Jay White to Quire Cleveland

Jay White

Jay White is appointed artistic director of Quire Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, effective July 2018. He succeeds Ross W. Duffin.

White holds a Master of Music degree in historical performance practice from the Early Music Institute of the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. He sang for eight seasons with the San Francisco-based a cappella group, Chanticleer. He has sung with Quire Cleveland since 2012.

White has held choral positions with Washington National Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Maryland Handel Festival, Washington Bach Consort, Folger Consort, Spire, Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, and Apollo’s Fire Singers, among others. He has served on the faculties of University of Maryland, University of Delaware, and DePauw University. White is currently professor of voice at the Kent State University Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, Kent, Ohio.

For information: www.quirecleveland.org.

 

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Ruth Ann Hofstad Ferguson died March 23 in Northfield, Minnesota, after a prolonged struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 71. She attended Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, majoring in music education, with a minor in religion. While at Concordia, she studied organ and served churches as a substitute organist. Upon graduation, she taught elementary music in Hawley, Minnesota, and in summers continued her organ studies with Arthur Poister at Syracuse University. Ferguson obtained a master’s degree in organ performance at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Russell Saunders.
 
It was at Eastman that she met John Ferguson; they married in August 1971, moving to Kent, Ohio, where she worked as an adjunct faculty member at Kent State University and served as associate organist at the Kent United Church of Christ. In 1978, the family moved to Minneapolis, where John was appointed organist and director of music at Central Lutheran Church and Ruth as assistant organist. The family moved to Northfield in 1983, where Ruth Ferguson served as organist at St. John’s Lutheran Church for 25 years, and later was their music coordinator. She also taught organ for fifteen years at St. Olaf College as an adjunct faculty member.
 
Ruth Ann Hofstad Ferguson is survived by her husband, John; son, Christopher (Sarah) of Auburn, Alabama; granddaughter, Lucy; sister, Ardis Braaton (David) of Grand Forks; and brother, Philip Hofstad (Carole) of Bemidji; several nieces and nephews, and other relatives and friends.
 
William A. Goodwin passed away December 7, 2013, at the age of 83. A native of Elgin, Illinois, he studied at Knox College in Galesburg. While in service in the United States Army from 1952 to 1954 in Maryland, he studied organ on weekend leaves. He worked for Baird Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts, until he founded his own firm, Keyword Associates, which designed and installed recording systems in courtrooms around the nation.
 
For more than thirty years, he served as organist and music director for the First Congregational Church of Woburn, Massachusetts, where he played the 1860 E. & G. G. Hook Opus 283. Goodwin established an organ restoration fund to maintain the historic instrument there. A memorial concert was presented at the church on May 4.
 
Paul Salamunovich, Grammy-nominated conductor who was music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1991 to 2001, died April 3. He was 86. He also served as director of music at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood, California, from 1949 to 2009, and taught at Loyola Marymount University, Mount St. Mary’s College, and USC Thornton School of Music. Early in his career he sang for movies and TV shows. Salamunovich never formally studied choral music but sang in a boys’ choir at St. James Elementary School in Redondo Beach. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II and following his discharge in 1946, joined the Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus, which later became the Roger Wagner Chorale. Wagner named Salamunovich assistant conductor in 1953. When Wagner created the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1964, Salamunovich served as assistant conductor until 1977; he returned to the group as music director in 1991. His work with composer Morten Lauridsen led to a Grammy nomination for their 1998 recording of “Lux Aeterna,” which Lauridsen wrote for the Master Chorale.
 
Paul Salamunovich is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Dottie; sons John, Stephen, Joseph, and Thomas; 11 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and his brother Joseph. A daughter, Nanette, then 23, died in 1977.
 
William Henry Sprigg, Jr., age 94, died on April 3 in Frederick, Maryland. Born March 7, 1920, in Manchester, New Hampshire, he earned a Bachelor’s degree, majoring in organ and music theory, a Master of Music degree in composition, and a Performer’s Certificate in organ from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, and did additional graduate work at Harvard, Boston University, the Organ Institute, and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. In the 1950s he won first prize for the symphonic tone poem “Maryland Portraits in Contrast: Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Carroll” in a competition sponsored by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Association; the orchestra performed it several times. Sprigg played many recitals nationwide, and recorded and engineered two LP recordings for the Orion label. For more than forty years Sprigg was professor of organ and music theory at Hood College, where he was instrumental in restoring Brodbeck Music Hall and designing the Coblentz Memorial Organ in Coffman Chapel. He served as organist-choir director at Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick, where he designed the organs in 1950 and again in 1981. William Henry Sprigg, Jr. is survived by four nieces and a nephew. 
 
