Chicago Temple Building Centennial Brass and Organ Concert

A celebratory concert of brass and organ music will herald the 100th anniversary of the First United Methodist Church’s Chicago Temple Building, the landmark Gothic Revival skyscraper office tower and house of worship in the Loop. The signature event of the Chicago Temple Building’s centennial celebration will feature music by Giovanni Gabrieli, André Campra, Eugène Gigout, Geoge Whitfield Andrews, Anthony DiLorenzo, Johann Sebastian Bach, Aaron Copland, Michael Thorn, and Charles-Marie Widor. Artists are Phillip Kloeckner, First United Methodist Church organist, and the Chicago Brass Quintet. The concert is also a fundraiser for the $3.25 million restoration and maintenance of the church’s immense, historic E. M. Skinner Opus 414 pipe organ, installed in the ground-floor sanctuary in 1924, the year of the building’s completion. The instrument, boasting 5,589 pipes, is among the largest in Chicago. Proceeds will also help fund public concerts after the restoration is completed in December 2026. Four of the concert’s works are scored for brass and organ combined: Gabrieli’s late-Italian Renaissance “Canzon Septimi Toni,” No. 2, a bright, resonant piece from his collection “Sacrae Symphoniae”; Campra’s French Baroque Suite of Dances from his opera-ballet “Les fêtes vénitiennes,” conjuring a festive Venetian atmosphere; Gigout’s vibrant and dynamic “Grand Choeur Dialogue,” one of the French Romantic composer’s most renowned works, arranged by Mark Adler; and Widor’s exuberant, triumphant Toccata from his Symphonie No.5, Opus 42, arranged by Sterling Procter. The Chicago Brass Quintet will solo in DiLorenzo’s dazzling, high-energy “Fire Dance,” Bach’s Sonatina from his Cantata No. 206, the cantata’s profoundly spiritual instrumental prelude, arranged for the ensemble by Illinois composer Jan Bach; and four of Copland’s “Old American Songs,” his settings of folk songs, hymns, and other pieces, arranged by James Mattern. Concertgoers will also hear three solo organ works: Andrews’ early 20th-century American “Con Grazia” (With Grace), a soundscape that’s serene and uplifting; J. S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547, in which the joyful, lilting Prelude is followed by a Fugue with an astounding number of variations on a stately and engaging theme; and contemporary Chicago composer-organist Michael Thorn’s “Blues,” based on a blues scale and blending traditional classical forms with modern sensibilities. “The works selected for this program play to the current strengths of the Opus 414 organ,” Kloeckner says. “When this amazing instrument is fully restored, any organ music from the past 500 years can be heard in all its glory,” he says. Erik Nussbaum, the church’s director of music and the arts, notes that the main sanctuary hosts public concerts with prominent classical musicians from the Chicago area and beyond. “When the Opus 414 restoration is complete, guest artists will have the added advantage of a world-class pipe organ,” Nussbaum says. “This will greatly expand their programming possibilities.” Organist KIoeckner has been heard on public radio’s “Pipedreams” and in Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral, San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, and New York’s St. Thomas Church, among other prominent venues in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. He joined the music faculty of the University of Chicago in 2012 and founded the school’s Rockefeller Chapel Organ Studio. He holds degrees from Swarthmore College, Oberlin Conservatory, and Rice University, where he was invited to join the faculty after receiving his doctoral degree in organ performance. He was closely involved with the creation of the university’s Fisk-Rosales organ. His recent recording on that organ, “Exotic Variations,” is available on the Raven label (ravencd.com). The Chicago Brass Quintet has been performing together for more than 40 years. It currently tours internationally, performing throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. The ensemble has recorded for the Delos, Centaur, Crystal, GIA and Covenant labels and has appeared on WFMT radio, National Public Radio, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 

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Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2613480-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2613480-2

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