Free Organ Concert Featuring Brian Jones & James Busby May 11
Christ Church Unity invites the public to a free concert involving a historic organ known as E & GG Hook Opus 307 on May 11, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. Donations will be accepted for the Organ Fund. The concert will feature Brian Jones, Emeritus Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Boston, and James Busby, Organist and Choirmaster at St. Stephen’s Church in Providence, RI. Their biographies are attached below.
According to Reverend Evrol Officer, LUT, “We are blessed each Sunday during our 11:00 a.m. Celebration Service at Christ’s Church Longwood with the majestic sounds of this wonderful instrument played by our talented Music Director, Fritz Winegardner. Now, I’m looking forward to hearing Fritz together with Brian Jones and James Busby on Opus 307.”
The event commemorates the completion of first-ever major repairs to an instrument of historic and musical importance, Hook Opus 307. This grand, elegant organ was acquired by David Sears II in 1861 from Boston-based E & GG Hook. At that time, the Hook brothers stood among the world’s most admired and sought after organ builders. Opus 307 has remained in its original home, in its original condition, at Christ’s Church Longwood, also known as the Sears Chapel, ever since.
This substantial and beautiful church was built and endowed in 1859 by Mr. Sears, a prominent Bostonian, philanthropist, and descendant of John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Sears built the church at a time of sectarian quarrels. His dream was to gather people together for common prayer without regard to sectarian leanings. Mr. Sears sought to underwrite “a liturgy with no dogmatic aim,” according to the sermon given just after his burial in 1871. The Sears family supports the church to this day. John W. Sears, the current Managing Trustee, notes, “The church was not used by the public for many years after World War I. As a result, the organ was preserved by not heating the building every Sunday. In 1967, when Rev. Tom Newman began the Unity ministry at the invite of the Sears family, the organ was hand pumped by hearty parishioners every Sunday for several years [before the pumping was electrified]. Today, we are able to listen to a rare artifact and hear what it sounded like almost 150 years ago.”
“Opus 307 is a musical jewel in and of itself, but its historical merit is also significant,” says Sean O’Donnell, the organ builder hired in 2004 for the first-ever major repair work on the instrument. “Most organs spend their lives telling other people’s stories: weddings, births, deaths, etc. This one, we discovered, has several stories of its own.” When Mr. O’Donnell and his team took the organ apart to remove and clean 1,114 pipes and sets of bellows and winkers, they found etchings on the pipes and inner frames that could only have been put there by workers at the Hook factory in Boston. The letters “SUFJ” are clearly visible in photos. “There were 100 men working at Hook’s factory in 1861 when this organ was built,” says Mr. O’Donnell. “By 1863, Hook was running on a skeleton crew of old men. The younger men had gone off to the Civil War. Perhaps we are seeing their hopes and fears etched inside this organ, hidden from light for 147 years. Maybe ‘SUFJ’ is an acronym for ‘Stand Up For Jesus,’ a pledge found on posters of the day. If only we knew what people were whistling in the streets or singing in the pubs of 1860, we’d be able to solve this mystery once and for all,” he adds.
