At age 18, we are going to college! The Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival is moving to its new home at Trinity College in Hartford! After enjoying eighteen glorious years of this annual festival at the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, we look forward to even greater community participation moving forward. At this time of transition, I would like to offer a brief history of the festival, along with a report on our 2015 weekend—plus a glimpse of the future.
The Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival began as an overtone. An inventor-type entrepreneur, Bernard Baruch Surkis, had joined the First Church of Christ, and during a service, he felt that God wanted him to give his newest invention to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti. His invention was a machine that turned salt water into drinking water. While other machines already did this, his had a special feature, the purpose of which I do not recall. At any rate, Mr. Surkis wished to make fresh water easily accessible for the hospital. Tragically, he died in a car accident, and since he was a friend of mine, I spoke at his memorial service and shared his vision, saying that I would follow through on his idea for the Haitian hospital. I later learned that a machine would cost $100,000! I gulped, but made an appointment with the Albert Schweitzer Institute, then housed in Wallingford, Connecticut. The director at that time, Harold Robles, met with Ruth Brennan, chairperson of my music committee, and Nancy Andersen, from the First Church of Christ, and informed us that our offer to give the machine was wonderful, but not needed, because a donor had given funds to drill a well that would provide fresh water for the hospital.
After a silent sigh of relief that I was “off the hook” for raising the funds to complete Bernie’s dream, I noticed posters on the wall about Albert Schweitzer’s organ recitals. I asked about them, and Mr. Robles stated that there had been an Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival in Holland, and that “we would like to have a festival in America.” We kept talking, and the energy was flowing. I volunteered our church as a possible site—and the rest is history.
We launched the idea of a competition by presenting Thurston Moore’s multimedia production, “Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach,” which had been debuted by the Tennessee Players a few years earlier. Organists who played for this were Ronald Ebrecht, Ellen Hunt, Ezequiel Menendez, Christa Rakich, Catherine Rodland, John Rose, and Ralph Valentine. Guest narrators were Joanne Nesti, Gilbert Bond, and the Rev. Donald W. Morgan. The organ works of Bach were interspersed with readings about or by Albert Schweitzer. The pieces included: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, and the St. Anne Fugue, among others. We had to have overflow seating! Thurston Moore and his wife, Georgianna, were with us for this event.
We tried to fashion the competition after its European counterpart, as it was described to us. The adjudicators opened the event to inspire the finalists, then the competition was the next day. We were told that a large, black curtain hid the players from the judges.
We decided that Friday night would be our judges’ performance night. The competition was launched. We chose to have the festival on the first weekend after Labor Day, which would always run close to Dr. Schweitzer’s death date (September 4, 1965). His birth date was in January (January 14, 1875), and it was felt that, in Connecticut, the weather might be a little colder than most would wish for.
I selected the repertoire for the competition, which reflected the Schweitzer posters and his friendship with Charles-Marie Widor. As a young boy, I fondly remember those big, grey copies of my music, even though they now lack covers and the pages have become separated. Even so, I still use them!
Hymns were included, because most of us end up in a church position, and it seemed to me that most teachers were not stressing the importance of hymns and their interpretation of the texts. Finalists were to play—the High School Division: a major Bach work, a Widor slow movement, a work from a composer born after 1850, and two hymns; the Young Professional Division: one of the Franck Chorales, a major Bach work, a Widor slow movement, and two hymns. One of the two hymns, which is required, was St. Thomas (Williams)—”I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord.” This became our “Schweitzer Hymn” because the words were by Timothy Dwight (1752–1817), then the president of Yale. He and his grandfather Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) spent time together in the Wethersfield area. The only steeple around was that of the meetinghouse in Wethersfield (still used here at First Church), so they most likely were quite familiar with its beauty. In the second verse of the hymn, Dwight wrote: “I love Thy Church, O God; Her walls before Thee stand. . . .” Reverend Donald W. Morgan felt sure that Dwight had the meetinghouse steeple in mind when he penned those words.
We felt that three judges would be best, and, like the European model, they would not be able to see the finalists when playing.
We determined that three finalists would be invited in the High School Division and three from the Young Professional Division, to be chosen from the applicants. The level of playing has been incredibly high! On the opening night, we invited the three judges to play 8–10 minutes each and we formed a Festival Choir to sing. Complementing the judges’ selections, our usual repertoire was composed by organists:
Prelude – (played by me)
Psalm 150, César Franck
Hymn: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation, hymn tune: Christ Church, Richard Dirksen
Kyrie (Messe Solennelle, op. 16), Louis Vierne
He Comes to Us, Jane Marshall (The text is from The Quest for the Historical Jesus, by Albert Schweitzer)
Go Ye Into All the World, Robert Wetzler
Hymn: Let Heaven Rejoice, hymn tune: Rock Harbor, music by Alan McMillan, text by Hal M. Helms.
