Newswise — Acclaimed concert organist Stephen Tharp will highlight the School of Music’s 2010 Church Music Conference Friday, Jan. 29, and Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Concert Hall in UA’s Moody Music Building.
The Tharp concert will cap two days of concerts, workshops and master classes in voice, organ, choral performance, children’s choirs, liturgy and instruments in worship. The conference, under the direction of Dr. Faythe Freese, UA associate professor of organ, attracts more than 100 church musicians each year from the Southeastern United States.
Tharp’s performance, at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, will include works by Charles-Marie Widor, Jehan Alain, Fredrik Sixten, César Franck and others. Having played more than 1,300 concerts worldwide, Tharp has earned a reputation as the most traveled concert organist of his generation.
His latest release, “The Complete Organ Works of Jeanne Demessieux” on Aeolus Recordings, received the 2009 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Germany’s premier critic’s prize for recordings. He has served as Organist at St. Patrick’s Cathedral from 1995 to 1997 and the associate organist at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York from 1998 to 2002. His Web site is www.stephentharp.com.
“Lifting Up Our voices and Instruments in Song: A Progressive Concert” will lead off the conference at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29. The performance will include the winner of the 2010 UA Organ Scholarship Competition as well as UA music faculty members Dr. Stephen Cary, Paul Houghtaling, Dr. Susan Fleming, Dr. Jennifer Cowgill, Doff Proctor, Dr. Jenny Mann, Shelly Meggison and Freese, as well as UA’s Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Marvin Latimer, and the University Singers, under the direction of Dr. John Ratledge.
Tickets for the performances are $12 for adults, $7 for seniors and free for students or conference participants. The conference costs $85 if registered by noon Friday, Jan. 22. Registration at the door is $95. Registrations for three-to-four participants from one church will receive $10 off per person, and five or more participants from one church will receive $20 off per person if received before noon Jan. 22.
For group rates and further information, contact Freese at 205/348-3329, [email protected]. To register online, or for more information on the conference and performances, go to http://music.ua.edu/departments/organ/2009-church-music-conference-pre-registration/.
The School of Music is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Teams.
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