Newsletter
August 2024

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From Past Dean Laura Russell:

Earlier this summer I attended the 2024 National AGO Convention which was held in San Francisco, a city that I love dearly!

The Convention had amazing performers playing hugely varied repertoire in concerts and worship services held in beautiful venues in and around the San Francisco area. What follows is a brief snapshot description of parts of the conference, accompanied by actual snapshots that I took with my phone. You will be able to view some of the photos by clicking on links embedded in this document; the rest be be made available soon.

I flew out of Albany, New York on Saturday, June 29th for the pre-conference excursion to the Legion of Honor Museum and an organ concert by Jonathan Dimmock, the Legion’s principal organist. However, my connecting flight was delayed in Chicago, and I arrived too late. On past visits to the area I have walked around the grounds of the Legion, and I have always wanted to go inside to see the museum. It would have been great to hear the new Skinner 2024 organ there too!

I took advantage of the beautiful day to explore Yerba Buena Gardens which was next to the Marriott Marquis, the convention hotel. The Gardens are in the heart of the City, yet the architecture and plantings manage to create a feeling of wildness. I have several photographs of the Gardens and of the old and new buildings that surround it.

On Saturday afternoon I attended the NYACOP (National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance) Finals which took place at Lakeside Presbyterian Church on the Pearson 2023 organ. The three 2024 Finalists were First Place winner Ryan Chan, from Hong Kong. Second Place winner was Victoria Shorokhova from St. Petersburgh, Russia. Third Place winner was Tyler Boehmer from Kansas.

Saturday evening brought the Opening Worship Service in the Reform Jewish Tradition at the historic Congregation Sherith Israel. David Riggs played the Prelude, and NYACOP winner Ryan Chan played the Postlude. The service music included a commissioned piece by Melissa Dunphy. I was fascinated and moved by the architecture and history of the venue. It was one of the few buildings in that part of the City that survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. As one of the few surviving, intact buildings, it offered use of its space to municipal government and other community organizations that were helping in the aftermath of the earthquake. Its eclectic architecture includes multiple elements evoking, among other things, Eastern Europe and the American West. One of the Tiffany-style stained glass windows shows Moses, dressed as a nineteenth-century European Rabbi, delivering the Ten Commandments to Jewish immigrants, while Native Americans look on. The Rocky Mountains form the background to this new Promised Land. In his introduction to the service, the Rabbi described how Reform Judaism originated with immigrants in the United States. Like others who traveled to the American West to reinvent themselves, so did European Jewish immigrants. Click here for a photo of the Moses Window.

Brief overview of events:
Monday afternoon: At the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, Dong-Ill Shin performed on the Letourneau 2010 organ. His program included Grande Piece Symphonique by Cesar Franck, a World Premiere commissioned work: Diptych on Veni Creator Spiritus by Texu Kim. Shin ended his program with Prelude and Fugue on the Name BACH by Franz Liszt. Later, Chanticleer gave a stellar performance at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. Their program was nearly identical to the one that I heard at the Pawling School concert earlier this year, and it was wonderful to get to hear them again! Music included works by Max Reger, a commissioned piece by Ayanna Woods, Hoagy Carmichael, and others.

Monday evening: We returned to San Francisco for a concert at Grace Cathedral at the top of Nob Hill, performed by Faythe Freese on the Schoenstein 2001 (originally Aeolian-Skinner 1933). She performed selections from Neuf Pieces by Jean Langlais, First Sonata in D Minor by Felix-Alexandre Guilmant, and she ended with works by Florence B. Price and Leo Sowerby.

Tuesday morning: I attended a Choral and Organ Reading Session given by Oxford University Press and a workshop about Creative Concert Programming in the 21st Century. Other offerings that morning included a Walking Tour of The Castro District, a Mission Dolores Tour, a workshop about the changes in the AGO Certification exams, a GIA Reading Session of Organ Music of Black Composers, a workshop given by the AGO Task Force for Gender Equity/Society for Women Organists. Our own CHVAGO member Renee Louprette gave the workshop “Transylvanian Organ Landscape: Historic Organ Restoration in Romania”. Some of you may have attended that same workshop that our Chapter sponsored earlier this year at St. James in Hyde Park!

Tuesday evening: Shin-Young Lee & Olivier Latry performed with the Berkeley Symphony at St. Ignatius Parish. The concert opened with Concerto in One Movement for Organ and Chamber Orchestra by Emma Lou Diemer. This was followed by Ascending Light for Organ and Orchestra by Michael Gandolfi. Toccata Festiva for Organ and Orchestra by Samuel Barber. The concert ended with the two organists playing Stravinsky’s own reduction for piano duet, performed on the Hupalo & Repasky 2024 organ rebuild.

Wednesday: I attended the Northeast Regional Regional Meeting and chatted with Westchester Chapter member Jonathan Riss, former CHVAGO member Barbara Bayers, and many people from other chapters in our region. In the evening I attended the St. Cecilia Recital performed for the first time in its history by a woman. Janette Fishell performed at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on the Ruffatti, 1971. This was another stunning venue. Highlights from that concert, which was titled “From Muse to Master Muse” included selections from Cinq Improvisations by Charles Tournemire; selections from Pieces de fantaisie (dedicated to two of his female students) by Louis Vierne; selections from Four Biblical Dances (dedicated to organist Susan Landale) by Petr Eben; and from Deux Esquisses (dedicated to Madame Stephane Bornemann) by Marcel Dupre. The second half of the concert included the World Premier of the commissioned Suite for Organ by Mason Bates; Premiere Prelude et Fugue by Elsa Barraine, and selections from Six Etudes pour orgue by Jeanne Demessieux. The concert ended with selections from Symphonie No. 1 pour Orgue, by Rachel Laurin.

Thursday morning offerings included two worship services: a Baptist service, and Episcopal Morning Prayer. The services were followed by more concerts, including organists Weicheng Zhao, Anne Laver, Annette Richards, Jonathan Moyer, and Monica Berney in a variety of venues in Menlo Park, Stanford, and Palo Alto.

Thursday evening featured the Gala Reception back at the convention hotel. This was a Convention and a City to remember!

See You at the Picnic!

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