Friends,

A big change is coming in the way AGO dues are collected. Our national organization has a new online system called ONCARD which will function as a member data base and organizational dues collection. Instead of local chapters collecting dues and sending a portion to National, National will collect dues and send chapters their portions. Individuals and chapter officials will be able to update their own information. Chapter officers will be able to access data about members. This should result in less burden for local registrars and treasurers. You will receive this week, from AGOhq, an e-mail asking you to go online and update your personal information. Later you will receive an e-mail dues invoice from National. You may go online and pay this bill with a credit card or print the invoice and mail a check.  Please open any e-mail you receive from AGOhq and take a look at your information on the system. Don't hesitate to call Chris Toth or me if you have any questions.

Some of our chapter members will be presenting Pedals, Pipes and Pizza this Saturday to interested young pianists. We hope they will inspire some of these students to commence organ study. Thanks to the committee for organizing this event. (Take pictures, guys.) Good luck!

Fern  

 

The AGO's new Online National Collection and Remittal of Dues (ONCARD) system allows members to pay their dues online using a credit card. Members can also update their personal information, search for Guild members, and make contributions.

Members will be able to review and update their personal information starting the first week of March.

In April we will launch the 2014-2015 dues season and will begin invoicing members by email.

The report of the 2014 nominating committee and bios of the candidates can be found on our website: agocleveland.org.

What is Pedals, Pipes and Pizza? It is a National AGO program to introduce young piano students to the organ. Our chapter is co-sponsoring this event with the Conservatory Outreach program of Baldwin Wallace. The program will be Saturday, March 8, from 10 am to 2 pm in the Chapel at BW. It is geared toward Middle School and High School students, ages about 11 to 16, and is free - teachers and parents of the participants are also welcome. AGO is providing pizza and beverages for the for the participants. If you have piano students in your church or friends who teach piano we would be most appreciative if you could email to them the flyer announcing the event and registration form, which can both be downloaded as PDF files at the bottom of the chapter's home page. 

Questions? please contact Barbara MacGregor, macmus@roadrunner.com or Nicole Keller, organ Instructor at BW, at nkeller@bw.edu or by phone at 216-310-1694.

With appreciation,

PPP committee: James Buncher, Sue Huszai, Annie Kaschube, James Leek, Brian Wentzel; Nicole Keller and Barbara MacGregor, co-chairs

Sunday, March 16th at 11:00 AM
 
During the morning worship service of Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, the adult, youth and children's choir and a chamber orchestra will present Anne Wilson's Song of Hope.
 
The textual structure of the piece is based on the eight Beatitudes that mark the opening of the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of St. Matthew.  Each Beatitude is coupled with a relevant text drawn from many sources, including (in order): Carl Sandburg's poem Masses (from his Chicago Poems); the biblical book of Isaiah; the writings of Louisiana poet Pamela Pegg who described her emotions after the unspeakable events on 9/11; remarks made by Melba Pattillo Beals (one of the original African-American students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957); Mother Theresa's written inscription on the wall of her Children's Home in Calcutta, India; a poem by eleven-year-old Pavel Friedmann, written during his detention at the concentration camp Terezin during the Holocaust; a passage from a 1953 speech by Dwight D. Eisenhower; and a selection from a speech by Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa (attributed to poet Marianne Williamson).

Forest Hill Church is located at 3031 Monticello Blvd., Cleveland Heights, OH.

CHARLES CALLAHAN TO BE HONORED AT AGO
RECITAL AND GALA BENEFIT RECEPTION IN ST. LOUIS

Celebration of the His Lifetime Achievements
Will Benefit the AGO Endowment Fund

NEW YORK CITY - The American Guild of Organists (AGO) will sponsor a Recital and Gala Benefit Reception honoring award-winning organist and composer Charles Callahan on Friday, April 25, 2014, at 7:00 p.m., at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Callahan will perform a solo recital featuring works by American composers. The gala benefit reception will follow at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

 The Recital is free and open to the public. Gala Benefit Reception Tickets are $125 ($100 tax deductible) and can be purchased online at www.agohq.org or by calling 212-870-2311, ext. 4308. Gala ticket holders will be offered preferred seating and will have their names printed in the commemorative program book. The deadline to be included is April 1.

 Display advertising is offered in the commemorative program book. Ad sizes include an inside cover ($1,500, includes four gala tickets), full page ($1,000, includes two gala tickets) and half page ($500, includes one gala ticket) insertions. Advertising orders can be placed online at www.agohq.org. E-mail gala@agohq.org for further information. The advertising deadline is April 1. The publication will become a part of the American Organ Archives.

 Those unable to attend the Recital and Gala Benefit Reception are invited to participate from a distance by making a contribution to the AGO Endowment Fund in honor of Charles Callahan. Contribute online at www.agohq.org or by sending a check to the AGO Endowment Fund, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1260, New York, NY 10115. Contributions received by April 1 will be included in the commemorative program book. All proceeds from the Gala will honor Charles Callahan in perpetuity through the AGO Endowment Fund.

CHARLES CALLAHAN

A native of Cambridge, Mass., Charles Callahan is well known as an award-winning composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. Callahan's compositions are performed frequently in church and concert; his writing style has been described by The Washington Post as "gentle, confident lyricism."

 Dr. Callahan is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Catholic University of America, with additional study in England, France, Germany, and Belgium. He holds the AGO's Associateship and Choirmaster certificates.

 Among his notable compositions are two commissions from Harvard University and commissions from the Archdioceses of St. Louis and New York for Papal visits, scored for full orchestra, choir, and congregation. His Mosaics, a symphonic work in four movements for organ and orchestra, was premiered at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

 Dr. Callahan is frequently consulted on the design of new organs and the restoration of and improvements to existing instruments. His two volumes on American organ building history, The American Classic Organ and AEolian-Skinner Remembered, have become standard reference works.

 An active church musician and concert organist, Charles Callahan has performed on many of the great organs of the world and has a dozen solo recordings to his credit.  A member of the American Guild of Organists and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, he lives in rural Vermont.

Gerry Mass, our Cleveland Chapter Placement Officer collects and updates job openings in the area.  Although they are not listed in the weekly updates, there is a link in the "Quick Links" section every week that will take you to the updated list on the chapter website.  Questions or need help finding a position? Email: placement@agocleveland.org

Each week on Thursday, we publish this email newsletter to help you stay informed about activities and programs of the Cleveland AGO Chapter. Questions or comments? Please let us know:

admin@agocleveland.org.

Have a news item for a future issue? Send to: newsletter@agocleveland.org

The deadline each week is Tuesday at 5 PM for Thursday publication.

American Guild of Organists Cleveland Chapter
21600 Shaker Blvd
Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122
216-751-2320