Greg Vey, 51, passed away July 26, 2013, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He directed musical theater productions in the Fort Wayne area, served the University of St. Francis in the music technology program, and was director of music and organist at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, music director for the Fort Wayne Männerchor/Damenchor, and director of operations for the Heartland Chamber Chorale. Dean of the Fort Wayne AGO chapter, Vey was a regular contributor to the Sänger Zeitung auf dem Nord Amerikanisher Sängerbund, the North American journal for German choral singing societies, served as associate director of choral studies at Homestead High School, and on various panels and committees including the Community Arts Council of Fort Wayne. Vey earned BA and MA degrees at Indiana University, and earned certifications to help implement emerging technologies in an arts-based business model for the 21st century. 
 
Greg Vey is survived by his wife, Kathy Vey, daughter Karra (Ian) McCormick, son Kristofer Vey, granddaughter Emma Hackett, and sister, Elaine Layland. 
 
Brett Allan Zumsteg died April 14. Born December 23, 1953, in Burlingame, California, he developed a love of music and the organ at age eight, receiving degrees in organ performance: a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University. Zumsteg held teaching positions at Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska; Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; and Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. He became a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists in 1986. 
 
Brett Zumsteg served for many years as organist and choir director for First United Methodist Church in Park Ridge, Illinois, where he was the driving force behind the design and installation of its organ in 1996. He also accompanied the Lake Forest College Concert Choir and directed its College and Community Chorus. Gifted at improvisation, he had the ability to develop melodies and variations on the spot, even while carrying on a conversation with someone. Zumsteg worked as a senior client services analyst for the Business Information Services division of Smiths Group and John Crane, Inc. for 15 years.
 
Brett Allan Zumsteg is survived by his children, Emily (James) and Benjamin (Michael), granddaughters Zoe and Eva, and innumerable family and friends.

Nunc Dimittis

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Philip Hahn, the immediate past president of the American Guild of Organists, died peacefully at his home in San Francisco, California on April 13, 2003, from complications of myelofibrosis, a disease of the bone marrow. From 1992 to 2002, he was a member of the AGO National Council and served as president from 1998 to 2002.

Hahn received bachelor and master of music degrees from the University of Michigan where he studied with Marilyn Mason and Robert Noehren, and earned a DMA in composition and organ performance from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, studying with Stella Roberts and Robert Lodine. He received certificates in organ, composition, and solfeggio from the Conservatoire Americain, Fontainebleau, France, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger and André Marchal, and held the AAGO certificate.

During his career, he was an associate professor of music at the University of Northern Iowa, where he oversaw the installation of a large four-manual organ built by Robert Noehren, and was director of music at Waterloo's First United Methodist Church. After moving to California, Hahn served as director of music at the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto for several years before being appointed artistic director of the San Francisco Boys Chorus. He played many recitals on notable instruments and was a featured recitalist, workshop leader, and adjudicator at many AGO conventions.

Philip Hahn was also a professional chef, holding the position of sous chef at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, later running his own restaurant, Fanny's, in San Francisco. For several years Hahn ran the restaurant and served as organist at the First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo, returning exclusively to church music in 1980. From 1990 until his death, Hahn served as organist-choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross, California.

Dr. Hahn's compositions include sacred anthems, pieces for trumpet and organ including The Trumpet Sings Thanksgiving; Spiritual; Fanfare for Five Trumpets and Organ; and two large concerted works: Fantasy for Orchestra and Acclamations! A Fanfare for Concert Band. For the organ, he wrote several short hymn-based compositions plus larger works including Sonata for Organ; Songs from the Forest: A Suite for Organ and Synthesizer; and Suite for Organ Celesta, Vibraharp, and Timpani. His Sonata for Violin and Piano was the recipient of a Sigma Alpha Iota Prize. His short ballet The Dance in the Desert was fully staged at both the First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, and at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross.

He is survived by his partner of 29 years Norman Nagao, two sisters, and a number of nephews and nieces. A memorial service was held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross, California, on May 4.

Richard L. Johnson, 61, of Buffalo, New York, and East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, died on December 6, 2002, in Buffalo. Dr. Johnson was professor of humanities at Medaille College, Buffalo, joining the faculty in 1984. An accomplished musician and dedicated educator, he was known for his innovative theatre and music classes. He also directed numerous stage productions and was named the college's Professor of the Year for 2000-2001.

