We are currently seeking funding to restore and enhance this noble and historic instrument in the near future so that it may continue to be the touchstone for music at Grace Church, the city of Providence, and the state of Rhode Island. Please speak to the Rector or Director of Music if you are interested in helping this cause. Upcoming Music at Grace . Thursday, May 13 at 12 Noon Kevin Neel, Organ Organist & Choir Director, Emmanuel Church, Boston Thursday, May 20 at 12 Noon Gigi Mitchell-Velasco, Organ Providence, Rhode Island GRACE CHURCH Thursday, May 27 at 12 Noon IN PROVIDENCE Vince Edwards & David Heinze, Organ At the corner of Westminster and Mathewson Streets Grace Church in Providence THURSDAYS AT NOON CONCERT SERIES Please feel free to stay for the entire half-hour concert or for five minutes - WELCOME! whatever works best for your schedule! We are delighted that you have joined us today at historic Grace AY Episcopal Church in downtown Providence. And we are M 6, 2021 particularly excited to welcome you to our first in-person Clara Gerdes Bartz, Organ musical events since November!! We know that you will take all safety precautions, including sitting in marked seating, distancing from others, wearing your mask at all times, and using hand sanitizer frequently. If you would like more information about music here at Grace, please contact Vince Edwards, Director of Music: [email protected]. Enjoyed the program or want to re-watch previous concerts? Today’s concert will be video recorded and posted on: @GraceChurchProvidence youtube.com/channel/UChrwpS_3rRe9MiaUpDIa26A vimeo.com/gracechurchprovidence PROGRAM A BIT OF HISTORY The first organ in the new Grace Church (1846) was installed Orb and Sceptre Sir William Walton (1902-1983) in the rear gallery by Henry Erben Co. of New York City. In Transcribed by Sir William McKie (1901-1984) 1886, the Hutchings Company of Boston replaced the Erben instrument with a large three-manual organ. This organ Scherzo, Op. 2 Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) featured a black walnut case with stenciled façade pipes which to this day, remains an iconic symbol of Grace Church. In Idyll, from Organ Album, Volume 1 1902, the choir was moved from the gallery to the small Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) chancel in the front of the church, and in 1904 the console was Transcribed by Arthur Eaglefield Hull (1876-1928) moved there as well. When the new chancel (designed by Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson) was built in 1912, the Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 514 Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Hutchings Co. supplied a small chancel organ to supplement the gallery organ. The present twin chancel organ cases were Transcribed by Ken Cowan & Clara Gerdes also installed at that time. In 1923, Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, built a large new chancel organ of over Clara Gerdes, from Davidson, North Carolina, is a 2021 1,800 pipes, and supplied a new console to control both graduate of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she studies with Martin Jean. She recently graduated from the Curtis organs. In 1959, the Grace Church vestry authorized a Institute of Music where she studied with Alan Morrison. She complete overhaul and expansion of both instruments. received first prizes in the Albert Schweitzer, AGO-Quimby Edward B. Gammons, a member of the National Joint Mid-Atlantic Regional and UNCSA School of the Arts organ Commission on Church Music served as consultant, along competitions; was the recipient of the 2020 Baker Prize in Organ with Grace Church organist Fred Cronhimer, and Lawrence Performance and received the first annual AGO Pogorzelski- Phelps of Casavant. Much of the Hutchings pipework from Yankee scholarship. She has performed around the United States, 1886 was included in the project, including the 32’ Soubasse. including at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York The Chancel Organ was enlarged to 3 manuals and pedal, and and Washington National Cathedral, the American Guild of a new console was provided to control the entire organ. This Organists 2018 National Convention in Kansas City, and at project culminated in 103 ranks of pipes (68 in the gallery and Spoleto, Oregon Bach Festival, Philadelphia International 35 in the chancel) with a total of 6,124 pipes. In 2010, a 4- Festival of the Arts and most recently the Uncommon Music manual console was designed and built by the firm R.A. Colby Festival in Sitka, Alaska. Pre-Covid, Clara served as Assistant of Tennessee, with the Walker Technical Company supplying Organist at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue in New York City and was previously Organ Scholar at Saint Mark’s over 100 digital ranks of pipes. This project, spearheaded by Church, Locust Street in Philadelphia. She has taught at Curtis then-Director of Music Mark Johnson, was intended to Summerfest and two AGO Pipe Organ Encounters and also compensate for the increasing number of dead notes in the enjoys transcribing works for organ and playing harpsichord. organ, and the dire need to re-leather the entire instrument. .