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New works for organ take center stage at Lake Erie College (Oct. 20)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

On a sun-drenched fall afternoon, Sunday, October 20, a lucky few got to hear five new organ pieces masterfully brought to life by five remarkable organists at Lake Erie College. If the music wasn’t conceived for this particular organ — the Skinner opus 647 — it surely benefited from it, not to mention from the architecturally splendid setting of Helen Rockwell Morley Hall.

“New Music for Organ,” a co-presentation of the Cleveland Composers Guild and the American Guild of Organists, Cleveland Chapter, showcased works by Stephen Stanziano, James Wilding, Larry Baker, Matthew Saunders, and Lorenzo Salvagni. [Read more…]

Margaret Scharf, 89

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Margaret Rickerd Scharf, who co-directed the music program at Old Stone Church in Public Square from 1969-1999 with her husband, Warren, died on Friday, August 1 at the age of 89.

“Maggie” joined Warren on the faculty of the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory in 1993, where he had served as director since 1967, and taught organ there until 2013. The couple met as graduate organ students at the Eastman School of Music (he died in 2014). She also served as Dean of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and taught at Cleveland State University.

Services will be held at The Old Stone Church on Saturday, August 10 at 11:00 am, followed by a luncheon. Read an obituary here.

AGO winner Aaron Tan in recital at St. John’s Cathedral (Feb. 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

As part of his prize for winning the 2018 American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance, Aaron Tan won a period of professional representation by Karen MacFarlane Artists, Inc. That brought him to Cleveland’s Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on Friday evening, February 8, for a cleverly conceived and finely wrought recital on its 1947 Holtkamp organ, an event co-sponsored by the Cathedral and the Cleveland Chapter of the AGO. [Read more…]

AGO prize-winning organist Aaron Tan to present recital at St. John’s Cathedral

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by Daniel Hathaway

Toronto-born organist Aaron Tan, who will play a recital at St. John’s Cathedral on Friday, February 8, is among the young concert artists that can make you distinctly feel like an underachiever.

After earning a PhD in Materials Science at the University of Michigan, and a five-year stint in postdoctoral research, last fall he embarked on a Master of Music degree at Yale. Along the way, he won first prize and audience prize in the American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance last July in Prairie Village, Kansas.

That win came with a cash award, as well as professional representation by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc., and guaranteed recital dates. “The prize has led to a busy but fulfilling fall,” Tan said in a phone call from Yale. “I probably did something like two concerts a month on top of starting a new school program and a new church job.” [Read more…]

Simultaneous organ recitals by Isabelle Demers & James Higdon on opposite sides of Fairmount (Sep. 24)

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by Daniel Hathaway

DemersConflicts abound in Northeast Ohio’s concert schedule, but not so often do two enticing organ recitals take place at the same hour right across the street from one another. Given the choice of Isabelle Demers’ recital at Fairmount Presbyterian and James Higdon’s all-Alain program at St. Paul’s on September 24, what to do? I decided to catch part of both programs. [Read more…]

AGO to honor Karel Paukert with
“Up Close and Personal” at St. Paul’s

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by Daniel Hathaway

Karel Paukert has made his mark on Cleveland’s classical music life as Curator of Musical Arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art, a post he held from 1974-2004, and as organist and choirmaster of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, a position he inherited in 1979 and in which he continues to serve nearly 40 years later. (Photo: Paukert with Olivier Messiaen at CMA in 1978.)

Paukert will be honored by the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists at St. Paul’s on Sunday, January 29 at 4:00 pm. “Karel Paukert Up Close and Personal” will include an interview and Q&A period led by Timothy Robson, and the world premiere of Labyrinths by Kent State University composition professor Frank Wiley. A reception will follow the event. [Read more…]

Organist Katelyn Emerson at St. John’s Cathedral (November 15)

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by Timothy Robson

emerson-katelynOberlin graduate Katelyn Emerson showed impressive technical facility and musicianship in her first Cleveland recital since winning First Prize in the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition. The November 15 concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist was co-sponsored by the Cathedral and the Cleveland Chapter of the AGO. [Read more…]

Organist Frederick Swann at Fairmount Presbyterian (Oct. 2)

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by Timothy Robson

swann-frederickLegendary American organist Frederick Swann — famous for his many years as organist at the Riverside Church in New York and the Crystal Cathedral in California, and for his countless recitals around the world — gave his next-to-last recital, ever, at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights on Sunday afternoon. Co-sponsored by the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the concert drew a large audience to celebrate Swann’s impending retirement at the age of 85. [Read more…]

Organist Christian Lane at Plymouth Church (April 12)

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by Timothy Robson

LANE-ChristianBoston-based organist Christian Lane played a fascinating program on Tuesday evening at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights in a concert co-sponsored by ArtsPlymouth and the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. There were hardly any “war horses” on the program: music from our own time was interspersed with lesser-played works by earlier composers. [Read more…]

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