Dr. Johnson was born on May 17, 1941, in San Antonio, Texas. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Trinity University of San Antonio in 1963, he went on to earn his Master of Music degree from Yale University in 1965. He spent 1966-67 in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a Fulbright Scholarship, studying organ with Finn Viderø. Returning to the United States, he held faculty positions at Wake Forest University, Amherst College, Smith College, and the University of Maine. In 1973, he graduated from the University of Michigan with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. In 1992, he received a National Endowment for the Humanities award to study theatre at Columbia University, and at the time of his death he was pursuing a post-doctoral Master's degree in Theatre at SUNY-Buffalo.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Johnson performed organ recitals at venues across the country, including the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and St. Thomas Church in New York City. Several of his recordings aired on National Public Radio stations throughout the country. He is survived by his parents, a sister, brother, nieces and nephews, and his long-time partner, Richard LaBorde of East Longmeadow.

Richard Eugene Livesay died on February 24 at the age of 87. A resident of Alexandria, Virginia, he was organist at Cherrydale United Methodist Church in Arlington from 1947 to 1988, when he was named organist emeritus. At that church he had played for more than 2,000 Sunday services, 600 weddings, and countless funerals, and helped design the church's Wicks pipe organ of 37 ranks. He was a former Dean of the Alexandria AGO chapter and was a guest organist at Washington National Cathedral. Born in Tulsa, he began piano study at age 12 and organ at age 16, and he attended Blackburn College in Illinois, Park College in Missouri, and American University. In the late 1930s, he worked for Jenkins Music Co. and demonstrated Hammond organs at churches around Tulsa. Mr. Livesay was also a Defense Department official from 1940 until retiring in 1973 as staff secretary to the secretary of defense. He is survived by his wife of 64 years Veradell Elliott Livesay, two children, and five grandchildren.

Dale Wood died on April 13 after a valiant battle against esophageal and lung cancer, at his Sea Ranch, California home. A renowned composer, organist and choral director, he was known for his numerous published choral works and hymn tunes, and his compositions for handbells, harp, and organ. He was for many years organist and choirmaster in San Francisco at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin and served in a similar capacity in Lutheran churches in Hollywood and Riverside, California. He had published numerous articles on worship, liturgy, and church music, and was a contributing editor to the Journal of Church Music for over a decade. His monthly column appeared in the Methodist journal Music Ministry for three years. Wood headed the publications committee of Choristers Guild from 1970-74. After serving as music director of the Grace Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco (1973-74), he was appointed executive director for The Sacred Music Press, a position he held from 1975-96, and was editor emeritus 1996-2001. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) honored Dale Wood annually since 1967 for his "very important contribution towards the creation and development of contemporary American Music." The Board of Regents of California Lutheran University awarded Dale Wood the title of "Exemplar of the University," citing him as "an example of excellence in service and a worthy model of a good and useful life."

Karen McFarlane Retirement

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Karen McFarlane has announced her retirement from twenty-four years of active concert management, effective January 1 of this coming year. Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc., which in 2001 will mark its 80th anniversary, was originally founded by Bernard R. LaBerge. In 1962, his long-time secretary, Lilian Murtagh, took over the agency, which was transferred to Ms. McFarlane shortly before Mrs. Murtagh's death in 1976.

 

Under Karen McFarlane's tenure, the management has continued to represent many of the world's finest concert organists, and in addition has ventured into two new areas. In 1982, Ms. McFarlane became the first concert manager for organists to officially promote the winner of a major national competition, and since that time has volunteered her assistance to 10 NYACOP winners, working with each for a two-year period. She agreed in 1990 to represent the gold medal winners of the Calgary International Organ Festival, and, although she has been invited to represent winners of other major international organ competitions, she has chosen to work with competitions which are based in North America. In 1985 her management began to import select collegiate and cathedral choirs of men and boys from England to North America, starting a trend of tours by English choirs that has continued. During the past fifteen years she has toured the choirs of St. Thomas Church, New York City; Canterbury Cathedral; Salisbury Cathedral; Winchester Cathedral; King's College and St. John's College, Cambridge; Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, London; and The Cambridge Singers (John Rutter, director).

