Previous Chapter Meetings
Friday, January 18, 2013, 7.30 pm
AGO Grand Strand & Trinity Concert Series present:
Nicole Keller, Organ Recital
including the works of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Vierne, and others
Free
Trinity Episcopal Church, Myrtle Beach
3000 N. Kings Hwy at 31st Ave N, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29577
Download the poster here.
Trinity Episcopal Church and Grand Strand Chapter of American Guild of Organists will present Nicole Keller in concert on Friday, January 18 at 7:30 at Trinity Church, 3000 North Kings Highway Myrtle Beach. Nicole Keller is in demand as a solo and chamber music recitalist and clinician in the United States. She enjoys exploring all aspects of organ repertoire, especially pairing new music for the instrument with the staples of the repertoire. She performs regularly as a solo and collaborative artist on the organ, piano and harpsichord, exploring organ duo repertoire with Timothy Olsen, Kenan Professor of Organ at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC.
Ms. Keller is co-director of Festival of Liturgical Arts of the Western Reserve (FLAWR), an organization devoted to exploring the symbiotic relationship between music and preaching. FLAWR debuted in June of 2011 with a 4 day conference hosted by Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson, OH. Together with co-director Rev. Brian Suntken, Ms. Keller assembled a distinguished roster of clinicians and guest performers for the first conference including Dr. Gerre Hancock, Todd Wilson, Rev. Paul Westermeyer of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN and Rev. Mitties MacDonald DeChamplain of The General Seminary of the Episcopal Church, NY.
Ms. Keller received the Performer's Certificate and the Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York under the tutelage of David Higgs. While at Eastman, she studied continuo with Arthur Haas and improvisation with Dr. Gerre Hancock. She received the Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio, studying piano with George Cherry and Jean Stell and organ with Margaret Scharf. She was previously on the faculties of Cleveland State University and the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 7 pm - followed by a reception
Festival of Harmonizations
With Organists from The Grand Strand
Favorite Hymns with delicious harmonies
Hosted by Brown Bradley
First Presbyterian Church, Myrtle Beach
1300 North Kings Highway Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Download the poster here.
Sunday 15th April, 2012 - 4pm followed by a reception
Music for Instruments and Organ
A concert of music for instruments and organ.
The program will include:
- Piano and Organ
- Brass ensemble and Organ
- Voice and Organ
- Strings and Organ
First United Methodist Church, 901 North Kings Highway Myrtle Beach SC 2957.
The church has a 3 manual, Cornell-Zimmer organ.
Sunday 15th January, 2012 - 4pm followed by a reception
Winter Convocation
'A Light To Lighten The Nations'
A service of worship with music led by four Choirs, Organ.and a Brass Ensemble.
Guest Speaker - Larry Cook, Dean of the Wilmington Chapter of the AGO.
Organist - Karen Kearney
Church of the Resurrection, 8901 Highway 17 Bypass, Surfside Beach, SC
Friday 16th - Sunday 18th September, 2011
Choir Festival
First United Methodist Church in Conway (1001 5th Avenue, Conway, SC 29526)
Kick starting your fall singing season!
Join young singers from the Grand Strand area for a dynamic and intensive weekend of singing and
as much fun as you can have in a robe. You'll make new friends and rise to the challenge of a new level of choral singing.
The weekend is open to boys and girls, children and young people, minimum 6th grade through college age.
Festival Choral Evensong
The final service of Choral Evensong at 4pm on the Sunday, with organ recital prelude, at First United Methodist Church, Conway is open to the public.
Choral Instructor - Olivia Huggins
Olivia will lead the weekend. As well as being active in local churches, she also runs the Beach Singers program and teaches music K through fifth grade at McDonald Elementary School in Georgetown.
