Next stop on Great Elgin Pipe Organ Tour at St. Laurence
The next stop on “The Great Elgin Pipe Organ Tour” with guest organist Jeff Neufeld will be on Sunday, Feb. 9, at St. Laurence Catholic Church.
The series began last fall with Neufeld, the music director and organist at First Congregational in Elgin, and guest organists performing on the many pipe organs of Elgin’s churches, from the massive four-manual Austin/Rodgers organ at First United Methodist, to the small but mighty one-manual Casavant at Christ the Lord Lutheran earlier this January.
St. Laurence is in the middle of the 12 participating Elgin churches with a wind-blown pipe organ, and one of the newest on the block.
It will be at 3:30 p.m. at the church, 225 Jewett St. in downtown Elgin. Note the early start time so you’ll have time for the Super Bowl later in the evening.
The musical selections include: Johann Jacob Froberger’s “Fantasia”; Nicolas Bruhns’ Prelude and Fugue in G minor; J.S. Bach’s Two Chorales for Epiphany: “Christe, Der Du Bist Tag Und Licht” and “Gelobet Seist Du, Jesu Christ”; John A. Behnke’s “Partita” on “Kum Ba Yah”; Domenico Bellando’s “Marche Pontificale”; Dietrich Buxtehude’s Praeludium in D major; Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Ave Maria” vocal duet; Françcois Couperin’s “Messe des Paroisses,” Gloria section; Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise,” 14 Romances, Op. 34 (clarinet); and Théodore Dubois’ Toccata in G.
Admission is free, and a freewill offering will be taken.
Upcoming concerts will feature the pipe organs at St. Mary’s Catholic, First Presbyterian, Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Bethlehem Lutheran, and Holy Trinity Lutheran before culminating with an organ and orchestra concert at First Congregational.
Most of the organ concerts will be headlined by Neufeld who holds degrees in organ performance from Wheaton College, Northwestern University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison, but some of the concerts will also feature that church’s resident organist, instrumentalists and vocalists, or include a hymn sing.
Visit fcc-elgin.org/organ-tour/ to learn more as the concert dates and times for each church continue to be finalized and published.