It’s wonderful to live and work in a large city with such an array of both pipe organs and folks who are interested in these complex instruments! The planets seemed to line up spectacularly this past month, with several interesting events featuring the King of Instruments.
We at Epiphany are very fortunate indeed to have organist and organ builder Jonathan Ortloff in the pews, or even occasionally in the loft playing or singing! He is here with us for a time, along with our Seminarian Clayton McCleskey (also an organist and singer— we’re getting five for the price of one it seems). Clayton organized the ongoing Epiphany forum series, which included an Organ 101 lecture demonstration by Jonathan on Sunday, January 21. What a fun and informative session, which was also very well attended by folks of all ages. And who knew that Jonathan could blow into two pipes simultaneously (with his mouth, not using two nostrils). The level of interest in and commitment to music here at Epiphany was evident in the attention the participants gave, as well as in their thoughtful and provoking questions. It is clear that an Organ 102 session is in order. If you are interested in knowing more about what resources would be needed for minor upkeep and/or more major enhancements to our Fisk gallery instrument, or if you are perhaps curious about what it would take to see a new organ installed once again in our chancel, please do not hesitate to reach out to me for a conversation.
On Saturday, January 27, the Young Organist Initiative of the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists hosted a masterclass at Harvard’s Memorial Church with Associate Organist/Choirmaster Dr. David von Behren. Two of this year’s scholarship students (including our own 6th-grader Ilario Faienza), along with one of the scholarship winners from last season, performed on the chancel organ. Then all were treated to the opportunity to play and climb inside the back gallery 2012 Fisk organ (seen in the picture below). A good time was had by all. Incidentally, Savannah Curro is a former YOI scholarship student; she was invited to speak to the group for a few minutes. You may recall her, as she spent her high school senior year as a music intern at Parish of the Epiphany (she sends her greetings!). Savannah has recently begun a divinity course of study at Yale University. She is also pictured below, next to Ilario.
Jeremy Bruns