More information & Timetable
Brochure (PDF)
Choir Festival FAQ page
Sunday 1 May, 2011 - 4pm
Organ Recital - Karen Kearney
St Paul's Episcopal Church, 710 Main Street, Conway, SC 29526
Toccata on Veni Emmanuel
Andrew Carter
Noel
Louis-Claude Daquin
Wie Schon Leuchtet der Morgenstern
Dietrich Buxtehude
O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde Gross
Ernst Pepping
Cortege et Litanie
Marcel Dupre
Recessional
William Mathias
Preludium und Fuge uber das Thema B-A-C-H
Franz Liszt
The May Chapter meeting featured an Organ Concert by Karen Kearney, Organist and Choirmaster at the Church of the Resurrection in Surfside Beach, Sunday. Pieces were chosen with the seasons of the church year in mind; therefore Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and a final work to finish. This concert was free and open to the public.
Karen M. Kearney is Organist and Choirmaster at The Episcopal Church of the Resurrection. Her undergraduate education was in Music Education at Florida State University followed by graduate work at Westminster Choir College. She has a Master's Degree in Church Music with an emphasis in Organ and Voice. Following graduation, she served as a full-time musician at Grace Episcopal Church, Lockport, New York; Christ Church, Mobile, Alabama; and Galilee Episcopal Church, Virginia Beach, Virginia. In 2000, Karen and her family moved to the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts and Karen became a licensed Kindermusik Educator. Then in January 2004, she and her family moved to South Carolina where she now serves as full time Organist & Choirmaster at The Church of the Resurrection.
Karen enjoys concert work, as a solo artist and as a member of an ensemble. She has been a recitalist with the Virginia Beach WAVE festival; the noon-time concert series at St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo, New York; artistic director of the Music at Mid-Day series in Mobile, Alabama; guest artist at St. James Church, Sydney, Australia and several venues in the Grand Strand area, including Trinity Episcopal Church; Prince George, Winyah; First Presbyterian Church, Georgetown and of course, Church of the Resurrection, Surfside Beach. Her teachers have included Michael Corzine, Joan Lippincott, and Colin Andrews.
She has a zeal for helping people experience the goodness of the Lord through the Word of God and through worship. Her family consists of husband, Andy, a skilled craftsman of Fine Furniture, and two daughters, Vicka and Oksana.
7pm - Friday 28 January, 2010 - Georgetown Presbyterian Church, 558 Black River Rd, Georgetown, SC 29440
Installation Service & Reception
Installation Service
- Installation of offices by Mark Husey (South Carolina AGO Convernor)
- Premier of 2 new pieces commissioned by the Chapter:
- Psalm 71 - a new setting by Karen M Kearney (Resurrection, Surfside)
- 'On Patmos' - a new work for choir, tenor soloist, piano and organ by Jon Blamire (Prince George, Georgetown)
- Long time AGO member Sebron Hood who recently passed away was honored
- Choir formed from Georgetown Presbyterian, Prince George and Indigo Choral Society sang
- Prelude - Dr Mark Cheney - Trinity Episcopal Church - Myrtle Beach
- Postlude - Billy Fallaw MM - First Methodist Church - Conway
- Pianist - Zhongliang Chen - Georgetown Cultural Council's 'Young Treasures' scholar
Reception
- Drinks and Heavy Hors d'oeuvres
- Meet other members and the public
7pm - Trinity Episcopal Church, Myrtle Beach
Program from the evening, including specification of the Trinity organ and list of anthem we sang
Covered dish supper
Business meeting
An introduction to Trinity's beautifully restored tracker pipe organ
Dr. Mark Chaney, Organist/Choirmaster at Trinity is our host and in charge of the program.
Anthem Reading
The Trinity Organ
The 30-rank 1876 William Johnson & Son "Centennial" tracker pipe organ was rebuilt and restored by J. Allen Farmer of Winston-Salem, North Carolina who, with the help of Alan Laufman of the Organ Clearing House, discovered the instrument in a state of nearly complete disrepair in an inner city church in Dayton, Ohio. Recognizing it for the musical treasure it had once been and could once again become, Farmer encouraged Trinity to purchase the organ and have it completely restored and rebuilt. The instrument was dismantled and brought to Farmer's workshop, where restoration and rebuilding took place intermittently over the next several years until work was completed and the organ installed in October of 2001.