1929 Skinner in Dimnent Memorial Chapel at Hope College

Pipedreams Live! in Holland (MI)

…a visit with Professor Huw Lewis and students following the renovation of the 1929 Skinner organ in Dimnent Memorial Chapel at Hope College.

Program Broadcast dates:

• Week of January 30, 2017

Links and Resources:

• Printable program listings

Music played in the program

Hour 1

J.S. BACH:  Piece d’Orgue, BWV 572 –David Schout

FRANZ LISZT:  Prelude & Fugue on B-A-C-H –Huw Lewis

ALFRED FEDAK:  Sonata for Worship –Huw Lewis

TRADITIONAL:  Psalm 42 –Huw Lewis

DAN LOCKLAIR:  The People Respond “Amen”, fr Rubrics –Robin Pulsifer

Hour 2

LEO SOWERBY:  Fantasy for Flute Stops –Abigail Rockwood

SOWERBY:  Very Slowly, fr Sonatina –Richard Newman

WALTER ALCOCK:  Introduction & Passacaglia –Susan DeKam

CESAR FRANCK:  Choral No. 3 in a –Christopher Dekker

 

These performances were recorded on a remarkably warm autumn evening (r. September 22, 2008) and co-sponsored by the Department of Music at Hope College and Freedom Village Senior Living.

Welsh-born Huw Lewis won top prizes as a teenager during studies at the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music in England. He received scholarships and fellowships at Cambridge and Michigan Universities, and won First Prize at the National Organ Competition in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His performing career has taken him all across the United States, and to Britain, Europe, and Russia, and his playing has been broadcast over the radio in Europe, Britain, and in the U.S. Huw Lewis has appeared often as a soloist with orchestras, and recently participated in the world premieres of concertos by Alfred Fedak and Michael Daugherty. Dr. Lewis is College Organist at Hope College, and Director of Music at St. John's Episcopal Church, Detroit.

Following organ studies at Hope College, David Schout earned a Masters Degree in Music at the University of Michigan, and now serves as organist and director of music at All Saints Episcopal Church, Saugatuck, Michigan
He has given an all-Bach recital there each fall for the past three years, and typically performs several other recitals locally each year in the lakeshore area of west Michigan.

Robin Pulsifer, a promising freshman at the time of this event, went on to earn a double degree from Hope College and worked first as a music educator in both choral and instrument education k-12. When his partner's job relocated them, he recertified as a math teacher and now teaches middle grades math in Asheville, North Carolina. Not affiliated with any church, he enjoys playing in local jazz groups and working as an accompanist.

Abigail Rockwood currently works as a keyboard performer in the Buffalo (NY) area, playing organ, piano, and harpsichord. Her primary work takes place at St. Paul’s Cathedral (Assistant Organist-Choirmaster), Buffalo State College (Lecturer), and the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus (Associate Artistic Director). Rockwood earned her DMA degree at the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with David Higgs, William Porter, and Tony Caramia. She also holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music (M.Mus) and Hope College (B. Mus), and other significant teachers include Todd Wilson, Huw Lewis, and Charles Aschbrenner. She has won first place in the Rodland Competition and Strader Competition, the Peter B. Knock Award, the Adele Heinrich Award (Cleveland Institute of Music), Lilly Scholar, and Hope College Trustee Scholarship.

Richard Newman had studied organ with Robert Delcamp at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, Sewanee, Tennessee, before attending Hope College. He appeared on this program as alum, having graduated in 2006. During the summer of 2008, he had accompanied the choirs of All Saints Church, Worcester, Massachusetts during their tour to Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester Cathedral in England, and recently accompanied the choir of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Detroit, Michigan during their residency at Chichester and Southwark Cathedrals. Dr. Newman completed his work toward the Doctorate of Music at the University of Michigan as a student of James Kibbie and Edward Parmentier. Before his current position at Grace Episcopal Church, Alexandria, Virginia, he was Associate Organist at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Detroit and Organ Scholar at Detroit’s St. John’s Episcopal Church. His interests include collecting fountain pens and promoting new music for the organ.

After graduation with a piano major from Hope College, Susan De Kam built on her awakened interest in the pipe organ and earned Masters and Doctoral degrees in organ performance with Robert Glasgow and James Kibbie at the University of Michigan. She is organist for Northaven United Methodist Church, Dallas, having served for nearly a decade at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in the same city. She is also active as a keboard teacher, accompanist, and free-lance performer-composer, specializing in music for film and theatre. She’s released a CD (Pro Organo 7248) recorded on the Kegg pipe organ at Zion Lutheran Church in Wausau, WI.

From Hope College, Christopher Dekker went on to earn a Masters Degree at Central Michigan University, and is completing a DMA at Notre Dame University, served Trinity United Methodist and Second Congregational Churches in Grand Rapids, and at present as director of music and worship at Hillcrest Christian Reformed Church in Hudsonville, MI. He is also president of West Michigan Offshore powerboating club, and is president and owner of Dekker Web Solutions.