The Anniversary Concert
celebrating the Létourneau Organ, Op. 80 featuring Lutheran Church of the Redeemer’s Organ Scholars
ANDREW JACOB 2018-19
MARTHA BARTH 2019-20
SAM LONG 2021-22
KIRA GARVIE 2022-23 and
SARAH HAWBECKER RedeemerOrganist
Friday, January 27, 2023~ 7:30 pm
THE PROGRAM
This evening’s concert is generously supported by Carol and Mike Bell; and Leta and Mark Helsel.
Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein, BuxWV 210 Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Kira Garvie
Sonata in A Major, Op. 65, no.3
Con moto maestoso
Andante tranquillo
Amazing Grace
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Sam Long
Hymn # 858 “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
Introduction: setting by Paul Manz (1919-2009)
Stanza 1: all
George Shearing (1919-2011)
Stanza 2: organ setting by Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
Stanzas 3 & 4: all
Elf on a Moonbeam
Psalm Prelude, Set 1, no. 3
Andrew Jacob
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Herbert Howells (1892-1983) (Psalm 23, v. 4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.)
Martha Barth
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
Sarah Hawbecker
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Please join us for a reception in Sims Atrium following the concert. The reception is sponsored by David McGahan.
THE PERORMERS
Martha Barth is originally from Northfield, Minnesota. She graduated magna cum laude from St. Olaf College in 2019, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a concentration in German Studies. She studied both piano and organ under the instruction of Dr. Kent McWilliams and Dr. Catherine Rodland respectively. From 2011 to 2019 she served as accompanist at the Church of St. Dominic in Northfield as well as at the church of St. Mathias in Hampton, Minnesota from 2018 to 2019. After graduation, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia for a year assistantship as the organ scholar at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. After her year as organ scholar she began her master’s degree in Sacred Music, Organ Performance at the University of Notre Dame under the instruction of Dr. Kola Owolabi. After completing her master’s in 2022, she moved back to Minnesota where she is now the Director of Liturgy and Music at Nativity of Mary Catholic Church in Bloomington.
Kira Garvie grew up on a farm in the beautiful Hudson Valley of Upstate New York. She received her undergraduate degree in organ performance from Boston University, where she sang in the Marsh Chapel Choir and was a regular continuo player for the Boston University Baroque Chamber Ensembles. After undergraduate, she moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where she completed a master’s degree in organ and sacred music and a performer’s diploma in organ performance at Indiana University. Kira is passionate about the history and development of liturgy and congregational song. When not playing music, she loves quilting, knitting, and exploring local parks and hiking trails.
Sarah Hawbecker is an active recitalist, full-time church musician, and winner of numerous competitions. She is a prize winner of both the 1998 and 1996 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. She won first place in the 1988 Undergraduate Organ Competition, Ottumwa, Iowa, and was a finalist in the 1992 Spivey International Organ Competition. Ms. Hawbecker’s performances have been recorded and broadcast on American Public Media’s radio program Pipedreams® .
Ms. Hawbecker has a varied organ repertoire and enjoys designing programs tailored to the specific instrument and the audience. Whether playing a “traditional” organ program, allBach, American composers, Halloween concerts, or interactive concerts for children, her goal is to engage the audience and share her love of the instrument and its music. Also recognized as a specialist with children’s choirs, she is frequently asked to lead workshops in the area of church music and children’s choir techniques. She has presented workshops and performed for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and for conferences of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. Her articles have been published in several professional journals: The American Organist (AGO), CrossAccent (ALCM), and The Chorister (Choristers Guild). She has adjudicated several organ competitions, most notably the semi-final round of the 2008 National Young Artists Competition
in Organ Performance.
A native of Illinois, Ms. Hawbecker studied organ and church music with John Ferguson at St. Olaf College, where she earned the Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude with Departmental Distinction, and was elected into Pi Kappa Lambda. She went on to earn the Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Russell Saunders. An active lifetime member of the American Guild of Organists, she served three terms on its National Council and completed two terms on the Board of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians as a regional president.
