For sheer sonic splendor, the combination of organ and brass is hard to beat. From the opening of Gigout’s Grand Choeur Dialogue to the final cadence in Guilmant’s Symphonie No. 1, there are sure to be many spine tingling moments on Sunday afternoon, September 25, when the brilliant young organist Dongho Lee is joined by brass quintet and tympani at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Durham. The 4:00 p.m. concert, which opens the 2016-2017 season of the St. Stephen’s Concert Series, is this year’s Frank Hawkins Kenan Memorial Organ Recital. The concert is made possible through the generosity of Thomas, S. Kenan, III.
Dongho Lee is currently Artist-in-Residence at Providence United Methodist Church in Charlotte and Adjunct Professor of Organ at Davidson College. In 2010 she was awarded the First Prize (Lilian Murtaugh Memorial Prize) and the Audience Prize in the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. She has appeared twice previously at St. Stephen’s, first in a solo recital and then with the string section of the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle.
On September 25 Dongho Lee will collaborate with some of the triangle’s finest musicians: James Ketch and Paul Neebe, trumpets; Pamela Burleson, French horn; Michael Kris, trombone; Steve Truckenbrod, tuba, and Julia Thompson, tympani.
The concert’s featured piece is a three-movement work by Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911). Guilmant wrote two versions of the piece, the Sonata No. 1 for solo organ and the Symphonie No. 1 for organ and full symphony orchestra. Since then, the piece has been reworked for organ and brass.
Brass and tympani will also join the organ in “Flourishes” by the contemporary composer Carlyle Sharpe (b. 1965) and an arrangement of the “Grand Choeur Dialogué” by Eugène Gigout (1844-1925).
Three pieces for solo organ will complete the program: Bach’s big A minor Prelude and Fugue (BWV 543), Guy Bovet’s Hamburger Totentanz, and De Grigny’s Récit de Tierce en taille.
A reception, organized by Agnes Jonoshazi, will take place in the Parish Hall following the concert.
Tickets ($25) are available at the door. The concert is free for those 18 or under. The church is located at 82 Kimberly Drive, Durham NC 27707. For more information visit the concert series web site: http://ststephens.instataencore.com.
