- Around the Parish; Other Helpful Information   

Created in 1993 by then-Music Director Lawrence Molinaro, the Festival has shared the incomparable music of Johann Sebastian Bach through a series of innovative and integrated programs.  Festivals have also featured compositions by Bach contemporaries and those he influenced.  The Washington Post has commented: "Georgetown's C & O Canal runs near Grace Church, set quietly back from Wisconsin Avenue and a hairs-breath from the Potomac. The church offers one of Washington's supreme concert series, its annual Bach Festival."

The acoustics of the church are well-suited to chamber ensembles; the A. David Moore Organ (1981) is a fine partner for performances of the music of Bach and his contemporaries.  Organist/choirmaster Dr. Francine Maté has directed the Festival since 2000.  Performers in the 26 years of Bach Festivals have been drawn primarily from the Washington, DC area; others have been invited from within the United States and internationally.  Even though the concerts for 2021 will not be "live" in the Grace sanctuary, two concerts will feature the Grace organ.

The series will begin on Saturday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m. with current Bach Festival Director/Organist Francine Maté performing works by J.S. Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Nicolaus Bruhns.  Works on the program include the famous Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565 and one of the two Preludes and Fugues of Nicolaus Bruhns in e minor.

On Sunday, July 18 at 1:30 pm Polish Organist Dr. Michał Szostak will present videos of his performances of works by J.S. Bach, Nicolaus Bruhns, and Dietrich Buxtehude on various organs in Europe including the organs of Saint-Eustache in Paris, France, and in Legnica, Poland.  His program includes the second of the two Bruhns Preludes and Fugues in e minor, and the glorious J.S. Bach Passacaglia and Fugue.  Dr. Szostak has been a friend of Grace Church since he performed a solo organ recital in the Bach Festival's July 2018 series.  We welcome Dr. Szostak back to our Bach Festival.

On Friday, July 23 at 7:30 pm Italian Organist Salvatore Pronestì will present a concert of organ improvisations on the organs of the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, Germany, as well as other organs in Italy and The United States.  J.S. Bach was Organist and Kapellmeister at both the churches in Leipzig in the last 25 years of his life. Mr. Pronestì is a unique organist in that he is not only a Concert Organist, but also a Master Organ Builder. One improvisation will be on one of the organs that he created. Several other videos will be on organs such as the Pantheon in Rome, of which he is the Curator.  His program is titled "An Italian Concert Organist/Organ Builder from Leipzig to Atlantic City:  Improvisations from Both Sides of the Pond."

On Saturday, July 24 at 7:30 pm, Founder of the Bach Festival at Grace Church and Harpsichordist/Organist Lawrence Molinaro will be joined by Shaughn Dowd and Martha Molinaro, Flutes; Erika Sato, Violin; and Grace Molinaro, Cello to perform a program featuring trio sonatas by J.J. Quantz and J.S. Bach as well as Bach's sublime Sonata in e minor, BWV 1034 for Flute and Continuo.  Mr. Molinaro and Ms. Dowd were a part of the first Bach Festival at Grace Church in 1993, and of many Bach Festivals since that time.  Mr. Molinaro and Ms. Sato have played in many of our Bach Festival concerts, and we welcome their return.  Grace Molinaro performed in our 2019 Bach Festival, and this is Martha Molinaro's first performance on our series.  We welcome them both this evening.

On Sunday, July 25 at 1:30 pm  Austrian Organist Michael Koenig will perform an all-J.S. Bach recital on the American organ of St. George's Hannover Square, London, England, built by Richards, Fowkes, & Company of Ooltewah, Tennessee.  Works to be performed include the Pièce d'Orgue (Fantasia) in G Major BWV 572, and the Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541.  Mr. Koenig has lived in London, England since September 2018 where he completed a second Master's Degree. In September 2021 he will begin a Doctoral program at Oxford University, Oxford, England.  This is Mr. Koenig's first performance in the Bach Festival at Grace Church.  We are grateful to have him perform in our Festival, and we give him a big welcome to our Bach Festival.

The Festival concludes on Friday, July 30 at 7:30 pm with Soo Young Chrisfield, Soprano; Regino Madrid, Violin; Fatma Daglar, Oboe D'Amore; Charlie Powers, Cello; and Larry Molinaro, Harpischord performing movements from the Bach wedding cantata, BWV 210,"O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit" (O Glorious Day, Hoped-for Time)  . Organ music will be performed by Mr. Molinaro on the Grace Church A. David Moore Organ.  Ms. Chrisfield, Mr. Madrid, and Mr. Powers have played in numerous Bach Concerts at Grace Church over the years, and we welcome them again. We welcome Ms. Daglar's first performance in our Festival.

For more information, please visit our website at www.gracedc.org, or e-mail or call the Bach Festival Director, Dr. Francine Maté, at bach@gracedc.org or 202-333-7100.

Up to about a hundred years ago, give or take a few decades, nearly every Episcopal/Anglican church had a "poor box."  It was usually affixed to a wall of the narthex, and had a narrow slot on top or in front to receive monetary donations for less fortunate folks in the area served by the parish church . Those in the congregation who were doing well, or at least staying afloat, would drop in a little extra from their pockets each Sunday to remember their poor and needy neighbors.  The priest would then collect the proceeds and distribute them where it was felt to be most needed.  Such boxes can still be found in older historic sanctuaries, though they are seldom used now for their original purpose.

 

The reason we no longer put up "poor boxes" in our churches, is that such giving has become a regular part of our collections in most of our congregations.  In many of our churches, the "loose offering" is designated on one or more Sundays a month to be given to a particular outreach effort.  Loose offering is just that: it's not what we put in regularly toward our pledges or what we designate for a particular purpose.  It is the loose money, (change or folding kind), from our pockets that we toss in to help our neighbors in need.  In my last Parish that I served as the long-term rector, each Sunday's loose change was designated, either to the Soup Kitchen, or the Outreach Center, or to Habitat for Humanity for building low-cost housing for the poor.

 

On the First Sunday, though, the loose change went to the Rector's Discretionary Fund. Of all of the above, this one is probably closest to the old "poor box" idea.  Monies received in this fund go directly to helping neighbors around us in our parish area who are having a difficult time making ends meet.  Here at Grace Church, folks often contact the Rector directly to see if they can get help to keep the electricity, gas, or water on in their residences, or food on their tables, or a much-needed prescription in their medicine cabinet. In most cases these folks have experienced an unusual expense due to illness or other emergency, and just need enough for the moment to get them through to their next paycheck or Social Security check.  Now and then, a neighbor has landed a job after a hard time off, and just needs a little gas to get to work and home again until they finally start getting paid.

 

We refer to these folks as neighbors, because they are.  They live and work all around us.  Some of them wait on us, or serve us, or take care of us in the shops and businesses we frequent.  Nearly all are hard-working folks with families to support, or older retired folks on fixed incomes.  They would be terribly embarrassed to have it known that they've hit a rough patch and need help.  There is also the occasional traveler who gets stranded in our midst.  Though not our immediate neighbor, travelers become our neighbors for the time they are here.  We remember that the word travel comes from the same root as travail . Like the Good Samaritan's neighbor, who suffered great travail in his travels, these folks too need our help to reach home.  And, of course, here at Grace, our neighbors include the homeless, and others who wander our streets and frequent our front yard.