Recital, Clara Gerdes Bartz, New York

Main Chapel, Free Admission, Reception following In-person Event

Featuring works by Henri Dallier, Marcel Dupré, Jean Titelouze, Flor Peeters, Sigfrid Karg Elert, Charles Tournemire, Jean Langlais, Olivier Latry, & Everett Titcomb

RSVP available at: Catholic Institute of Sacred Music

We are delighted to host a one hour recital played by the most recent Frasier scholarship winner, 16-year-old Elizabeth Kamas, joined by her older sister, Ruth (2019 Frasier winner). They will play a variety of classic music (including the famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by JS Bach), showcasing the mighty Balcom and Vaughan organ. The concert will close with the theme from Star Wars for organ and piano duet. Also included is a spritely piece written by local composer and AGO member, Angela Kraft Cross.

The recital will be followed by an informal reception.

Admission free. Donations welcome.

A San Jose Chapter AGO event.

The schedule for this event is:
9:00-11:30am for the PPP presentations, activities and students playing the organ (in the sanctuary), and
11:30-12 noon for the pizza lunch in Fellowship Hall.  

Piano students ages 8-18 are invited. Registration (click here for registration form) is limited to 15 piano students (with their parents and teachers welcome to attend and observe).  Our chapter will provide the snacks and pizza lunch. We plan to include the Orgelkids kit in the event.

Admission free. Donations welcome.

Here is a poster you can use to advertise the event.

A San Jose Chapter AGO event.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2025 at Willow Glen United Methodist church, 1420 Newport Avenue, San Jose at 11:00 a.m.

Feel free to attend the organ concert, Evensong, or both. Reception to follow.

Dr. Jared Johnson is the Canon Director of Music at Grace Cathedral, where he leads the Cathedral Choir and oversees the music program. As an organ recitalist, he has appeared in major venues throughout North America, Great Britain, and Australia, and his recordings appear on the Pro Organo and JAV labels.

Choral Evensong with St. Luke's Choir will feature music by Nkeiru Okoye, Terence Allbright, June Nixon, Ēriks Ešenvalds and Evening Canticles by Sarah MacDonald.

A fun event for AGO members in which we introduce each other to our favorite holiday season organ music. Bring your favorite Advent and Christmas music. We will demonstrate our pieces for each other on the Rodgers organ and/or give away/trade scores with cookies and drinks to enjoy (bring cookies if you like to bake).

Admission free. Donations welcome.

A San Jose Chapter AGO event.

In honor of the centenary of composer Gabriel Fauré’s death (November 4, 1924) St. Luke’s will present his gently ravishing Requiem in its entirety during our morning liturgy for All Saints’ Sunday. In place of the somber nature of many requiems that had gone before, Fauré’s is noted for its calm, serene and peaceful outlook.

Accompanied by a chamber ensemble of harp, violin, cello, and organ, this exquisitely beautiful and moving work is one of the gems of choral literature.

Featuring the St. Luke’s Choir, conducted by Zach Ullery, soloists Victoria Fraser and Charles Shafer, harpist Molly Langr, violinist Katherine Allen, cellist Kyle Stachnik, and organist/music director Dr. Joy-Leilani Garbutt.

Street parking is usually plentiful on Sunday mornings, and complimentary parking at Old First Garage is also available; have your garage ticket stamped by an usher at St. Luke's.

A free-will offering will be collected and a festive coffee hour will follow in the Parish House.

Dr Paradies will be presenting from her series of books on the subject of teaching young organists and preparing them for college. 

There will be a no-host luncheon together a short walk away after the even. Admission Free. Donations welcome.

Prior to the Dr Paradies’ talk we will be presenting American Guild of Organists Achievement Awards to Dian Ruder’s student Clara Chan.

Dr. Elena Paradies earned her master's degree in Piano from the Lithuanian Music Academy in Lithuania, followed by a master's degree in Organ from the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory in Russia. She completed her Doctorate in Organ Performance at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, USA. In the early stages of her career as an organist and educator, she recognized a pressing need for comprehensive resources in organ methodology and literature, critical for professional growth. This electronic book series is her aspiration to consolidate and organize essential knowledge for both organ teachers and novice organists.

