, finishing her career at ICM Artists. As a performer, she has been heard in recital on historic and historically-based Swiss, German, Dutch, French and American instruments. Recently, she performed on the oldest organ built in America (David Tannenberg, 1770), and this past summer, was invited to perform late medieval and early Renaissance repertoire on the oldest organ in the world (c.1400) in Sion, Switzerland. This is her second appearance in recital with her daughter Elise Quagliata on the Sacred Concert Series of St. Peter’s Cathedral.
ELISE QUAGLIATA, Mezzo-Soprano, was recently cited by Opera News for her “passionate interpretation,” “impressive dynamic range” and “exceptional technical finesse” as the nun Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking (September 2014). Opera Today described her as the “most powerful Helen yet” (July 2014). In a wide range of repertoire, from Carmen to contemporary opera and from Bach to art song to cabaret, Ms. Quagliata’s “rich, expressive voice and passionate delivery” (The New York Times) has made her a favorite with audiences across the country. The artist recently returned from singing Handel’s Messiah with the Jacksonville Symphony, and will return there in March for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Ms. Quagliata is known in the area from her sold-out performances the last three seasons on the summer Beacon Hill Concert Series, and her previous appearance in Bach and early Baroque repertoire on the Sacred Concert Series of St. Peter’s Cathedral in January of 2013.
THOMAS HEINZE, Oboe, is a well-known classical and jazz performer and recording artist in our area and in New York. For the past 23 years, he has been the Principal Oboe and Soloist of the Scranton-based “Bach Festival of Northeast Pennsylvania” with the Arcadia Chorale (formerly the Robert Dale Chorale), and its Director of Chamber Music since 2009. For twenty years, until 1985, Heinze served as Principal Oboe of the Allentown Symphony, and was also Principal Oboe of the Allentown Band from 1964-2004. He is a Founding Member and Soloist of the Great Valley Chamber Music Society, organized in 2001. As an oboe and saxophone teacher, now retired, the artist still maintains active teaching studios at Marywood University, Wyoming Seminary and Wilkes University, where he is also the curator of the extensive Heinze Family Jazz Library.
Faith Lutheran Church in Blakeslee is looking for an organist. Please contact Pegg Rapp at 570-460-3866 for details.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Orwigsburg, is seeking a part-time organist/choir director with handbell experience. If interested, call Pastor Lee Diefenderfer at 570-366-2316 for more information or email your resume to frausrs@yahoo.com.
St. James’ Episcopal Church 214 Washington St. Hackettstown, NJ 07840 is looking to hire a new organist/choir director starting in January 2015. This position would initially be considered Interim and be a weekly pay position with no pay when the employee is absent. Once the parish has a permanent minister the interim may, upon agreement with the minster, chose to stay on or chose to leave. At that time, the position may be revisited in terms of pay, etc.
Responsibilities include:
Job Requirements:
Pay: $200/week (approx. 3-7 hr/wk)
To apply, please email your resume with references to Pamela Laura at plaura@verizon.net. Church website: http://stjameshackettstown.org
Mark Ignatovich will give an Advent Organ recital in St. Mary’s Church of the Immaculate Conception, 134 South Washington Street, Wilkes-Barre, on Sunday, December 7 at 3:00 p.m. The program will feature organ music on Advent hymn tunes and chants by Johann Sebastien Bach, Richard Warner, David N. Johnson, Paul Manz, Wayne L. Wold, Mark Sedio, Malcolm Archer, Charles Callahan, and Adolphus Hailstork.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Education, graduating cum laude from Marywood University, Scranton where he studied organ with Sr. Jeremy Hornung, IHM and Robert Rosenkrans, and a Master of Arts degree in Musicology, majoring in music theory with minors in music history and composition, from The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC with further post graduate studies also completed at CUA (Ph.D. all but dissertation). While a student at Catholic University, Mark studied organ with Wojciech Wojtasiewicz. Since 1986, Mark has served as Director of Music Ministry for St. Mary’s Church of the Immaculate Conception.
The 46 rank parish pipe organ was built by the Müller and Abel organ company of New York in 1901 and rebuilt by Patrick Murphy and associates from Stowe, PA in 2013.
The recital is free and all are welcome to attend. For more information contact 570-823-4168 or olfstmarys@aol.com.
Pennsylvania Northeast Chapter 