Growing in Love of God and Neighbor

Lenten Organ Recital Series 2022

LENTEN ORGAN RECITAL SERIES

March 9 – Aaron Patterson – Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia
March 16 – Diane Caruso – Grace Episcopal Church, Haddonfield, NJ
March 23 – Erik Meyer – Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, PA
March 30 – Wesley Parrott – Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral
April 6 – Justin Hartz – Longwood Gardens Holiday Organist

Our Lenten organ recitals are back! After getting cut short in 2020, and not happening at all in 2021, our popular Lenten series of organ recitals will resume on Wednesday, March 9 at 12:00 noon. These thirty-minute recitals feature area organists playing a wide variety of organ literature on our beautifully renovated pipe organ.

Unfortunately, there will not be any soup luncheons following this year’s recitals. We have always wondered whether people come to the organ recitals for the music or the soup (or both!), and this year we have a chance to find out! There is nothing like hearing the pipe organ live in concert, with its beautiful quietest sounds and its thrilling loudest sounds. We hope to see you there!

JUSTIN HARTZ – APRIL 6 AT 12:00

Justin Hartz

The final concert in this year’s Lenten Noontime Organ Recital Series will take place this Wednesday, April 6, with a recital by Justin Hartz.

Justin Hartz received his Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey and Master of Music from The Juilliard School. In 1989, he began his association with Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. At Longwood he performs recitals and sing-alongs as one of the Holiday season organists on the historic 10,010 Pipe Aeolian Organ. Aeolian’s magnum opus, it is the largest residence pipe organ in North America.

Hartz performed the dedication recital of the restored E.M. Skinner organ at Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina. At Biltmore, he recorded a Christmas CD, Deck the Halls. His recordings include the CD, Hartz and Flowers and a video on the Midnight Pipes series, both performed at Longwood. His performances at Longwood are also featured on the four-CD set, Historic Organs of Philadelphia. He can also be heard on the four-CD sets, Historic Organs of Pennsylvania, Historic Organs of Buffalo, as well as Historic Organs of Cleveland.

A programming note: Justin will conclude his recital with César Franck’s Chorale No. 3 in A Minor. In a truly amazing coincidence, the last three organists in the series have each played – in order — one of Franck’s three chorales, large-scale works which were his last compositions. Erik Meyer played Chorale No. 1, Wesley Parrott played Chorale No. 2, and this week we hear Chorale No. 3. So, in addition to enjoying this great music, we can savor the improbable odds that allowed us to hear these pieces in sequence as part of our newly revived recital series.

WESLEY PARROTT – MARCH 30 AT 12:00

Wesley Parrott

Our Lenten Noontime Organ Recital Series continues this coming Wednesday, March 30, with a recital by Wesley Parrott.

Wesley serves as Organist at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral where he collaborated on the design of the recently installed Moeller organ, opus 6425. He also serves as Liturgical Musician at St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia. His recordings are available through the Organ Historical Society. He also served as a regular Assistant Organist performing on the Macy’s Grand Court Wanamaker Organ, Philadelphia, for daily recitals and radio broadcasts.

Wesley holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the University of the South, and Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. Winner of three US national organ playing competitions in 1979 (Ottumwa Iowa, Fort Wayne and Mader), he was also a finalist in the International Organ Playing Competition, Grand Prix de Chartres in 1982, and a semi-finalist in 1986.

 

 

Erik Meyer

ERIK MEYER – MARCH 23 AT 12:00

We will reach the halfway point in our Lenten Noontime Organ Recital Series this coming Wednesday, March 23, with a recital by Erik Meyer. Erik began studying the organ with J. Bert Carlson, continuing later with Donald Sutherland at Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He has won a number of organ competitions and performed hundreds of concerts throughout the United States and Europe, both solo as well as part of the AE Meyer flute & organ duo. His instrumental and choral compositions have won awards, and he is the composer of the new Johns Hopkins University school song. He is currently the organist at Abington Presbyterian Church and adjunct faculty at Temple University. You might see him on or off stage with local Philadelphia theater troupes, as well as playing violin or trombone with local ensembles.

 

 

 

DIANE CARUSO – MARCH 16TH AT 12:00

Diane Caruso

This week’s recitalist is Diane Caruso. Currently the Organist and Director of Music at Grace Episcopal Church in Haddonfield, Diane began studying organ at the age of 19 and earned music degrees from Kentucky Wesleyan College and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. At Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park, where she served for 13 years, she developed a noted choir program for at-risk children. In addition to singing regularly in their home parish, the choristers traveled to Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and England, with a week-long residency at Guildford Cathedral. Diane has been active with the Royal School of Church Music and the Association of Anglican Musicians, serving terms on the Board of Directors of both organizations.

 

 

Aaron Patterson

AARON PATTERSON – MARCH 9TH 2022 AT 12:00

The first recital is by Aaron Patterson. Aaron is a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2018 and studies organ with Alan Morrison. He won first place at the 2017 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition and the 2016 West Chester University International Organ Competition and has appeared as a soloist with the Olney Symphony Orchestra. He was also a performer for the Kimmel Center’s Organ Day and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Spring Concert. Aaron is assistant organist at Tenth Presbyterian Church as well as an assistant Wanamaker Grand Court organist.