March 1, 2010
NEW YORK CITY — The American Guild of Organists (AGO) will sponsor a Recital and Gala Benefit Reception honoring organist JOYCE JONES on Friday, April 9, 2010, in Fort Worth, Tex. The recital will begin at 7 p.m. at Broadway Baptist Church and will feature Joyce Jones performing a solo recital on the church’s RILDIA BEE O'BRYAN CLIBURN ORGAN, the magnum opus of Casavant Frères. The recital is free and open to the public. The gala benefit reception (tickets required) will follow at 9 p.m. at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel. The gala is sponsored by the AGO National Council, Eileen Guenther, president, and the AGO Development Committee, Barbara Adler, director. All proceeds will go to the AGO Endowment Fund in Joyce Jones’s honor.
Gala Reception Tickets are $100 ($75 tax deductible) and may be purchased online at www.agohq.org or by calling 212-870-2311, ext. 4308. The names of those who purchase their tickets by March 19 will be printed in the souvenir program book. Those unable to attend the Recital and Gala Benefit Reception can make a contribution to the AGO Endowment Fund in honor of Joyce Jones online at www.agohq.org/contributions.
Display advertising in the souvenir recital program book is offered for a full page ($1,000 and includes two gala tickets) and a half page insertion ($500 and includes one gala ticket). E-mail gala@agohq.org for further information. Advertising deadline is March 15.
JOYCE JONES is the Joyce Oliver Bowden Professor of Organ and Organist in Residence at Baylor University in Texas. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Sacred Music degree in composition from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, composer of numerous published works, including the organ method "King of Instruments," and has recorded for Word, Rosenhaus, and Motette Records.
Joyce Jones has devoted her professional life to making friends for the organ, through community concerts, organ dedications, children’s concerts, and "Access to Music" programs. She has been widely acclaimed since making her debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as the only organist ever to win the prestigious G.B. Dealey award.
Dr. Jones’s numerous engagements include such venues as the Riverside Church, the Mormon Tabernacle, Notre Dame Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and the Meyerson Symphony Center. She was the first woman to perform on the organ at the Crystal Cathedral, the first organist to play for the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the only woman organist chosen to play with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the inauguration of the Ruffatti organ in Davies Symphony Hall. She has been a featured soloist at many regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, including the centennial convention in New York City in 1996.
The RILDIA BEE O'BRYAN CLIBURN ORGAN is the largest organ in Texas. It also is the largest organ of French aesthetics in the world, reflecting the basic design concept of the 18th and 19th century French organ builders. Exceptional in size and design, the Cliburn Organ has 10,615 pipes, 191 ranks, 129 independent stops and 11 divisions. The organ was crafted to fit the grand proportions of the sanctuary’s modified Gothic architecture. With a reverberation time of over five seconds, the sanctuary is a near perfect acoustical environment for the organ.
The AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS is the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields. Founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization, it sets and maintains high musical standards and promotes the understanding and appreciation of all aspects of organ and choral music. The mission of the AGO is to enrich lives through organ and choral music. The Guild currently serves approximately 19,000 members in more than 300 local chapters throughout the United States and abroad. The American Organist Magazine, the official journal of the AGO and the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, reaches an audience of more than 20,000 readers each month.
This information is submitted by F. Anthony Thurman, Director of Development and Communications at the National Headquarters of the American Guild of Organists and The American Organist Magazine. For further information, please contact Dr. Thurman by TEL (212) 870-2310, FAX (212) 870-2163 or E-MAIL fathurman@agohq.org.
