Orchestra, Pipe Organ and Solo Cantata Celebration all part of musical celebration

The west gallery of St. Matthew's Church in East Syracuse will soon be abundant with some of the region's finest liturgical musicians and orchestral instrumentalists. A rich and diverse program set for 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 17, will include solo organ works of Herbert Howells, J.S. Bach, a Bach solo Cantata for soprano and the soaring romanticism of Josef Rheinberger in his Second Organ Concerto.

Julie Grindle, former Chapel Organist and Instructor at Valparaiso University will open the program playing works spanning the early Baroque to the 20th century on the church's Wilhelm Zimmer tracker-action organ. Built in 1989 in the German Baroque style, the pipe organ renders the works of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries flawlessly. A re-voicing completed in 2009 by Tomasz Lewtak of Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders has also added a tonal depth such that works of the romantic era are capably expressed on this versatile instrument.
Grindle will include in the first part of the program the famous "gigue" fugue of J.S. Bach.

The second half of the program will open with a solo cantata of J.S. Bach sung by soprano Rebecca Liestikow and supported by chamber orchestra under the direction of Erik Kibelsbeck. Liestikow has sung early and baroque music around New England, appearing on Maine Public Radio's "Live at Eleven Series" and at the 2007 Boston Early Music Festival. Kibelsbeck, who is the current organist at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Ithaca and music director of the Onondaga Civic Symphony Orchestra, will direct this cantata from the organ.
The finale of this concert will have Grindle again at the console, and Kibelsbeck at the podium directing the orchestra. The work will be the Organ Concerto No. 2 of the prolific composer of both sacred and instrumental music, Josef Rheinberger. In 2011, Kibelsbeck approached the organist and music director of St. Matthew's, Jared Shepard, with the idea for a concert that would bring together a 25-plus person orchestra with an organ soloist. Through the Pro Musica Divina foundation, of which Shepard is Artistic Director, concerts of high artistic merit are brought into the community of East Syracuse, and this opportunity to put together great
instrumentalists, singers and soloists was a perfect match.

The concert is sponsored by Pro Musica Divina and admission is free of charge. A goodwill donation will be gratefully accepted. St. Matthew's Church is located at 100 Kinne St. in East Syracuse.

 

Date(s): 02/17/2013
Location St. Matthew Church - East Syracuse
229 West Yates Road
East Syracuse NY 13057-2398
Time 4pm
Cost none
Telephone (315)437-8318
Email stmatthews@syrdio.org

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