Karen McFarlane holds a bachelor's degree from Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Missouri, where she studied organ with Franklin Perkins. She also attended Washington University and Union Theological Seminary, and studied with Claire Coci. In 1966 she moved to New York City to assist Frederick Swann at The Riverside Church. She has also served as Director of Music/Organist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in San Marcos, Texas, and as Director of Music/Organist at Park Avenue Christian Church, New York City. She took over the Lilian Murtagh Concert Management in 1976, has served as Associate Choirmaster at The Church of the Covenant, Cleveland, since 1988, and has been married to Walter Holtkamp, Jr. since 1982. Karen McFarlane is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Entertainment, the International Who's Who in Music, and The World Who's Who of Women. She received the Avis H. Blewett Award from the St. Louis AGO, and was one of two recipients of the national AGO's first Edward A. Hansen Leadership Award in 2000.

The new president of Karen McFarlane Artists will be John McElliott, who is currently Booking Director for the management. Mr. McElliott grew up in Akron, Ohio, where he was introduced to church music as a boy chorister in the Men and Boys Choir at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, under the direction of Robert Quade. He then went on to study organ and voice at The University of Akron, and later was a choral scholar with the Choir of Winchester Cathedral in England. He has had a great deal of performance experience as a singer with early music groups such as Apollo's Fire, and has a solid knowledge of organ repertoire as well. He is married to organist Yuri Sato.

On September 8 of this year, in recognition of her forthcoming retirement, Karen McFarlane was honored by her entire roster of artists at a musical event held at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. The event, which was secretly planned for more than a year, was a program of "Musical Gifts," in which each artist on the roster either composed or commissioned a piece for organ, solo voice, or choir. A total of 30 new works were composed, of which 26 were performed that evening.

 

Organ:

George Baker: Chorale-prelude, If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee

Guy Bovet: Tango de setimo tono (a modo de Habanera)

Petr Eben: Preludium I (commissioned by Susan Landale)

Ann Gebur: Meditation on "Schmücke dich" (commissioned by Clyde Holloway)

William Harvey: Vocalissimus (commissioned by Christopher Young)

Martin Haselböck: Birthday Card with Signature

Marilyn Keiser: Variations on "Good Christian Friends, Rejoice"

Olivier Latry: Arabesque on the Name of Karen McFarlane

William McVicker: Six Variations über una tema de Vincent Youmans (commissioned by David Goode, James O'Donnell, Jane Parker-Smith, Simon Preston, Ann Elise Smoot and Gillian Weir)

Craig Phillips: Tribute—A Lullaby for Organ (commissioned by David Craighead)

Daniel Pinkham: The Salutation of Gabriel (French horn/organ)(commissioned by Joan Lippincott)

Myron Roberts: Fantasy for Organ (shared dedication with Robert Baker)

Daniel Roth: from Livre d'orgue pour le Magnificat

Robert Sirota: Fanfare for Many Members (commissioned by Donald and Phyllis Sutherland)

Frederick Swann: Meditation on "Repton"

Thomas Trotter, arr. from Vivaldi: Alla Rustica

 

Hymns:

Gerre Hancock: A Hymn for Karen (hymn-tune: Karen)

Todd Wilson: He Comes to Us as One Unknown (hymn-tune: Cedar Hill)

 

Solo Voice:

Diane Meredith Belcher: Lutebook Lullaby

Stephen Kennedy: St. Theresa's Bookmark (commissioned by David Higgs)

Thomas Murray: Earth with Her Ten-Thousand Flowers

Anne Wilson: May There Always

       

Choir:

Marie-Claire Alain: Two Early French Noëls for Choir

Stephen Cleobury: Founder's Prayer

David Hill: Sing Lullaby                                                   

Alan Morrison: The Lord Bless You and Keep You

Peter Planyavsky: Choral arrangement of Lasst uns erfreuen

Stephen Tharp: O Sacred Feast

 

In addition, a humorous group sing-along piece entitled "A Ditty for Karen," by Peter Hurford, was performed. John Weaver, who has over the years become the management's "Poet Laureate," read a Special Recitation. Performances of the above new works were by many of the roster organists, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano; John McElliott and David Hoffman, baritone; Larry Williams, French horn; and a choir composed of Peabody voice students. The welcome was given by Robert Sirota, Director of the Peabody Conservatory. A benediction by Victoria Sirota closed the evening. It was the largest number of new works premiered at any event in memory, many of which are being published.

As of January 1, Karen McFarlane Artists will have a new address: 2385 Fenwood Road, Cleveland OH 44118. Toll-free telephone: 866/721-9095; Fax: 216/397-7716; E-mail: [email protected]. The web-site for the management is www.concertorganists.com. Karen McFarlane ([email protected]) will continue, on a part-time basis, to expand performance opportunities for the management's competition winners and young organists, as well as handle the planning for the yearly choir tours. David Hoffman, who has been with the management for many years, will continue as Office Manager.

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