In February and March, the fifth annual Guilmant Organ Recital Series will be presented at First Presbyterian Church. This recital series is given in recognition of the Guilmant Organ School, which opened its doors at First Presbyterian Church in October of 1899 and was the first accredited school in America to offer diplomas in Organ Performance and Sacred Music. This innovative and successful school, which was founded before many of today’s American music conservatories, gave musicians the opportunity to study with major international artists in America without having to travel abroad. Students came from all over the country and many major organ recitals were presented during this time. The Guilmant School moved from First Presbyterian Church in the early 1960s.

All recitals are on Sundays at 4:00 p.m. and will last approximately one hour and are followed by a reception. A freewill offering will be received.

February 6 at 4:00 p.m.
ANTHONY PINEL, Organist
Works by Saint-Saëns, Bach, Parry, Guilmant

Anthony Pinel is Director of Music and Organist of St. Peter’s Church, Morristown, New Jersey. A native of England, Mr. Pinel is a graduate of Huddersfield and has served as Assistant Organist at Bristol Cathedral and Director of Music and Organist at St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. Recent recitals have included The Riverside Church, Princeton University Chapel, St. Mary the Virgin, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, Boston.

February 13 at 4:00 p.m.
MARK BANI, Organist
Works by Bach, Franck, Reubke

Mark Bani is the music director and organist at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer here in New York City. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and from the Juilliard School. He has been heard on National Public Radio, both Pipedreams, and most recently, on Morning Edition. Mark Bani has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards including first place winner of the New York City chapter National Young Artitsts’ Competition.

March 6 at 4:00 pm
WILLIAM ENTRIKEN, Organist
Works by Bach, Schumann, Guilmant, Dupré

William Entriken is Organist and Choirmaster at The First Presbyterian Church and founder of the Guilmant Organ Recital Series. In addition, Dr. Entriken is also Associate Adjunct Professor of Organ at New York University. Last fall, his recording of the new Rees Jones Memorial Pipe Organ in church’s Alexander Chapel was released.

Read the history of the Guilmant Organ School at First Presbyterian Church

Church Contact Details:
First Presbyterian Church
12 W 12 Street
New York, NY 10011
Telephone: (212) 675-6150 Fax: (212) 675-8674
http://www.firstpresnyc.org

Annual recital series at The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, 12 W. 12 Street. This year’s recital series features concert organists who are associated with the Greenwich Village.
Second Recital: William Entriken on February 11, 2001. 4:00 PM
Third Recital: David Shuler on February 25, 2001. 4:00 PM

In October 1899, the Guilmant Organ School, the first school in America devoted to the teaching of organ and church music, opened at The First Presbyterian Church. Named after the famous 19^th-century Parisian organist and founder, Alexandre Guilmant, the School was highly regarded as an institution for the training of church musicians. During the sixty-three years that the Guilmant School was at First Presbyterian, many organ recitals were given at the church by internationally acclaimed organists, and by Guilmant students. Many of the Guilmant students were appointed to important music positions around the country.

Sunday, February 11 at 4:00 p.m. William Entriken , Organist
William Entriken is Organist and Choirmaster of The First Presbyterian Church in New York City. Dr. Entriken will perform:
Carillon de Westminster, Vierne;
Fantasia in G, BWV 572, Bach;
Fantasia in F minor, K608, Mozart;
Meditation Religieuse, Mulet, and
Prelude and Fugue on the Theme BACH, Liszt.
The program is designed to show the Baroque and Classic sounds of the organ at First Presbyterian Church as well as the symphonic proportions of this grand instrument. Dr. Entriken has been Organist at First Presbyterian since 1988 when he succeeded his teacher, Dr. Robert S. Baker. Prior to coming to First Presbyterian Church, he was Organist and Choirmaster at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, New York City. William Entriken’s bio

Sunday February 25 at 4:00 p.m. David Shuler, Organist
Mr. Shuler is currently Director of Music and Organist at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, New York City. He will perform:
Choral-Improvisation sur le “Victimae paschali”, Tournemire;
Andante in F Major K616, Mozart;
Prelude and Fugue in E Flat Major (‘St. Anne’), Bach;
Air with Variations from Suite for Organ, Sowerby and
Rubrics, Locklair.

DAVID SHULER was educated at the Eastman School of Music, Columbia University, and the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. He studied organ with David Craighead and Leonard Raver, and composition with Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler and Gunther Schuller. He has received numerous awards, including a BMI-SC award for composition and First Prize in the Mid-Hudson Valley Chapter American Guild of Organists Organ Playing Competition.

Mr. Shuler is presently Director of Music and Organist at the historic Church of Saint Luke in the Fields in New York City. Prior to that appointment, he was the Director of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Stamford, Connecticut. He has also held positions as Organist and Choirmaster at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City and Assistant Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Mr. Shuler has been particularly active as a champion of contemporary music. He has premiered organ works of Charles Wuorinen, William Albright, Ralph Shapey, Gunther Schuller, and Frank Retzel, among others. Mr. Shuler received a 1983 National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Commissioning Grant to commission works from Ralph Shapey, Charles Wuorinen, and Gunther Schuller as well as a grant from the Washington, D.C. American Guild of Organists Foundation for the promotion of contemporary music. He has recorded the organ music of Frank Retzel (for Opus One) and Richard Toensing (for Owl). In addition, he has recorded the choral music of Frank Wigglesworth with the Choir of the Church of St. Luke in the Fields for CRI. In May of 1991, Mr. Shuler was invited to present a concert of contemporary American organ music at the University of Chicago in honor of Ralph Shapey’s seventieth birthday. He has performed numerous recitals throughout the United States to critical acclaim.

Mr. Shuler has been featured as an organ soloist on both the East and West coasts in productions of the ballet Voluntaries, Glen Tetley’s choreography of Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani by the American Ballet Theatre and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Mr. Shuler is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, and was awarded the certificate at the age of 22, one of the youngest organists to achieve this distinction. He has served on numerous AGO committees, both at the national and local levels, and was for seven years the Director of the National Examination Committee of the A.G.O.

A freewill Offering will be received. Please mark your calendars and bring a friend to these Sunday afternoon concerts.

Previous Recital in the Series:
January 14, 2001 at 4:00 PM: Christopher Creaghan    Concert Recitalist

Read the history of the Guilmant Organ School at First Presbyterian Church

Church Contact Details:
First Presbyterian Church
12 W 12 Street
New York, NY 10011
Telephone: (212) 675-6150 Fax: (212) 675-8674
http://www.firstpresnyc.org