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.
On Tuesday night, March 5, 1996, the Church of the Holy Trinity, on Manhattan's Upper East side in New York City, paid tribute to E. Bronson Ragan, who was Organist and Choirmaster of the historic Rhinelander Church from 1946-1971. The tribute was organized by Dr. Stephen Hamilton, the current Minister of Music, and presented three of Ragan's former students--David Hurd, Walter Hilse and Kevin Walters --as well as Mollie Nichols and Stephen Hamilton.
The Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative, or EROI, aims to update and expand Eastman’s collection of instruments for the whole range of the organ repertoire, making it a global organ facility. The current phase, the Craighead-Saunders Organ, will be inaugurated in Christ Church (Episcopal) across from the Eastman School of Music on October 16 at EROI’s seventh annual organ festival.
Sankt Andreas Kirke in Copenhagen is home to a collection of nine small church organs built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, all of which were collected from throughout Denmark and which represent various Danish builders
At the north end of Copenhagen’s city center, nestled peacefully near the botanical gardens on Gothersgade, lies the Sankt Andreas Kirke.
There has been a dearth of information about female organbuilders. We are fortunate indeed to have this historical vignette by the first lady of American organbuilding, Nora Williams.