Weekly Update - Cleveland Chapter

American Guild of Organists

August 28, 2014

UPCOMING CHAPTER EVENTS

Sunday 9/21/14 - 4 PM
Kick off Picnic
Kick off the year with a picnic at Don Shultzaberger's home, Lakewood

Sunday 10/12/14 - 4 PM
Anthem Reading Session
Bring your favorite piece from your choral music library, we read them through. Get ideas for your church programming
Gesu Parish, 2470 Miramar Blvd, University Hts, OH

Saturday 11/1/14 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Roberta Gary - Professor Emerita of Organ at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
Body Mapping for Organists Workshop, co-sponsored by Oberlin, CIM
Church of the Covenant, Cleveland*

Friday 11/14/14 - 7:30 PM
Jonathan Rudy - Winner of the 2014 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance
Organ recital sponsored by AGO, St. John's Cathedral, and Trinity Cathedral
St. John's Cathedral, Cleveland*

From the Dean

Paul Guyer

ONCARD Renewals - Our chapter needs your help.

On June 20 the AGO national office sent out our chapter's 156 renewal notices through the new ONCARD system. Most got their notices through email, and a few elected to receive paper notices in the regular mail. To date 106 members have renewed their memberships without incident and the chapter has successfully received our portion of their dues.

This leaves 50 members, nearly a third of our chapter, who have not renewed their memberships after over two months. This has left us in a quandary about how to budget, and who to include in our chapter directory. As your new dean, this has left me very concerned and a bit sleep deprived. The national office ran an article in TAO explaining the new system, post card reminders were sent out, articles were included in the summer email updates, and I sent an email to everyone who had not renewed. But even with these efforts there is still a large number of outstanding renewals.

Although ONCARD was a national office driven change, our local Cleveland chapter executive committee would very much like to understand the issues people are having. If there are technical issues, help is available. If you're uncomfortable with paying on-line, you can print out a form and mail a check. If you prefer to do it entirely via paper you can request that. If there are issues with what we're doing as a chapter we'd like to be able to respond to concerns. Within the next few weeks members of the executive committee will be phoning those who have not renewed to check in and offer help.

I understand there are some that renew in September because of the fiscal schedule of their employers and I'm hoping this will soon help reduce the outstanding renewals.

If you just haven't gotten around to doing it, I would be most grateful if you could go ahead and complete the process. I'd like for the executive committee to be able to approve a budget and to print a complete directory soon.

I'm sorry the tone of this is not as upbeat as usual but I hope you'll appreciate my honesty. We have a great chapter here in Cleveland with opportunities to do wonderful things. I ask your help in moving us forward to fulfill our organization's mission.

Link to renew - https://www.agohq.org/oncard-login/

For problems or questions logging in, please contact the national help desk at info@agohq.org or by phone, 212-870-2310.

For local help please contact our registrar Chris Toth at tothchristopher@att.net phone: 216-406-0228

I can also be reached at paulguyer@gmail.com phone: 440-349-7086.

KICK OFF PICNIC - SUNDAY 9/21/14 - 4 PM

Kick off the year with a picnic at Don Shultzaberger's home in Lakewood

Don will be providing a main dish of delicious pulled-pork that can be enjoyed as a sandwich or on its own. We'll ask last names of A-G to bring salads, H-R casseroles side dishes, and S-Z desserts. Coffee and soft drinks will be provided. Please feel free to bring wine and/or beer to enjoy and share.

Directions to 17896 Captain's Cove, Lakewood, OH:

From the east get to Clifton Blvd (US 6) in Lakewood the best way you can. Proceed west on Clifton Blvd until the LAST stop light, just before crossing the Rocky River. Turn left (south) onto Lake Road. Captain's Cove is the group of houses behind the stone fence on the right. You will need to park on the west side of Lake Road since there is only limited parking into the complex, which should be reserved for anyone with physical limitations. There are six houses in the complex; 17896 is the last house on the right, all the way back the driveway.

From the west get to Lake Road (US 6) in Rocky River the best way you can. Proceed east on US 6 until the FIRST stop light in Lakewood after crossing the Rocky River. Turn right (south) onto Lake Road. Parking information for Lake Road and directions into the complex are given above.

Don's telephone number is 216-228-5225 if you need additional information.

AMERICAN VARIATIONS ORGAN CONCERT

FIRST·music will present "American Variations," and organ concert at First Lutheran Church, 603 Washington Ave., Lorain on Sunday, September 14 at 3:00 p.m. Brian Wentzel, First Lutheran's Director of Music, will play the church's famous Brombaugh pipe organ in music of American composers, including Samuel Barber, Dan Locklair, and Brian Wentzel, among others.

Brian Wentzel, msm, fago, has served as Director of Music at First Lutheran since 2006. At First Lutheran Brian has developed the FIRST*music series, and was instrumental in procuring a Historic Organ Citation for the church's organ, all while remaining focused on the core mission of leading congregational singing. Brian is an active performer in the Cleveland area, singing with two professional choruses (Apollo's Singers and Quire Cleveland) and regularly playing organ recitals and hymn festivals.

First Lutheran is home to a magnificent and historic Brombaugh pipe organ. In 2011, this instrument received a Historic Organ Citation from the Organ Historical Society, recognizing it as "an instrument of exceptional historic merit." This instrument is the fifth youngest organ to ever receive such an honor, and is one of only nine such organs in Ohio.

This concert is free and open to the public. It is part of First Lutheran's FIRST·music concert series, whose goal comes from the church's vision statement: to "use our musical resources to enhance our experience of God and as a gift to the community." First Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in downtown Lorain, known for good music and social service. More information can be found on the church's website, www.firstlutheranlorain.org/firstmusic.

THIS WEEK IN CLASSICAL MUSIC HISTORY

On August 31, 1878 American musician and Bach musicologist(Charles) Albert Riemenschneider was born. Riemenschneider was born into a musical family. His father, Karl H. Riemenschneider, was the president of German Wallace College in Berea, Ohio (which later became Baldwin-Wallace (BW) College). While still a student at the college, he was offered the then vacant position of Director of the Music Department in 1898. This department then became under his directorship the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music. In 1899 he graduated from the college and received its Alumni Merit Award.

In 1932, Albert Riemenschneider and his wife Selma founded the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach festival in America. It was modelled on the Bethlehem Bach Festival which was developed by Riemenschneider's friend, Dr. Frederick Wolle. (See more about Riemenschneider at Wikipedia.)

Here is a promotional video about the BW Bach Festival, a northeast Ohio musical highlight every Spring.

Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival

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A Note About Job Postings

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

About These Updates

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.

Contact Us

American Guild of Organists Cleveland Chapter
34520 Sherbrook Park Dr.
Solon, Ohio 44139
440-349-7086

About Us

The purpose of the American Guild of Organists is to promote the organ in its historic and evolving roles, to encourage excellence in the performance of organ and choral music, and to provide a forum for mutual support, inspiration, education, and certification of Guild members.