You’ve likely seen the roaring return of the organ at Notre Dame and the crowd of world leaders gathered to witness this monumental milestone. I think we would all be lucky to have such attentive and captivated congregations as we work through this busiest time of the...
Welcome to the Merry Month of May! Of course there are actually a few religions with a very significant allegiance to the Virgin Mary! Obviously this is the season of so many events that include graduations including high schools, colleges and universities, closing...
Welcome to February! February is such an interesting month for being the shortest month of the year, however it does have an inordinate number of very special days including but not limited to Presidential Birthdays, Ash Wednesday (usually), Valentine’s Day, Leap...
November has arrived!November is the month of “Remembrances”! Obviously at the beginning of the month are “All Saints”, “All Souls” and “Day of the Dead”. This is the time of the year when we sometimes say “here comes the Requiems” as I so often see on Facebook and...
THE CONVENTION IS OVER! THE CONVENTION IS OVER! THE CONVENTION IS OVER! So, it is time to close the book on this exciting week as it now has gone down in the history books except for the thousands of wonderful memories of meeting new and old friends and the incredible...
Welcome to April – Welcome to April showers! April is commonly associated with the season of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The Romans gave April the Latin name “Aprilis” with the traditional etymology being from the verb “to open”, an allusion to its being the...
A very Happy New Year to Everyone!! Even with the very, very cold days surrounding Christmas, I trust that everyone involved in the music of the Christmas Season celebrated with the joyous sounds of organ and choral music of the Season. I am sure that there were...
So the Autumn winds are now blowing and the leaves are really beginning to fall! October was the eighth month in the old Roman calendar but still kept the '8' title when the calendar was switched to the new order. In this month of October, there are just an...
Thank you to everyone who attended the first event of our 2024-2025 season in Kenilworth. We installed our newly elected officers and enjoyed being together for Evensong. Thanks especially to our organist Dr. Eun Joo Ju, Rev. Dr. Bill Evertsberg, and those...
Beware the Ides of March! So here is the Month of March this year that is the season of Lent, Holy Week and Easter along with the beginning of the month of Ramadan. For many this is the month of hearing a variety of Requiems as similar to the Advent season with...
A Very Happy New Year to Everyone! Goodbye to 2023 – Welcome to 2024 A look back to Chapter events in 2023: Indeed the North Shore Chapter AGO had a very busy and exciting year! January – the Chapter met at the home of Andrea and David Handley for the Annual Epiphany...
Welcome to September!! As I search around the many church websites of the North Shore area, I see that the Sunday after the Labor Day weekend is named Rally Day, First Festival or some unique name noting that church services are returning to a state of so-called...
The Convention Is Coming!! The Convention Is Coming!! Yes, the Great Lakes Regional Convention will soon be here – just about three weeks away!! The thirteen members of the Steering Committee have been furiously working overtime on the thousands of details necessary...
Welcome to March! March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. This month is also known as the meteorological beginning of Spring – usually around the Equinox or the 20th/21st of the month. The March name comes from Martius – the...
"Here Come The Messiahs” Many years ago one of the major newspapers of Chicago (if memory serves me correctly, it was the Chicago Tribune) used this label as their column one weekend edition noting all of the multitude choral and orchestral concerts to be given during...
The Autumn leaves and winds are already beginning to blow!! Generally it is recognized that the beginning of September is the Meteorological Autumn. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, September is the beginning of the ecclesiastical year! For most of us this time is the...
A very hearty welcome to June 2024! So here is another month of the year that features more graduation exercises, Father’s Day, Midsommer Fests, summer usually begins, holiday travels begin, end of year choir season concerts/special services, choir appreciation...
Welcome to April! It is just incredible that it is April now! The six weeks of Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter have now disappeared into History! Lately it has been very interesting in reading the submittals by many musical colleagues worldwide on Facebook to...
OCTOBER IS HERE! The leaves are falling! The musical season has begun! Regular church services have returned to some sort of normal status! Choir rehearsals are in full sessions and preparing for the special festivals of this Fall season! Area musical groups including...
So welcome to August – August is usually known as the vacation month – it seems as if everyone is on vacation during this month – I tend to think that all organists in the Metro area are on vacation – organist substitutes are really needed at this time and then...
April showers bring May flowers! It is time to smell the flowers - roses and tulips! Speaking of tulips, there are hundreds of thousands of tulips now blooming in rural suburban Chicago! There are literally hundreds of colors of tulips blooming now through...
February is the month of the year where we celebrate a myriad of events such as Black History Month, the Birthdays to two very famous US Presidents and of course Valentine’s Day. February is also home to a huge variety of special days all month long such as Random...
November is the eleventh and penultimate month in both Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is very interesting to note that this month begins with a season of “remembrances” in celebrating and honoring those saints and individuals who have passed from our lives –...
Midsommer greetings to all! I trust that everyone has been enjoying their time off from the weekly church responsibilities of the necessary choir rehearsals and significant time spent with the weekly practice on the organ. I also hope that many of you were able to...