by Daniel Hathaway
Oberlin Conservatory has announced a virtual memorial service for the late David S. Boe, Professor of Organ and former Dean of the Conservatory, who died in Chicago on April 28 from complications of COVID-19.
The event, to be live streamed from Oberlin’s Fairchild Chapel on Sunday, June 14 at 4:00 pm, will be led by the Rev. Jimmy Madsen, the retired pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lorain, where Boe served as music director and organist for over 40 years. Tributes will be given by Steven Plank, professor of musicology, and David Kazimir, curator of organs. Music by J.S. Bach, Heinrich Scheidemann, and others will be played by Jonathan Moyer, who holds the David S. Boe professorship in organ.
The two John Brombaugh organs in Fairchild Chapel were commissioned by Boe. The gallery instrument, built in 1981, is a mean-tone organ in the North German style, while a one-manual instrument in the front of the chapel was designed for the Boes’ home and donated to Oberlin in 2012.
Read more about the memorial event here in an article by Cathy Partlow Strauss.