Performers Royce Eckhardt, Andrea Handley, Derek Nickels, Sharon Peterson, Jim Brown, and Christine Kraemer
The North Shore AGO Chapter held its annual banquet and member recital at Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette on Sunday, May 22nd. The organ, a 2001 Reuters with 63 ranks, was moved to the center of the altar space, giving us all a great view of the artists. With a theme of Pentecost and Trinity music, we heard a wide variety of selections.
We began with invocation from our chaplain, the Rev. Dr. David Handley. The music began with us all singing the hymn O God, Our Help in Ages Past, accompanied by Andrea Handley, who then played the Bach Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 552. Jim Brown played two selections from Messe de Pentecôte by Oliver Messiaen and Christine Kraemer chose Variations on “Veni Creator Spiritus” by Frank Ferko. Next Sharon Peterson presented Dieterich Buxtehude’s Praeludium in D Minor, BuxWV 140. Derek Nickels then shared Choral varié sur le theme du “Veni Creator” from Op. 4 by Maurice Duruflé. We closed by all singing “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” accompanied by Royce Eckhardt. Our chapter is so fortunate to have so much talent!
We then took a short stroll to the restaurant Gusto of Wilmette where we enjoyed a fine Italian dinner. Our Regional Councillor, Karl Bruhn, shared news of our region and announced that our wesbsite is the winner of the first ever “Best in the region award”. Our Dean, Andrea, presented a flyer with the details of the 2016-2017 Season.
Many thanks to Trinity United Methodist Church for sharing the sanctuary, organ and parking lot with us! And thanks to all of you who joined us for the evening. We all enjoyed an evening of splendid music and fine dining.
We look forward to seeing you on October 7th to hear Vincent Dubois, organist at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, kick off the season with a recital at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Evanston.
Philip McPeek
Kathy Roderer