Enjoy ‘Bach and Beyond’ at Aurora church
Submitted by Marmion Abbey
The Fox Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will present the 12th annual “Bach and Beyond” at the Abbey Concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 29, at the Marmion Abbey Church, 850 Butterfield Road in Aurora.
The concert is free and open to the public. An offering will be collected to benefit the Fox Valley AGO Chapter Programs. For information, call David Lincoln at (630) 655-2124 or email dalincoln@comcast.net.
This event features eight AGO members playing works on the Abbey’s beautiful Ott mechanical action pipe organ. Special features in the program include the Gargoyle Brass, under the direction of Michael Surratt, who will be accompanying three hymn arrangements as well as “Finale from Symphony No. 2 for brass and organ” by Gustav Mahler, and local mezzo soprano Victoria L. Linich, accompanied by Mark Kline, who will be singing “Qui Sedes from Mass in B minor, BWV 232” by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The concert program will feature organ works by composers Bach, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Alain. The organists who will be playing solo works represent a variety of church affiliations in the Fox Valley area. They are: Kevin Ballard, Marsha Foxgrover, Mark Kline, Kevin Lange, Katilyn Matthews, Jonathan Rudy, Michael Surratt and T. Jared Stellmacher. The three hymn arrangements will be directed by Kristin Smith and led by an AGO festival choir.
The Chicago Gargoyle Brass began in 1992 as a chamber group of faculty and students at the University of Chicago, whose campus architecture boasts a charming variety of the ensemble’s namesake. Today the Gargoyle Brass is in residence at The Union Church of Hinsdale. Members of the ensemble are classically trained professionals, playing in orchestras, jazz bands, and musical theaters around Chicago. The group has performed cantatas and major liturgical works in well-known churches of Chicagoland, Wisconsin and Indiana. Concert recital venues have included the Newberry Library, Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago, and the Graham-Taylor Chapel of Chicago Theological Seminary.
A composer and an ensemble singer as well as a soloist, Victoria L. Linich’s musical taste encompasses a wide range of styles. In 2004, Linich received her master’s degree in vocal pedagogy and diction from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. She teaches private voice and piano lessons in the western suburbs of Chicago and serves as the director of worship and music at the Congregational Church of Batavia.