According to Fritz Winegardner, the long-time Musical Director for Christ Church Unity, “we know from construction records that the organ had never before been taken apart and put back together inside the building. As we embarked on this repair, we felt a bit of fear and excitement knowing that no one had been inside this instrument since the time it was built.” Beyond the historical mini-drama, however, Mr. Winegardner has revived a lifelong ambition to focus on organ playing. “The songs I am now playing on Opus 307 sound almost like new music. This instrument is a gem, and it’s going to be around for another 100 years.” For more information, contact Reverend Evrol Officer, LUT or Fritz Winegardner at:
Christ Church Unity
70 Colchester Street
Brookline, MA 02446
Phone: 617-232-4548
Email: info@unityboston.org
Website: www.unityboston.org
b r i a n j o n e s b i o g r a p h y
Brian Jones has accepted an invitation to serve as Interim Associate Organist at Memorial Church, Harvard University in Cambridge, MA for second semester of the 2007—2008 academic year, where he will work with Edward Elwyn Jones, Gund Organist & Choirmaster and the music staff, playing services, occasionally conducting the University Choir and Choral Fellows, and assisting with special services and concerts. He is Emeritus Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Boston, where he directed a widely acclaimed program for 20 years. From Sept, 2005 to Nov, 2007. he was Interim Director of Music & Organist at Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston. From Sept, 2004-Feb 2005, he was Interim Director of Cathedral Music at the Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has performed as an organ concert artist in many parts of the United States and England, and his programs have often been praised for their variety and interest, as well as for the artistic and communicative integrity he brings to the music of the King of Instruments. He has been heard in such venues as the National Cathedral, Washington, DC, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, St Thomas Church, New York City, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, OR, Rutgers University, Harvard, Yale, Smith College, Westminster College in PA, and Wheaton College (MA). He has often played programs for conventions of the American Guild of Organists, Organ Historical Society, and the Association of Anglican Musicians. With flutist Susan Clarke he has performed many programs which have explored a wide range of the literature for flute and organ. He has released many recordings of organ solo music, music for brass and organ, for piano and organ, and with the Trinity Choir.
Mr. Jones gave a highly acclaimed performance at the Romantic Organ Symposium in Milwaukee, which a reviewer said "had life, passion, excitement—all elements too seldom heard in any organ recital, indeed too seldom heard in any recital." He has been a tireless advocate for the organ and its music, and had done many demonstrations for listeners of all ages, incorporating music of all periods and styles into his programs. He has often been heard on National Public Radio, and also on the BBC. He has taught at many workshops and conferences of the American Guild of Organists and American Choral Director’s Association, and also at the Evergreen Music Conference, Sewanee COnference, and St. Dunstan’s Workshop. This summer (2004) he will lecture at the Eton Choral Course in England. He has played many dedication recitals of new and rebuilt organs, and has been praised for his ability to communicate the breadth, depth and brilliance of a new instrument to members of congregations which have invested significant resources in such a new venture. In his time at Trinity Church in Boston, one of America’s great churches, he built the Trinity Choir into a group of national and international prominence, and founded the Parish Choir which has also been highly successful. Candlelight Carols, on the London-Polygram label, has enjoyed immense popularity for more than a decade, and in a review of With Heart And Voice, critic David Vernier called the Trinity Choir “one of America’s outstanding choirs,” praising the group as “musically accomplished, exemplary in technique, experienced in a formidable range of repertoire, and possessing a concordant, evenly-balanced ensemble sound that can only be described as sublime.” Radiant Light—Songs for the Millennium, on the Dorian label, has had similar response, and listener reviews of this recording on amazon.com average five stars. A Choral Christmas, released several years ago, elicited the following first review: “this is a first rate recording that will satisfy all listeners looking for an ideal all-around Christmas choral collection.” Gramophone Magazine said: “We hear sweetness, purity, and serenity throughout this recording, certainly an example of American choral performance at its height. Recorded in Trinity Church’s reverberant yet transparent acoustics, the recording brings reflective and exuberant holiday sentiments into glowing focus.” During the month of December, 2001, A Choral Christmas was consistently in the top 25 CD’s on amazon.com. His latest CD with the Trinity Choir, The Sounds of Light, will be released this spring. The Trinity Choir has often been heard on National Public Radio, as well as in Great Britain on the BBC, where the group was recently featured in a February broadcast especially recorded in Boston by British engineers. In June, 1997, the Trinity Choir toured England, with services and performances in such significant venues as Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Salisbury Cathedral; and New College, Oxford. The Trinity Choir toured Central Europe in June, 2004.
He is a graduate of Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Boston University and studied organ with Haskell Thomson, Jack Fisher, choral directing with Robert Fountain, and orchestral conducting with Hermann Genhart, and eurythmics with Inda Howland.
