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April 2023 Issue

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The Dean's Column

We had a wonderful turnout for the Grosse Pointe organ crawl in March. Thank you to our hosts Michael Bradley, Aaron Kaleniecki, and Jim Biery. Three very different and successful instruments!

There are several community events highlighted in the rest of this newsletter. However, I'd like to especially draw your attention to Dr. James Kibbie's final Bach concert this Sunday at Hill Auditorium. This was a monumental undertaking and a fitting capstone to a tremendous career as organ professor and University Organist at the University of Michigan. We should all be proud to count Dr. Kibbie as one of our members!

Chapter Events Progressive Birmingham Concert Tuesday, May 23 6:30 pm Concert begins at First United Methodist, Birmingham

6:30-6:55-First Methodist (Schoenstein) 7:05-7:30 First Presbyterian (Nichols & Simpson) 7:40-8:05 Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (Casavant) Our closing event of the season is a progressive concert featuring three fantastic organs within walking distance of each other. This will be the first time our chapter has visited the brand new Casavant at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer

From the Registrar The New AGO Membership System is Coming  It has been over 3 years since a new system to replace OnCard was announced. Unfortunately, that first selection proved to be unsuited to the AGO organization. A more suitable software platform was selected and for the past year plus has been in development to meet our needs. Security of the new system, because our membership is global, must now meet not only US, but also the stringent EU requirements. This includes unique identifiers for each person.  The standard practice in modern databases is to use the email address to identify each user. We don’t think we have any members in our chapter that share a single email address, but need to resolve any problem before transitioning to the new system. If we’ve missed you and you are sharing an email address with another person, our first and best recommendation will be to take out one of the free email addresses (e.g. gmail.com) for one of the people. Contact our registrar, Pete Townsend at ptownsend@comcast.net for help on selecting an option and getting your records updated.

Complete Works of J.S. Bach Final Concert This Sunday!

James Kibbie continues his performance of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach in 18 recitals at the University of Michigan. The series is a thank-you for his 42 years on the university faculty and a fund-raiser for the James Kibbie Scholarship.  Program 18: Sunday, April 16 8:00 pm Introduction to the program at 7:40 pm Hill Auditorium In person or live-streamed (real time only) here The schedule, programs, recording downloads, and a link to donate to the James Kibbie Scholarship are available on the series website here.

Upcoming Community Events

TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023 AT 7:30 PM Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian, Detroit  Dualing Organs - Featuring Rhonda Sider Edgington and Tony Monaco The Music Series at Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church in collaboration with Jazz at JAPC will present Holland based organist Rhonda Sider Edgington with renowned B3 artist and educator, Tony Monaco! The two organists will take turns featuring works on our mighty Skinner Organ and with the Hammond B3. Admission to the concert is free and it will also be live-streamed on the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Facebook page.

Job Postings St. Michael's Episcopal in Grosse Pointe Woods is seeking an organist/choir director Click Here for Details First United Methodist in Royal Oak is seeking a collaborative pianist. Click Here for Details

Do you have news that you’d like to share with the Chapter? Please send your information to Andrew Herbruck at andrew@fpcbirmingham.org for inclusion in the next issue of The Bombarde.