Ms. Hawbecker is Organist and Director of Children’s Music at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Atlanta, Georgia, where she has served since 1996. She is also on the staff of Orgues Létourneau Limitée of St-Hyacinthe, Québec as a project consultant and regional representative on the east coast of the United States. She is on the roster of www.concertartistscooperative.com.
Andrew Jacob holds an active career as an organist and church musician. He currently serves as the Organist and Co-Director of Music at Augustana Lutheran Church in West St. Paul, MN, a congregation with a long history of excellence in the arts. His greatest joy at the organ comes when leading a worshiping congregation in song. He has led hymn festivals around the country in academic institutions and churches of various denominations and has been invited to coach hymn playing and improvisation techniques at continuing education conferences for organists and church musicians.
In addition to his role at Augustana, Andy is the Music Director for St. Olaf College’s internationally syndicated sacred music radio program, Sing For Joy. Each week, the program airs sacred choral music following the scriptural lessons specified in the Revised Common Lectionary.
A multiple prize winner, he is the winner of the 2019 Ruth and Paul Manz Scholarship Competition administered by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, the 2020 American Guild of Organists’ Student Commissioning Project Grant, and the 2021 Richard VanScriver Church Music Scholarship in Organ through Metropolitan Music Ministries in Charlotte, NC.
Andy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from St. Olaf College and a Master of Music degree in organ performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) where he was a Kenan Organ Scholar. His primary teachers have included Dr. Catherine Rodland and James E. Bobb at St. Olaf and Dr. Timothy Olsen at UNCSA.
Sam Long attended St. Olaf College, where he sang with the famed St. Olaf Choir and studied organ with Dr. Catherine Rodland. He graduated in May 2021 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music with an organ emphasis. A native of Massachusetts, Sam’s choral training came as a chorister of the St. Thomas Choir School in New York City, under the direction of the late John Scott. Previously, he served as one of the Chapel Organists at St. Olaf College, and as Organist at All Saints Episcopal Church, Northfield, Minnesota. He will soon begin working as Organist and Choirmaster at Memorial Congregational Church in Sudbury, MA.
This evening we celebrate the anniversary of the Létourneau Organ, Op. 80. The organ was dedicated in worship services on Sunday, December 15, 2002, and inaugurated on Friday, January 17, 2003, with a solo concert performed by Redeemer Organist Sarah Hawbecker.
The congregation of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer eagerly shares this instrument with the community through concerts, worship services and other musical events. The organ was made possible through gifts from hundreds of generous and committed individuals. The Redeemer congregation has a long history of excellence in music and worship, and this organ has proved to meet the church’s musical and liturgical needs exceedingly well.
It is appropriate at this occasion to recognize Fernand Létourneau and the entire staff of Orgues Létourneau Ltée, as well as the Pipe Organ Committee, who worked so diligently on the organ project, from conception to installation:
Timothy Albrecht
† L. Travis Brannon Jr.
Richard H. Cordell
† H. Bruce Dull, Worship Board Chair
Sarah J. Hawbecker, Redeemer Organist
† Raymond J. Martin, Redeemer Organist Emeritus
† Charles H. Schisler, Chair
Paul C. Walter
† deceased
Past Anniversary Concert performers:
2004 Sarah Hawbecker with the Atlanta Brassworks
2005 Catherine Rodland
2006 Todd Wilson
2007 Fred Swann
2008 Hymn Festival with John Ferguson and the Redeemer Choir
2009 Aaron David Miller
2010 Hymn Festival with Sarah Hawbecker and the Redeemer Choir
2011 Gail Archer
2012 Joby Bell
2013 David Higgs
2014 Martin Jean
2015 Christopher Jacobsen
2016 “Melodies and Milestones” celebration of Sarah Hawbecker’s 20th year, with Sarah Hawbecker, the Atlanta Brassworks, and the Redeemer Choir
2017 Eric Plutz
2018 Stephen Tharp
2019 Isabelle Demers
2020 Alceé Chris
2021 Dexter Kennedy
2022 Jan Kraybill
