A letter from the Seattle AGO Chapter

Monday, December 28, 2020

Holiday Greetings, chapter members!

As the year draws to a close and the future opens beyond, we want to reach out and remind you of the opportunity to help build the organ program at the University of Washington by doubling your gift with our chapter matching funds, and to take advantage of this year’s special $300 charitable deduction available to all filers, even when taking the standard deduction.

At our last chapter event, several of our teen student members were actively engaged with young graduates of the UW program. They are looking forward to future learning opportunities and I was reminded of my own youthful search for the best program to continue my education. Without the UW program, we will lose the opportunity to teach our local young the best ways to make music with the king of instruments. Those local students are in the best position to share the joy of organ music with their friends and relations.

The faculty endowment fund now being established by the University of Washington will permanently fund organ instruction, building and protecting the program for the future. As the endowment grows, the organ program will grow with it, drawing the world’s talent to our region.

At this time, Seattle chapter members can donate through OnCard by signing in to the AGO website with the instructions provided there. Click on “Make a Contribution” and scroll down to “UW Organ Faculty Endowment”. Your gift is fully tax-deductible.

Your friends who are not Seattle chapter members can still obtain chapter matching funds donating by check payable to Seattle Chapter AGO and mailed to:

For questions regarding the donation process, please contact David Nichols, chapter Treasurer, at ago@hqsw.com or 425-793-6369.

We warmly invite you to our Virtual Christmas Party, a merry time of socializing, music, and sharing! While we can’t meet in person, we can enjoy each other’s company over a glass of wine, cheese, chocolate, and other seasonal treats – even – a bowl of smoking bishop! As well, we would like to include a few performances, either on home organ, piano, voice, or another instrument. You are encouraged to sign up for a slot . Not a performer? How about sharing a recipe, a seasonal poem, an anecdote, or tradition? We hope you will join us for an evening of convivial conversation and good cheer!

Use this link to sign up to contribute a musical performance, a poem, a recipe, or something else. If you sign into the website first, your information will be pre-filled in the signup forms. There are further instructions on the next page.

October was an exciting month for Agnus Dei Lutheran Church in Gig Harbor with the installation of our new Fritts organ, Opus 47. The organ replaces Fritts Opus 31 that moved to the home of Carole Terry in Seattle.

Opus 47 includes specially designed pipe shades that depict the Lamb of God, sheaves of wheat, grapes, a chalice and loaves of bread to highlight the case made of Douglas fir. The organ has mechanical key and stop action, tremulant and zimbelstern.

The dedication of the organ and dedicatory concert will be scheduled later in 2021.

Specification:

Manual I: Prestant 8’, Octave 4’, Octave 2’, Dulcian 8’

Manual II: Gedackt 8’, Octave 4’, Rohrflöte 4’, Nasat 3’/Cornet II

Pedal: Subbass 16’, Bourdon 8’

Shari Shull, Organist/Minister of Music

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We welcome Anne Lyman as our newest member. She is known to many of us, but I have included a short biography for those who may not have met her. We look forward to her participation in chapter events, and appreciate the expertise that she will bring in choral music.

Dr. Anne E. Lyman serves as Director of Choral Activities and Chair of Music Tacoma Community College. She is Artistic Director of the Sine Nomine Renaissance Choir in Seattle and is Director of Music Ministries at Skyline Presbyterian Church in Tacoma. Dr. Lyman currently also serves as President of the Washington State Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.

Dr. Lyman has previously conducted choirs at the University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University, the University of Iowa, and Cornell College, as well as festival and honor choirs throughout the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Lyman holds degrees from The College of Wooster, the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Iowa under Timothy Stalter and Christine Getz.

Dr. Lyman’s musical pursuits include early music research and vocal performance. She is the Artistic Director of the Tacoma Early Music Ensemble, which performs polyphony from the 14th through 16th centuries, and also runs the Tacoma Early Music Workshop. In 2007, she completed a nine-month residency in Leuven, Belgium under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship, receiving additional recognition for her work by the Society of Seventeenth Century Music, the Belgian American Education Foundation and the Stanley Foundation.

Dr. Lyman loves hiking, cooking, and gardening. She lives in Tacoma, Washington with her husband Zach, son, Milo and daughter, Eleanor.

There were no objections to the proposed slate of officers, so the slate is elected by acclamation.

Please welcome Sheila Bristow as dean, and Cheryl Drewes as subdean, both in new positions. Sandra Tietjen will continue as treasurer, and I (Thomas Clark) will continue as secretary and webmaster.

Michael Menne joins the board as an at-large member along with continuing members David Dahl and Satya Jaech.