Mr. Jones assumed his first regular position as an organist at age 14, and carries on somewhat of a family tradition: his grandfather was an organist and his great uncle, a farmer in Maine, played at the Federated Church in Turner, ME for 66 years.
James Busby, a familiar figure in the musical life of New England, is in demand as a vocal coach, collaborative pianist, and organist throughout the North East. "Pianist James Busby played with skill and conviction," writes Boston Globe’s Richard Dyer, "…the real illuminations came from Busby’s insightful and elegant playing." In songs of Fauré and Debussy, "…the most vivid work came from James Busby, elegant at the piano…Busby…played like a French angel." (Lloyd Schwartz/Boston Phoenix). "James Busby’s contributions were digitally capable and so straightforward in the interpretation department that it came as a sheer revelation to the reviewer." (Richard Buell/Boston Globe)
A native of Jackonville, Florida, and an alumnus of New England Conservatory, James studied piano with Julius Chaloff and Kyriena Siloti and organ with George Faxon and Max Miller. He later studied with noted vocal coaches Felix Wolfes, Olga Averino and conductor John Moriarty. While yet a student, he had the unique opportunity of playing for master classes and lessons with such luminaries as Jennie Tourel and Eleanor Steber. He has worked with many conductors including Sarah Caldwell, Thomas Dunn, Erich Leinsdorf and Arthur Fiedler.
In addition to accompanying some of Boston’s finest voices, James is organist and choirmaster of S. Stephen’s Church in Providence, Rhode Island, located in the heart of the Brown University Campus, a post he has held since 1993. He is also organist for Emmanuel College, Boston.
Recent performances include appearances with singers at Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood and Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, where he performed song cycles by Ned Rorem and Scott Wheeler, with the composers in attendance. Other appearances include recitals in England, Switzerland and Germany, as well as broadcasts for The Voice of America. James has performed at conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. He is heard frequently on WGBH radio, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Newport Music Festival, and under the auspices of the Sears-Roebuck Affiliate Artist Program.
James serves as Intermezzo’s Musical Director, overseeing the premiers of Charles Shadle’s A Question of Love, David P. Gibson’s Verlaine and Rimbaud, and Brian Hulse’s The Letter, in addition to productions of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, Hindemith’s Hin und zurück, Pasatieri’s The Women and Heloise and Abelard, Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, and the acclaimed 2006 production of Britten’s Curlew River. In 2007, he was music director/conductor for the world premiere of Thomas Oboe Lee’s The Inman Diaries. James will return in 2008 to lead the forces in the premiere of Charles Shadle’s A Last Goodbye, Erik Satie’s Socrate, and Benjamin Britten’s The Prodigal Son.
Memorial Service For Rev. Tom Newman
It is with deep regret that I inform you that our beloved Rev. Tom Newman, former minister of Christ Church Unity and Christ’s Church Longwood, made his transition on Thursday April 10 in Dahlonega, Georgia. We hold Rev. Louise and the family in continued prayers. Thank you, Rev Tom, for blessing so many lives while you were here; you are richly blessed as you continue your life’s journey. A memorial service will be held on Monday May 12, 2008 at 11:00 AM at Christ’s Church Longwood, 70 Colchester Street, Brookline, MA 02446. Messages of condolence to Rev. Louise Newman can be sent to 359 Ivy Terrace, Dahlonega, GA 30533
Wednesdays Prayer/Meditation 7:00 PM
Prayer is a way of life, a way to move through life with peace in our hearts. Prayer is a tool, which we use to build our awareness of God within and to bring ourselves closer to God. And it is this awareness of God’s presence that keeps us poised and centered in times of challenge. Our approach to prayer is affirmative, based on positive prayers and affirmations.
- Experience the power of prayer.
- True prayer goes beyond words.
- True prayer is an attitude of heart and mind, of receptivity and thanksgiving.
- Let go of any concern as you spend time in quiet prayer.