St. Alban's Episcopal Church - Music at St Alban's

The Beggar Boys, December 2007

From the Artistic Director

Welcome to the fifth season of Music at St. Alban’s! We are pleased to offer our most exciting series so far, featuring everything from Bach to Broadway, Celtic to Gospel. Our intimate, welcoming seating arrangement and friendly, fun post-concert receptions continue to break down the barriers between artists and audiences, and our expanded outreach programs bring guest artists to schools and community organizations, where they share their passion and talent with those who ordinarily might not have the opportunity to experience and appreciate these musical gifts. We also are reaffirming our commitment to making great music available to young people by offering free admission to all children under age 10, reaching out to schools, and programming family-friendly concerts. Your support allows us to keep our admission prices low in spite of rising costs and curtailed arts funding all around us.

Subscription purchases and additional tax-deductible contributions account for more than half of our operating budget. We are enriching this community through great music – and you can be proud that your contributions make it possible.

-Henry Lebedinsky

Music at St. Alban’s

301 Caldwell Lane Davidson, NC

2008-2009 Concert Series

BACHFEST III

Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.

Our fifth season opens with music by three great baroque “B”s – Bach, Buxtehude, and Böhm. The St. Alban’s Bach Festival Orchestra and nationally-acclaimed soloists will perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #4 and the Coffee Cantata, along with Georg Böhm’s Orchestral Suite in D Major and cantatas by Dietrich Buxtehude, one of the greatest composers of the generation before Bach. A gala concert not to be missed.

Beethoven to Broadway

Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.

Live from New York! Tenor Stephen Oosting and Russian-American pianist Mark Pakman perform arias and songs by from the concert hall, opera house, and Broadway stage. The program includes works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Bernstein, Sondheim, Rogers and Hammerstein, and more.

The Beggar Boys: A Celtic Christmas

Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

& Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.

Warm up your family’s holiday season with traditional Irish and Scottish music including

favorite carols and spirited, energetic dance tunes. The Beggar Boys feature the incredible double fiddle team of Michael Albert and Larry Young and the captivating vocals of Kate Minogue. This Boston-based band will be joined by Irish step dancers from Charlotte’s Rince na h’Eireann Academy of Irish Dance.

A portion of the concert proceeds will benefit the Ada Jenkins Center.

The Farallon Recorder Quartet

Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.

Renaissance to Jazz: A Recorder Retrospective. The Farallon Recorder Quartet gives inspiring performances of a vast and varied repertoire extending across time and genre. Bach and Gershwin, Ockeghem and Serocki; sedate, wild, sublime, cutting edge and traditional, Farallon Recorder Quartet does it all with style. The quartet performs on numerous types of recorder from renaissance to modern, from 6 inches to 6 feet tall, exploring the full range of the instruments’ abilities. A great concert for the entire family.

Ian Howell, countertenor, with Tableau: Handel’s Inheritance

Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.

Join Ian Howell and Tableau as they explore the music behind the man who wrote Messiah. Georg Frideric Handel was the greatest German composer of Italian music ever to work in England. Enjoy music for voice and strings by composers who directly influenced the master, including Corelli, Keiser, Steffani, and Mattheson – and music by Handel including the Italian cantatas on which he modeled some of Messiah’s most famous choruses.

VOX & Friends

David Tang, director

Sunday, April 5, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.

Charlotte’s professional singing sensation - VOX - brings its trademark concert of hope and brotherhood to St. Alban’s in a diverse program of vocal music, including foot stompin’, high-energy Gospel music with some of the region’s best Gospel musicians. Under the direction of David Tang and Peppie Calvar and performing Classical, Folk, Jazz, World and Gospel music, VOX literally brings you the world by performing the best in vocal music in an eclectic performance that you’ll never forget.

(Please print this section and use it when you order your subscriptions.)

BUY YOUR SERIES SUBSCRIPTION NOW and save 40% off the individual ticket price!

Before September 12th, 2008: All six concerts @ $9.00 each - Subscriptions at $54.00

Number of Subscriptions ____ x $54.00 = _________ TOTAL DUE

Number of Children’s Subscriptions (under age 10) at no cost: ______

Please specify your preferred performance for the Beggar Boys’ Celtic Christmas:

Saturday, December 13th, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 14th, 3:00 p.m.

BECOME A FRIEND OF MUSIC AT ST. ALBAN’S

Your tax-deductible contribution will help this exciting and meaningful musical offering

grow and flourish.

Please accept my contribution of ____$250 ____$100 ____$50 Other _______

Name (as you wish it to appear in the program) _____________________________

I wish to remain anonymous _______

Ticket Info

Tickets are available at the door or in advance by calling (704) 941-0650.

Box office hours: 9-4, Mon - Fri

General Admission: $15; Students & Seniors: $10; Children under 10: FREE

Please make checks payable to: “St. Alban’s Episcopal Church”

with “Music at St. Alban’s” in the memo field and send to:

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

P.O. Box 970

Davidson, NC 28036

The George Stevens Organ

The history and craftsmanship of this magnificent 19th century organ is highly noteworthy. Upon initial completion, the organ had 686 pipes of various shapes and sizes. Since then, many additional “ranks” or sounds have been added and today the organ has more than 900 pipes. Each pipe ranges in size; some are as small as a pencil stub while the largest is a nine-foot cylinder big enough for a child to crawl through. Its case, which is six feet deep and 15 feet high, is finished with tiger-striped white oak, the console is black walnut and the keys are hand-carved from elephant ivory. The stops also are ivory, with ornate calligraphy carved into them in order to identify each sound or action.

The organ was originally designed and crafted in Boston, which in the 1800s, was the hub of organ building. In 1835, George Stevens, a highly regarded craftsman and a member of the prominent Boston School. The Boston School, a group of shops that worked together to create premium organs, were known for their high quality workmanship. St. Alban’s acquired the organ from the owner; a Methodist church in Hope, Rhode Island, in 2000.

To prepare the organ for its new home, it was taken apart piece by piece and carefully wrapped and shipped to John Farmer, of Winston-Salem, NC, one of the nation’s top organ restorers. Farmer was responsible for restoring the organ to its full 19th century sound and appearance. The restoration process included replacing and repairing individual parts, adding pipes, refinishing the case and adding the gold leaf trim to the molding.

The organ was installed in the sanctuary in March, 2003.

“There simply is no way to replicate these materials and this type of handwork today,” said John Farmer.

ORGAN SPECIFICATIONS

George Stevens, East Cambridge, MA, ca. 1865

Richard Hamar, Boston, MA :Restored and enlarged 1974

J. Allen Farmer, Inc. Winston-Salem NC: Rebuilt and Refurbished 2003

GREAT: 56 notes, C1-G56, unenclosed

1. Open Diapason 8’ 56 Pipes façade, spotted metal

2. Clarabella (tg) 8’ 37 open wood

3. Keraulophone (tg) 8’ 37 open metal

Stopped Diap. Bass 8’ 19 stopped wood

4. Principal 4’ 56 open metal