Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2005
The Capelle Meisters Classical Organ Concert Series continues at Westminster College with Dr. Dana Robinson Friday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in Orr Auditorium.
Robinson, professor of organ and university organist at the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana, will play the works of Bach, Reubke, Franck and others.
"Dr. Robinson is one of the best young performers in the United States and Europe," said Dr. Elizabeth Harrison, assistant professor of music and college organist at Westminster College. "He is playing "The Sonata on the 94th Psalm" by Julius Reubke, which is rarely played because of its difficulty."
In addition to teaching at the University of Illinois School of Music, Robinson has taught at youth organ camps sponsored by the American Guild of Organist. While at Westminster, he will teach a master's class, "Turning Technique into Music," to Westminster students.
Westminster College recently received a $1,851 grant from the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance for partial support of Capelle Meisters, a classical organ concert series being offered by the Department of Music through the new Western Pennsylvania Cultural Arts Center.
"The title of our series, Capelle Meisters, is taken from music history. The word "Capelle" means chapel and the word "Meisters" means masters. Historically Capellemeisters were the musicians who composed and performed for weekly and sometimes daily worship services and during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and were considered the most outstanding musicians," Harrison said.
"Following that tradition, our Capelle Meisters brings some of our country's best musicians to our campus to perform a wide variety of church music using the organ in our chapel. We feel incredibly privileged to have received this grant and to offer this series to Westminster and to the surrounding community!"
This project is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania's General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.
The concert is free and open to the public, but a free-will offering will be collected. For more information, contact Harrison at (724) 946-7024 or e-mail harrisea@westminster.edu.
