Concluding its popular “Summer Stars” classical music series, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA) will feature resident organist Gordon Turk and the Philadelphia Brass in a program titled “Fanfare and Trumpetings” on Thursday, August 4 at 7 p.m.: 30 p.m. at the Grand Auditorium. Tickets are $17.50 and can be ordered at www.oceangrove.org/stars.
The concert will feature works for organ and brass by JS Bach, Jean-François Dandrieu, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Marcel Dupre, Eugène Gigout, Erik Satie, Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely and Charles-Marie Widor.
Gordon Turk is a critically acclaimed concert organist whose “athletic performance brings plenty of flair to the organ console” (Flint Journal). His playing is “a seamless integration of interpretation and virtuosity” (Newark Star Ledger), and “it’s a moving experience to hear” (New York Times).
Dr. Turk has performed in the United States, Europe, Russia, Ukraine and Japan. His concert tours, both in the United States and abroad, have included solo recitals in concert halls, universities, cathedrals and churches, performances at organ festivals and concerts with orchestras. He has received competition awards for interpretations of the music of JS Bach and was also a winner of the American Guild of Organists’ National Improvisational Competition. He has presented organ performance and improvisation masterclasses in the United States and abroad.
He was selected to perform the dedication recitals of many new organs and was one of five national organists selected to perform at the opening concerts of the new organ at Verizon Hall-Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. His collaborations with other musicians in chamber music concerts with organ include principal instrumentalists from the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and other distinguished musicians, including American folk singers Peter, Paul & Mary.
A graduate of the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Dr. Turk is Professor of Organ at Rowan University in New Jersey, where he combines his enthusiasm for teaching and historical research with his passion for making music a living and communicating art. He is also organist and choir director at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Wayne, Pennsylvania, where he conducts professional and volunteer singers, presenting centuries-old sacred music in the context of liturgical worship.
Philadelphia Brass was formed in 1988 with a mission to perform the best of brass quintet literature from all eras and styles while educating audiences in the pleasures, intricacies and complexities of chamber music. Critics and audiences enthusiastically praised their engaging diversity of repertoire, technical virtuosity, humorous and informative educational dialogue, and superb musicianship. Individually, members of the Philadelphia Brass have performed with the world’s finest musical ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Montreal, among many others. The ensemble has toured extensively throughout the US, UK and has completed two well-received tours to Bolivia on behalf of the US State Department. They created works by Daniel Pinkham, David DiamondJAC Redford, Robert Elkjer, Jack Gale, Dick Hyman and Paul Salerno.
Program order
Fanfare on the air Last Uns Erfreuen Arranged by Steven Heitzer
Brass and organ quintet
Rondeau – ‘The fifes’ Jean-François Dandrieu
Sinfonia – Wir danken dir, Gott (from Cantata 29) JS Bach
Arioso (Organ) JS Bach
Triumphal March (brass quintet and organ) Sigfrid Karg-Elert
Moonlight (Organ) S. Karg-Elert
Heroic Poem (Organ, Trumpets, Trombones and Drum) Marcel Dupre
Intermission
Pop – Jazz Ensemble (Brass Quintet)
Exit in E flat Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely
Grand Choeur Dialogue (Organ & Brass) Eugène Gigout
Gymnopédie N°1 (Organ) Erik Satie
Finale for Trumpets, Trombones, Drums & Organ Charles-Marie Widor