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Call it serendipity that paved the way for the organ extravaganza coming to First Congregational Church on March 21.
Rev. Jane Ring Frank said they chose the date for a concert some time ago when they were setting the Ripley Concert Series Calendar. Frank said because she works with the Cultural District board and the Cultural Council, she realized the date also coincided with the town’s 175th anniversary.
Later she realized it’s Johann Sebastian Bach’s 340th birthday as well.
“So we decided to put all three things together into one concert,” she said.
Though presented by The Ripley Chapel Series, the concert will take place in the sanctuary and feature what Frank calls four of the best organists in town.
It includes:
• Jeffrey Mead, FCC organist since 2005. He has collaborated with ensembles in New England and abroad.
• Jeremy S. Bruns, Parish of the Epiphany, has been named “a coolly aristocratic player” by The Dallas Morning News, and has been heard on the nationally syndicated radio show Pipedreams, BBC Radio, and the Pro Organo label.
• John Kramer, Winchester Unitarian Society, is a pianist, composer, and arranger and has performed widely throughout the U.S. He has written music for piano, organ, and choir and has received numerous commissions.
• Jane O’Keefe, retired organist from St. Mary’s Parish, has served at various parishes in the Boston area, and previously, was the organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington, Vt.
Frank said the concert will open and close with audience members joining in on a Bach hymn and in between some of what will be performed includes Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582 and Bach’s Organ Sonata No.5 in C major, BWV 529, along with other Bach-influenced works, including Mendelssohn and Buxtehude.
Because the four organists also played a concert together about seven years ago, when FCC’s organ was renovated, Frank said all the musicians are familiar with the 1968 Opus 50 that’s referred to as “Winchester old.”
Mead said it’s called that for two reasons: one because there is a hymn by the same name and two because C.B. Fisk, who created the organ, built another one a few years later down the street at the Episcopal church “so that is Winchester new.”
Frank described the organ as not a flashy, movie-style instrument, but rather “a jewel of a baroque organ. But Mead argued that Fisk was hitting his stride when he built the Opus 50.
“It might be limited in sound, but it has plenty of opportunity to build textures and colors,” Frank said.
“It does have great color and what it does, it does really well,” Mead added.
It might not be movie flashy, but the impressive instrument is a stately presence with pipes as big and tall as a sturdy birch and as small as a ring finger and the sound is, well, heavenly.
“Organ building is about problem solving and he did a remarkable job solving this problem,” Mead said.
It seems that Fisk wanted the organ in the gallery at the rear of the sanctuary, but over his objections, it was built in the chancel at the front of the sanctuary. Mead said in the end, it didn’t matter because the sound was amazing and the organ excels at everything it should, whether it’s accompanying a choir, a singer or playing solo.
“This became the seed for the concert,” Frank said. “We have this lovely instrument and a wonderful organist.”
Tickets for the concert are $20 each for general admission, $5 for students for both the live performance and live-streamed. Click here to purchase tickets.
Frank said sales have been brisk and they are expecting a good turnout for the event.
“All the performers are performing for free so all proceeds will go to the Immigration Support Alliance (ISA),” Frank said. “We have low expenses and with the anniversary of the town it makes sense to donate the proceeds.”
ISA is a network of volunteers that welcomes and assists newly arrived individuals and families as they gain footholds in our community, Frank said.
For more information about the show, contact Frank, minister of Worship and the Arts at 857-919-0983 or at jane@fcc-winchester.org.
