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| September 17, 2007 Our 2007-2008 season began with an Organ Crawl in the downtown Grand
Rapids area. We first visited an Aeolian residence organ, opus 1229, built in 1913 at a
private home downtown. We then had dinner at the Masonic Temple and heard the 1949 Moller
organ, opus 7809. We finished the evening at a private residence housing a 33 rank Kimball
opus 7057. We had a great turnout with over 70 people in attendance at our opening
meeting. Our Dean, Howard Slenk, announced our winning of the Chapter Challenge for last
year and also that we have had at least 14 new members join since then. |
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| October 15, 2007 Two weeks after the celebration in Ann Arbor honoring Marilyn Mason's sixty years of teaching at the University of Michigan, the Grand Rapids Chapter honored Dr. Mason at a dinner attended by sixty members. Eight of the members present were former students of hers, each of whom was given a package of bulbs of the tulip named "Marilyn." At the subsequent workshop entitled "Marilyn Mason Remembers," Dr. Mason discussed her long history of commissioning organ works, many of them from American composers. She played pieces by Edward Haines, Alice Jordan, Jean Langlais, et. al. An audience of more than seventy-five people was present, a record attendance at an organ workshop sponsored by our chapter. |
 Marilyn Mason photo by Beth Hamelund |
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| November 12, 2007 On Monday, November 12, Dolores Hruby, longtime local music director and composer of much choral music, was honored as our Michigan Composer of the Year at St. Jude Catholic Church where Mrs. Hruby was director of choirs from 1969 to 2004. The St. Jude adult choir, conducted by MaryAlice Clor-Miller, sang some of her choral works, as did the children's choirs of the Grand Rapids Musicians League directed by Heidi Vonk. Several of Hruby's piano and organ pieces also were performed. Our member David Klemmer is Director of Music at St. Jude's. |
 Dolores Hruby  Dolores Hruby greeting young choristers |
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| No December Meeting Merry Christmas |
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READ THIS Special
Essay on The Organ Recital in
America January 28, 2008 Our January program was a workshop on duets for organ and piano and organ four hands given by Marnie Giesbrecht and Joachim Segger. Dr. Giesbrecht is Professor of Music at the University of Alberta and Adjunct Professor at The King's University College at Edmonton. Dr. Segger is Professor of Piano and Theory at The King's University College, Edmonton, Alberta and Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta. Together, husband and wife perform as Duo Majoya. |
 Marnie Giesbrecht and Joachim Segger |
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| February 18, 2008
On February 18, approximately 36 of our members braved cold temperatures, falling snow and slippery roads and streets traveling to Immanuel Lutheran Church to have dinner together and enjoy an evening with our guest, Tom Trenney. Mr. Trenney, Director of Music Ministries and Organist at First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, MI, and a 2006 winner of both First prize and Audience Prize in the American Guild of Organists’ National Competition in Organ Improvisation, both entertained and educated us through his presentation: Abracadabra – Magically Making Music in the Moment. In his friendly and unique way he showed us how to develop techniques of improvisation we could use in creating news ways of introducing hymns in the worship service other than just playing them from the hymnal. |
 Tom Trenney |
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| No March Meeting | ||
| April 21, 2008 John Weaver presented a wonderful concert on Sunday, April 20, at Mayflower Congregational Church and presented a masterclass and discussed his career for the guild on Monday the 21st. Dr. Weaver served as Director of Music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1970-2005. He was also Head of the Organ Department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1972-2003 and Chair of the Organ Department at the Juilliard School from 1987-2004. |
 John Weaver with student, Bethany Vrieland and her teacher, Norma deWaal Malefyt |
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| May 19, 2008 On Monday, May 19th, over seventy members and guests celebrated winning last year's Chapter Challenge of the National American Guild of Organists with a gala banquet at The Peninsular Club in downtown Grand Rapids. Following dinner, James Bratt, the author of Gathered At The River, a history of churches in Grand Rapids, gave a very interesting presentation. |
 James Bratt addresssing GRAGO |
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