Hello, Tacoma AGO members!

As the leaves turn colors, we settle back into “the swing of things,” as various aspects of our lives settle into their program year routines. The same goes for our chapter of the AGO. In this newsletter, you can read about upcoming educational and social opportunities that are being offered this year to you as members of the Tacoma AGO chapter. Additionally, you can read a breakdown of the results from the membership survey from last month (thank you to those who filled it out!), along with an article about a registration exploration and recording project on the Fritts organ at Lagerquist Hall at PLU!

Working with your new Sub Dean, Jay Murphy-Mancini, the Board has begun to shape our programs for the year. Our first workshop will take place at 10:00am on Saturday, October 18 at St. Luke’s Memorial Episcopal Church on the topic of commissioning works and composing for the organ. This event, joint with the Salish Sea Chapter of the National Association of Composers USA, will provide opportunities to help demystify the commissioning process, hear new pieces for organ with remarks from both composers and those listening, and look through a selection of newer works for the organ that are practical in nature. I hope you can join us!

Additional programs for the year include: a Twelfth Night party in January to celebrate the end of one of the busiest seasons for church musicians; a workshop on American organ music to kickoff the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence; a presentation on Georg Kauffmann’s Harmonische Seelenlust; a joint event with Seattle AGO to present Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink in concert and a full day of workshops focused on injury-preventive keyboard technique; a post-Easter members’ recital; and our annual year-end picnic. Watch the calendar and future newsletters for more details!

This year, we will return to gathering on a regular basis on Fridays for some social interaction away from our music-making and administrative duties. A change for this year, we will gather for Happy Hours at Cactus in Proctor and 208 Garfield in Parkland, making use of their reduced-price menus! Our first one is coming up THIS FRIDAY afternoon at 3:00pm at Cactus. Check out the calendar listing for more details. I hope many of you are able to join us for these gatherings!

Beyond our local offerings, I would like to draw your attention to the National AGO’s first virtual Pedagogy Conference, to be held online from October 9-11. Covering a myriad of topics, speakers include: Jeffrey Smith, Peter Sykes, Tom Trenney, Nicole Keller, Todd Wilson, and many more! Check out the full offerings and registration link here. I hope to see you online!

As always, check out the many events throughout the region on our Tacoma AGO Calendar. There are opportunities this month to hear music on instruments including the Hutchings-Votey/Rosales organ at St. James Cathedral, Seattle; the Flentrop at St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle; the Brombaugh at Christ Church, Tacoma; the Fritts organ at Kilworth Chapel, Tacoma; and Fritts-Richards, Op. 4 in Ballard. What riches abound!

In music,
Wyatt Smith

Hello, TAGO Members!

It was such a joy to see many of you at our mid-summer picnic last month. Many thanks, as always, to David Dahl and Loi Le for hosting us in their beautiful garden! We held a brief Annual Meeting, which resulted in the election of Justin (Jay) Murphy-Mancini as our Sub Dean. Welcome, Jay! Thank you to Cheryl Drewes, current Past Dean, who helped fill in some roles over this past year while we were without a Sub Dean.

In the near future, we will be sending out a survey to gather ideas for our programming in the year to come. In the meantime, start thinking about topics you would be curious to know more about.

Additionally, our TAGO calendar is filling up with events in our community for the coming year. If you have concerts planned for the year, please start adding them to our calendar. We have such a wealth of talent and support for music in our area. It is always such a joy to see what is going on and have the ability to attend events and support fellow musicians!

In music,
Wyatt Smith

Warm summer greetings to you all!

I hope this message finds you basking in the glories of our wonderful Pacific Northwest summers. Many choirs are on break from their program year commitments, conferences and conventions are happening around the country, and gardens beckon tending. What ever your avenue for renewal, revel in it!

This month, we have the opportunity to gather in a community setting for our annual year-end picnic on Monday, July 21 from 5-7pm, hosted by David Dahl and Loi Le at their home near PLU. Additionally, we will use a part of this gathering to hold our Annual Meeting and Board elections. Please check respective the respective links for more details.

In flipping through my July issues of The American Organist, which you can receive in either print form or read online (this option is available when you have or renew a National membership), I came across an article entitled “Satire and Truth in Humorous Organ Poems from the 18th Century” by Markus Rathey. I had he privilege of studying under Prof. Rathey during my graduate program at Yale. He is an incredible scholar on an assortment of topics, but primarily centered on Bach, Lutheranism, and societal contexts related thereto. I encourage you all to read this article, along with his handful of books on Bach’s choral and vocal works!

There are a handful of events to attend this month according to our online calendar. I will take this opportunity to plug the return of the Tacoma Bach Festival, July 24-26, with concerts at Christ Church and Kilworth Chapel. It will feature three concerts ranging from chamber music, to the Goldberg Variations on organ and a final choral concert. Additionally, there is a midsummer Choral Evensong at St. Luke’s Memorial, which will feature a new organ work by composer and former Dean of TAGO, Sheila Bristow, based on the hymn “Lift your voice rejoicing, Mary.”

If you have events you would like to see included on the calendar this summer and beyond, you can add them by logging into your account on the Tacoma AGO website!

I hope to see many of you at our picnic on July 21!

In music,
Wyatt

Happy (almost) summer, TAGO members!

As I write this message, it is glorious outside on my back patio. I have just returned from the Lakewood Farmers’ Market with a fresh bag of cherries, asparagus, and a dashing bouquet of flowers. While we spend the majority of our year inside on benches of various sorts, by ourselves or leading groups of people in song, take some time for yourself in our wonderful PNW summer season!

Many thanks to those who came out for our final program of the year on May 19 at Spanaway Lutheran. Thanks again to presenters Dawn Sonntag and Sheila Bristow, along with Cheryl Drewes for hosting and Jan Regier for acquiring the refreshments.  We will hold our annual year-end picnic on Monday, July 21 at the home of David Dahl and Loi Le. This will include a potluck picnic in their beautiful gardens along with our annual Board Elections. Look for more details on that in the coming weeks. 

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to run down to Olympia to hear Cameron Carpenter on the Wurlitzer organ at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts,  which was *very well* attended. While he came blowing onto the scene years ago as the “bad boy” of the organ world, the concert in Olympia showcased a mature musician and technical master. He shared an incredible program featuring two Preludes and Fugues by J. S. Bach, two Chorales by Cesar Franck, and Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. What he did with nine ranks was incredible! I will admit, he had me in tears by the end of the concert. I now rank that performance in my top five list of musical experiences in my life. I encourage all of you to step outside of your comfort zones on occasion and embrace music-making on non-tracker organs. You just might be surprised!

As always, check the TAGO events calendar on our website for the latest event updates!

In music,
Wyatt