Missoula

Last updated: July 1, 2008

Message from the Dean

Dear All,

What a busy spring we've had - first, the wonderful recital by Yale professor Martin Jean, then the also-wonderful recital by UM senior Ty Lundman. Thanks to all of you who attended - it was great to see you there!

We closed off our season with a wonderful concert given by the Battle Creek Boychoir at 1st Presbyterian Church on June 11.

I just returned from the national AGO convention in Minneapolis, which was a wonderful experience. I encourage all of you to consider attendance at the region VIII convention next summer, which will be held in Seattle, and will include a day trip over the border, into Victoria!

One bit of news announced at the Region VIII meeting in Minneapolis: UM student Shane Robertson, who graduated in May with an MM in music education, received his Service Playing Certificate from the AGO. Congrats, Shane!

Plans are underway for fall events, including a "road trip" to Helena to hear internationally acclaimed organist Paul Jacobs inaugurate the new organ at the St. Helena Cathedral; there will also be a concert in Missoula in October as a part of the International Year of the Organ, which began on June 26.

We encourage all organists and lovers of the organ to attend our events and join our chapter. Hope to meet you soon!

All the best,

Nancy Cooper
Dean, Missoula Chapter, AGO
nancy.cooper@umontana.edu

Local Events

AGO Fall 2008 Calendar (tentative)

October 19th - International Year of the Organ recital, Missoula, time and place TBA.

October 24, 7:30 pm - Paul Jacobs, recitalist, St. Helena Cathedral. Inaugural recital celebrating the new Wicks organ.

The American Guild of Organists has designated 2008-2009 as the International Year of the Organ, a time when we will exhibit the pride that we share in our chosen instrument. We invite music organizations throughout the world to join with us in celebrating the King of Instruments. The year of festivities was inaugurated with special events at the National Convention of the AGO in Minneapolis in June, 2008, and will conclude with the AGO Regional Conventions in the summer of 2009. We encourage every chapter of the AGO to participate in as many ways as they can.

To get more information and view a copy of the Proclamation by Gov. Brian Schweitzer click on the following link:

http://www.agohq.org/events/index.html

2008 Hymn Society Annual Conference Comes to Berkeley

Singers, composers, writers, analysts, arrangers and all users of hymns eagerly anticipate the 2008 annual conference of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, being held in Berkeley, July 13-17, having waited since the 1995 conference in San Diego for The Hymn Society to return to California. Many organists will attend, as many are members of both The Hymn Society and either the AGO or the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

The theme of the conference is "Congregational Song and the Arts: Gifts for Worship and Ministry." Plenary speakers, worship and workshop leaders, performers and hymn festival designers include not only musicians but persons who will bring perspectives from the visual arts, dance, drama and architecture. Over 30 of them are California-based, including the organists Sandra Soderlund, James Welch, Larry Marietta, Beverly Howard, Gerald Asheim and John Walko, giving the conference a distinctive California flavor. Leaders and participants will also come from trans-Pacific nations.

The conference offers registrants some 40 choices of Sectionals, several publishers' showcases, plenary presentations by Don Saliers, Carla de Sola, Thomas Troeger and Sally Ann Morris and daily Morning Prayer and Night Prayer liturgies which honor the ethnic and denominational diversity of California congregations. But some of the most enjoyable events at a Hymn Society conference are the ones that are free. This year those include a Sunday afternoon recital by Sandra Soderlund on the Petty-Madden organ at First Congregational Church, Berkeley, a liturgical arts show and sale, also on Sunday afternoon, and four evening hymn festivals, each having a very different theme and held in a different historic Berkeley church. These will draw members of local congregations who will join conference attendees to lift their voices in glorious song.

Detailed information about the conference, including the full schedule, descriptions of the conference venues in Berkeley and the registration form are displayed on the Hymn Society website: www.thehymnsociety.org. The Local Committee invites your email inquiries at hsberkeley08@gmail.com and looks forward to welcoming AGO and RCCO members, pastors, choir directors and hymn-singers to Berkeley in July.

Donna Hamilton
HS Berkeley '08 Local Committee Chair

Membership

For membership information, contact:
Alice Williams
1614 Pittman Drive
Missoula, MT 59803
e: clem@in-tch.com

Placement

Employers and job seekers are invited to post and search listings of available positions on the Guild's National Website.

Certification

Missoula is no longer a testing location for AGO exams. Contact the national office: www.agohq.org, for information about testing locations in Region VIII.

Contact Us

Nancy Cooper, Dean - nancy.cooper@umontana.edu
Barbara Simon, Sub-Dean - bsimon@bigsky.net
Alice Williams, Secretary/Treasurer - clem@in-tch.com
Jeff Stickney, Executive Committee member-at-large - jpstickney@montanadsl.net

Links

http://www.bondorgans.com
(for information about Holy Spirit Episcopal Church's
1999 Richard Bond tracker organ)
http://www.sfa.umt.edu/
(enter the site, then scroll down the left-hand column,
and click on "arts calendar" for goings-on at UM's
School of Fine Arts)

Visit the AGO National website