Skinner Sesquicentennial Conference presented April 24–25 in Evanston, Illinois
THE DIAPASON, along with the Chicago, Fox Valley, and North Shore Chapters of the American Guild of Organists, the Chicago-Midwest Chapter of the Organ Historical Society, and the Music Institute of Chicago, presented a conference in honor of the sesquicentennial of the birth of Ernest M. Skinner, April 24–25, in Evanston, Illinois.
The conference opened with a concert by the choral ensemble Bella Voce in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, accompanied by Christine Kraemer on 1922 Skinner Organ Company Opus 327.
The following day’s events included recitals by Andrew Schaeffer and David Jonies on 1927 Skinner Organ Company Opus 616 in the First Congregational Church. James Russell Brown provided a demonstration program and lecture on the restoration of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 208 in the Nichols Concert Hall of the Music Institute of Chicago (formerly First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Evanston).
Rounding out the day were lectures by Stephen Schnurr and Joyce Robinson in the lovely chapel of First Congregational Church.
Since its inception in 2002, the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) has transformed the musical landscape of Rochester, New York, and its surrounding community by assembling an extraordinary collection of new and historic organs. The EROI festivals showcase these instruments and bring together scholars, performers, and audiences to explore facets of organ history and culture.
April 12–15, New College and All Souls College, Oxford University
Delegates from eight European countries and the United States attended a splendid conference on the organ in Tudor England, organized by Katharine Pardee. The centerpieces of the conference were the two reproduction organs built by Goetze and Gwynn, using as a basis the two soundboards of two organs found in Suffolk at Wetheringsett and Wingfield.