John Walker, a judge for 2015, writes:
“Emerging from the six brilliant finalists in the eighteenth annual Albert
Schweitzer Organ Festival, Monica Czausz won first place in the Young Professional Division, and Adrian Binkley took top honors in the High School Division. All contestants played at an impressively high level, everyone therefore being declared a winner. Having been nurtured for almost two decades by its founder, David Spicer, ASOF is far more than a performance competition: featured events of the weekend included a festival concert with massed choirs and organ, the competition, opportunities for all contestants to play in services of worship at the First Church of Christ (Wethersfield) and the Cathedral of St. Joseph (Hartford), an organ masterclass with the adjudicators, a field trip to the Austin Organ factory, and shared meals with competitors, adjudicators, and board members of ASOF. Following that memorable weekend, everyone departed with renewed inspiration and confidence in the future of our chosen vocation.”
Diane Meredith Belcher, judge, writes:
“The eighteenth annual Albert
Schweitzer Festival has a history of bringing together student, volunteer, and professional church musicians, and this year was no exception. It was exhilarating to see the combination of so many talented high school and college/graduate school organists, combined church choirs and vocal soloists, and seasoned professional organists serving as performers, teachers, mentors, and/or judges. As usual, David Spicer led his flock of finalists, assisting musicians, volunteers, and guest judges (Peter Conte and John Walker) with energy and commitment that is astounding. What I continue to love most about this festival is that it truly is about what most organists do and what church music is about: serving God and being at service to others in the church through music. Finalists not only compete, they perform in church and in masterclasses and observe others rehearsing choirs and playing for services. A more collaborative, inspirational, and heartwarming competition/festival one finds only rarely in our profession. Kudos to David Spicer and the board of the ASOF for another wonderful success, and congratulations to all six finalists, who were winners before even arriving.”
I would like to thank the First Church of Christ for eighteen glorious years! A special note of thanks to ministers Donald W. Morgan, J. Jey Deifell, Jr., and Deryk Richenburg for their support and encouragement. It has been wonderful to have so many talented organists with us, along with supporters who travel from as far as the Czech Republic, Wisconsin, and Florida, and have faithfully attended, hearing the church’s magnificent Austin organ. A special note of thanks is given to Austin Organ Service of Avon, Connecticut—Bon Smith, president, and to Alex Belair and Michael Tanguay, for the gracious gift of servicing the organ for this festival. We also thank the additional practice sites for making their instruments available: Trinity Episcopal Church and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wethersfield, Connecticut; Bethany Covenant Church, Berlin; the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Trinity College, and Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford; St. John’s Episcopal Church and St. James’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford; and First Church of Christ, Congregational, in Glastonbury. The graciousness of the congregation, staff, and the community was truly
a blessing!
This year’s festival featured judges Diane Meredith Belcher, Peter Richard Conte, and John Walker, and opened on Friday, September 11, with a Festival Choir composed of representatives from Center Church in Hartford, the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, and the First Church of Christ. Ezequiel Menendez accompanied, and I conducted.
Here are this year’s finalists.
High School Division
1st Place ($2,000): Adrian Binkley from Madison, Wisconsin, a student of Thomas Bara, Interlochen Center for the Arts. This prize is provided by the Marjorie Jolidon Fund of the Greater Hartford Chapter, American Guild of Organists.
2nd Place ($1,000): Aaron Patterson from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a student of Dennis Elwell.
3rd Place ($500): Elena Baquerizo from Miami, Florida, a student of Thomas Schuster.
Young Professional Division
1st Place ($3,500): Monica Czausz from Houston, Texas, a student of Ken Cowan, Rice University.
2nd Place ($1,500): Robin Ericksen from Macon, Georgia.
3rd Place ($750): Mary Pan from Burlington, Connecticut, currently studying with Thomas Murray, Yale School of Music.
The David Spicer Hymn Playing Award ($1000): Adrian Binkley.
Save the dates: the festival is moving to the last weekend in September—Friday, September 30, to Sunday, October 2, 2016, with an opening concert at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford. The competition will be held at Trinity College on Saturday, October 1, and the 2015 first-prize winners will return on Saturday night to play a recital at St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford. A masterclass ending the festival will be held on Sunday afternoon at Trinity College.
We are grateful to our newly formed board of directors for their vision and support. Board members include: Robert Bausmith, chair, Marilyn Austin, Stewart Battle, Robert Clement, William L. Dean, Newton R. Gilchrist, John Gorton, Vaughn Mauren, Ezequiel Menendez, Soo Hwan Pai, John Rose, and Phillip Truckenbrod.
For more information about the festival weekend and next year’s competition requirements, please see our website at www.schweitzerfestival.org, or contact 860/529-1575, ext. 209. The deadline for application is June 7, 2016.
Bernard Surkis would be pleased that a fresh supply, not of water, but of support for young organists, has been created!