The following link to Google Play offers a preview of the first two volumes in the series and the option to purchase them:

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Elena_Paradies_Teaching_Pre_College_Organ_Students?id=Ve7bEAAAQBAJ

A San Jose Chapter AGO event.

Hans U. Hielscher will play:

Josef Rheinberger 1839–1901 - Sonata No. 4 in A Minor op. 98
Alexandre Guilmant 1837–1911 - Madrigal op. 52/3
Isaac Flagler 1844–1909 - Easter March
Traditional Arr. Dan Miller - How great Thou art
Cor Kee 1900–1997 - Variations on an old Dutch folksong
Cécile Chaminade 1857–1944 - Méditation
Hans U. Hielscher 1945– Scottish Rhapsody

Full Program

Hans U. Hielscher has been organist at the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden (Lutheran Cathedral of Nassau), Germany, since 1979. His studies were at the Detmold State Academy of Music and in Paris/Rouen, France. He also studied carillon at The Nederlandse Beiaardschool in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Hans has presented more than 4,000 organ recitals around the globe, his concert tours have taken him to all European countries, the United States (75 U.S. tours), Bahamas, Israel, Iceland, South Africa, and multiple times to Australia, New Zealand, French-Polynesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. He has been featured on radio and TV broadcasts, 22 CD recordings on various international labels and is the author of the books "Alexandre Guilmant - Life and Work", "Famous Organs in the U.S.A.", "The Organ of Wiesbaden Marktkirche". He is a published composer of some 60 works for organ. Hans has been honoured by the French government in Paris for his worldwide engagement in French organ music and nominated "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" in 1985. In 2019, the Hessian Ministry for Science and Art in the Capital City of Wiesbaden awarded him the "Certificate of Honor for Art and Culture".

www.hielscher-music.de

Hans U. Hielscher will play:

Josef Rheinberger Sonata No. 4 in A Minor op. 98
Denis Bédard Suite for organ
Gordon B. Nevin Toccata in D minor

Full Program

Hans U. Hielscher has been organist at the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden (Lutheran Cathedral of Nassau), Germany, since 1979. His studies were at the Detmold State Academy of Music and in Paris/Rouen, France. He also studied carillon at The Nederlandse Beiaardschool in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Hans has presented more than 4,000 organ recitals around the globe, his concert tours have taken him to all European countries, the United States (75 U.S. tours), Bahamas, Israel, Iceland, South Africa, and multiple times to Australia, New Zealand, French-Polynesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. He has been featured on radio and TV broadcasts, 22 CD recordings on various international labels and is the author of the books "Alexandre Guilmant - Life and Work", "Famous Organs in the U.S.A.", "The Organ of Wiesbaden Marktkirche". He is a published composer of some 60 works for organ. Hans has been honoured by the French government in Paris for his worldwide engagement in French organ music and nominated "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" in 1985. In 2019, the Hessian Ministry for Science and Art in the Capital City of Wiesbaden awarded him the "Certificate of Honor for Art and Culture".

www.hielscher-music.de

We share a Orgelkids kit with the Peninsula Chapter. We will be assembling the Orgelkids kit for the first time! See https://orgelkidsusa.org for details of this exciting kit that we will be able to take to schools etc to introduce kids to the organ by building one from scratch and playing it. Here’s a flyer for the event.

Free event with refreshments. Donations welcome.

A San Jose Chapter AGO event.

Enjoy the masterful skill of J. S. Bach’s music for two hands and feet–  three musical ideas blended perfectly into much more than the sum of their parts.   Led by his wild imagination, Bach shows off the sounds of the organ in elegant trios and dramatic toccatas in three sections.  This is a small part of Bach’s extensive and humble musical offering, as he inscribed it, Soli deo Gloria, for the glory of God alone.  

Admission is free.  Parking is adjacent to the church.