Tuesday, November 14, 2017

New Organ, No Pipes

But what a difference!
On October 15, the folks in attendance at First Presbyterian Church on Dustin experienced a real treat when Julia Thom, Organist, pulled out all the stops for the Prelude at the morning service. The rafters shook and the congregation was emotional when the opening chords of J. S. Bach’s Little Prelude in G filled the sanctuary with sounds of trumpets, reeds, principals and mixtures.
Now the whole community is invited to hear this amazing instrument at a Celebration Concert on Friday evening, November 17 at 7 pm with guest organist Maxine Thévenot. Dr. Thévenot is Canon Precentor, Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque, NM. Founding and Artistic director of New Mexico’s professional vocal ensemble- Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, Dr. Thévenot is adjunct faculty at the University of New Mexico as director of Las Cantantes - women’s choir. A member of the duo, Air & Hammers, she concertizes with English baritone, Edmund Connolly. She is a published choral composer with Paraclete Press. A native of Canada, Dr. Thévenot received her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Saskatchewan, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Manhattan School of Music.

Dr. Thévenot encourages community interaction and requested collaboration with our own Virginia Nichols-Hircock and her choirs to everyones delight, so that all of Farmington can enjoy a variety of music surrounded by the sounds of organ. The First Presbyterian Church’s Chapel Chimes and Chancel Choir will be joined by Piedra Vista Choirs and Caliente Community Chorus accompanied by Dr. Thévenot on organ in a roof raising experience of the age old hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”.
Dr. Thévenot also has planned plenty of J. S. Bach favorites, several 20th century pieces, and an especially beautiful French piece called Pièce Heroique by César Franck. The audience will get a chance to stretch their legs and vocals cords with an “all sing” of another favorite hymn and the concert will close with “A Gaelic Blessing” by John Rutter for organ and choirs.


The new organ is a product of the Rodgers Organ Company of Oregon. First Presbyterian Church has retired a 40+ year old electronic organ which was failing with a built-from-scratch new Rodgers Infinity 361 digital organ with rich, multi-dimensional sound quality. It features 3 keyboard manuals with lighted drawknobs, and Rodgers’ unique high-resolution sampling process which employs up to 8 microphones to record the authentic sound from legendary pipe organs across the country as well as around the world. Among it’s many features is the Organ Type piston which instantly activates American Eclectic, English Cathedral, French Romantic or German Baroque stops.
The purchase of this instrument was made possible by the dream of former organist Sharon Brink who played for First Presbyterian from 1998-2014. She deferred her salary for that position into a new organ fund for many years. In 2014 she retired to Las Vegas, Nevada, and hopes to make a special appearance in Farmington at a later date to experience her dream.
If you have to miss this free concert on Friday, the people of First Presbyterian will always welcome visitors on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am where the sounds of RIO (their nickname for Rodgers Infinity Organ) are experienced weekly. 

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