Stop by on your lunch break each Wednesday in March, and enjoy a respite in the middle of your week
St. Andrew United Methodist Church invites the community to its first lunch-time organ recital series, highlighting the sounds of the impressive 4-manual Létourneau in the refined acoustics of the sanctuary, each Wednesday in March, from 12 p.m. to 12:35 p.m., at 5801 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas 75093.
“Prominent organists from the area will present 30-minute programs to provide a respite of beautiful music in the middle of the week,” said Chris Crook, Minister of Music and Worship, St. Andrew UMC. “We invite the community to join us each Wednesday as our magnificent Létourneau organ comes alive at the hands of some of the area’s most talented musicians.”
In order, the organists include: Graham Schultz, Church of the Incarnation (March 4); Bradley Reznicek, Highland Park United Methodist Church (March 11); Jonathan Gregoire, St. Andrew United Methodist Church (March 18); Damin Spritzer, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral (March 25).
"Lunch-time recitals provide a perfect break in the work day to unplug from the office as well as a guaranteed length for the perfect morsel of music,” added Jonathan Gregoire, Associate Director of Music/Organist. “Please join us on any Wednesdays that work best with your schedule, and experience the stunning resources of St. Andrew.”
FEATURED MUSIC:
March 4: Graham Schultz’s concert will focus on Mendelssohn's Sonata No. 3 and Bach's setting of “Aus tiefer Noth,” being based on Psalm 130, "From the Depths I have cried to you, O Lord." Then, for Holy Week, César Franck's “Pièce Héroïque” as a dramatic representation of Palm Sunday, a Buxtehude chorale prelude for Good Friday, and the Easter joy as heard through the clamorous “Te Deum” by Jean Langlais.
March 11: Bradley Reznicek will present a program of familiar favorites. From Guilmant's "Marche on a Theme of Handel (Lift Up Your Heads)" to Boëllemann's roaring toccata from "Suite Gothique," the other chorale preludes will show the full resources of the Létourneau, particularly the Bach/Fox powerful arrangement of "Come, Sweet Death."
March 18: Jonathan Gregoire’s program will include musical depictions of a particular time and place. The program will open with a pair of pieces titled "Évocation:" the final toccata from Dupré’s “Évocation,” which allows the listener to create the narrative, and Liszt’s, “Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine,” which sets two pieces heard in the Sistine Chapel, Allegri’s “Miserere” and Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus.” The program will close with Neukomm’s stirring “Grand Dramatic Fantasy,” also known as “A Concert on a Lake, interrupted by a Thunderstorm.”
March 25: Damin Spritzer’s program will include "Resurrection" by King, and "De profundis" by Howells, representing two of the greatest and most stirring 20th century organ works that deal with the journey through the ashes of Lent to the glory of the Easter mystery. Both employ the softest of strings up to the most roaring of reeds, in entirely different genres and harmonic languages.
ABOUT THE ORGANISTS:
A native of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Graham Schultz currently serves as Assistant Organist at the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Concurrently, he was Organist and Choirmaster of St. James, Cleveland where he oversaw a professional music program in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Prior to studying in Cleveland, Schultz attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in northern Michigan where, upon graduation, he was awarded the Fine Arts Award in Organ Performance. From 2010-2013 Schultz was the Lloyd Cast Organ Fellow at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, New York, where he served as the principal organist and assisted in overseeing the nation’s oldest continuously performing Choir of Men and Boys. His teachers have included Thomas Bara, Charles Rigsby, and Todd Wilson. Schultz currently serves as a Regional Councilor for the Association of Anglican Musicians.
