BANGOR — The St. John’s Organ Society in Bangor will present three evenings of organ and chamber music in honor of the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Belgian-born French composer, pianist, organist, and teacher César Franck (1822-1890).
The recitals will be held at St. John Church, located on 207 York Street, on Monday through Wednesday, Oct. 10-12, featuring a distinguished group of musicians that will perform organ and chamber music by Franck, his teacher François Benoist, and related compositions of the period. All three recitals begin at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, and donations are appreciated.
The featured performers include:
Organist Jonathan Moyer (Tuesday), the David S. Boe chair and associate professor of organ at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, who has performed with numerous ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Oberlin Symphony Orchestra, Quire Cleveland, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and the Handel Choir of Baltimore.
Organist Dana Robinson (Wednesday), professor of organ and chairman of the Keyboard Area at the School of Music at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, who has performed at the national conventions of the Organ Historical Society, conventions of the American Guild of Organists, and as organist and choirmaster at Trinity Cathedral in Davenport, Iowa.
Violinist Anatole Wieck (Monday), who studied violin and viola at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City where he earned a doctorate in musical arts, is a professor for upper strings at the University of Maine in Orono, and has performed and conducted in Europe and South America.
Pianist Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta (Monday), who has appeared as piano soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Peru, and Mexico, including two solo recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and at the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Organist Kevin Birch (Monday), the director of music at St. John Church, executive director of the St. John’s Organ Society, which is dedicated to the preservation of the E. & G. G. Hook’s Opus 288 built for St. John’s Church in 1860, and member of the music faculty at the University of Maine in Orono.
Featured instruments include St. John’s E. & G. G. Hook Organ, Opus 288, and a Parisian harmonium by Alexandre Père & Fils.
For more information about the series, visit the St. John’s Organ Society website at www.hookopus288.org.