Bradley Reznicek completed a 12-year tenure in 2014 as Music Associate/Organist at the 6,000-member St. Andrew United Methodist Church of Plano, Texas. He received the Bachelor of Music degree in Organ and Church Music from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, and the Master of Music degree in Organ from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. While at St. Andrew UMC, he oversaw the installation of the 77-rank Létourneau organ in May 2003. Reznicek is a member of the American Guild of Organists and has performed recitals across Texas and Mississippi. In May 2013, he was featured soloist with the Plano Symphony Orchestra in Saint-Saën’s Symphony No 3 in C-minor “Organ Symphony.” Reznicek has made four recordings with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and 200-voice chorus at Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, on the 191-rank Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn Casavant organ. He now serves as co-Practice Manager for North Texas Gynecologic Oncology medical practice in Dallas and continues ministering through music as Organist at Highland Park United Methodist Church.
Praised for his “expert account” of Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster by The Dallas Morning News, Dr. Jonathan Gregoire, serves as the Associate Director of Music and Principal Organist at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. In addition to accompanying the many choirs of St. Andrew, he is the Director of the St. Andrew Academy of Music and serves as curator for the Sanctuary’s exquisite 4-manual Létourneau Organ, Opus 87. Dr. Gregoire performs nationally and internationally, and received the title of Diploma Laureate in the 2013 Tariverdiev International Organ Competition. As a scholar, he serves as reviewer for the Orgelpark in Amsterdam and the Organ Historical Society. He has received top honors for his degrees in organ performance from Arizona State University, the University of Kansas, St. John’s University and the Interlochen Arts Academy. For additional information, including audio links, please visit: www.jonathangregoire.com
Sought after for lectures and performances, praised for “enormous sensitivity and musicianship” (AAM Journal), and hailed as “elegantly assured” (The Dallas Morning News), Dr. Damin Spritzer has performed organ recitals all through America and records internationally. She has been a featured artist for American Guild of Organist Conventions and had the honor of being heard with “Pipedreams” radio broadcasts on numerous occasions as well as in the Netherlands and Cananda. Cathedral Organist and Artist-in-Residence for Cathedral Arts at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew in Dallas, she was appointed Visiting Professor of Music for the fall semester of 2014 at the University of Oklahoma and as Adjunct Professor of Organ Literature and Sacred Music at the University of North Texas, where she continues to teach. Previously she held positions with University Park United Methodist Church and Saint Rita Catholic Church, both in Dallas. Her doctorate was received from the University of North Texas, her Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music, and her Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Her first two commercial CD recordings are world-premiere discs of the music of Rene Becker and were recorded at the Church of Saint Soloman and Saint Gregory in Pithiviers, France, and at the Cathédrale de la Sainte-Croix à Orléans, France. Both were released with RavenCD.com to critical acclaim. Additional information may be found at www.daminspritzer.com
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St. Andrew United Methodist Church is a vibrant, growing, intergenerational church. Begun in 1986, St. Andrew is located on a 21.214 acre campus at the corner of Plano Parkway and Mira Vista and includes a sanctuary, education, music and nursery wing, completed in 2003. Nearly 2,000 come together every weekend through six different worship services: Saturday Night Alive!-5:30 p.m.; Sunday Early Service-8:00 a.m.; Teaching Service-9:30 a.m.; and Traditional Service-11:00 a.m.; The Well contemporary worship at 9:09 a.m. and 10:39 a.m. St. Andrew is an outward-focused church striving to lift the world around us toward God and provides a number of local and global mission opportunities including the Seven Loaves Community Center, which provides a myriad of services to qualifying residents of all Collin County zip codes directed at improving lives and breaking the poverty cycle. A number of caring ministries are in place to support members in all phases of life from support groups to career care in addition to ministries focused on each age group. Additional ministries include a strong music program with choirs, instrumental groups, as well as the Academy of Music, offering private lessons. Selected as “Best Place to Worship in Plano” by the readers of the Plano Star Courier in 2014 and 2013, St. Andrew UMC provides each individual with opportunities to connect to the community and contribute their unique gifts to the congregation's spirit. St. Andrew United Methodist Church is located at 5801 Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas 75093. Additional information can be found at www.standrewumc.org