Seattle organist headlines St. Thomas concerts this month

Seattle organist headlines St. Thomas concerts this month

The University of St. Thomas Music Department welcomes the public to the free music performances listed below. All will be held on the university’s St. Paul campus unless listed otherwise. For additional information, call (651) 962-5850.

8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, in St. Mary’s Chapel at the St. Paul Seminary, 2260 Summit Ave.: Dr. Christopher Kachian, who heads the St. Thomas guitar program, and Dr. David Jenkins, director of liturgical music at the St. Paul Seminary, will present a faculty recital. On the program are works by J.S. Bach, Robert de Visée and Nicholas Lebègue.

8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, in Brady Educational Center auditorium: Guitarist Joan Griffith gives a faculty recital.

8:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas: Joseph Adam, cathedral organist of St. James Cathedral in Seattle, will be the guest recitalist on the chapel’s Gabriel Kney organ.

Adam, recognized as one of the United States’ leading organists, was appointed at St. James in 1993; since 1997 he also has been a faculty member at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. An Iowa native, he received a bachelor of music and master of fine arts in piano from the University of Iowa. He began doctoral studies with further training as an organist at the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the performer’s certificate in organ. He is completing work for his doctor of musical arts degree at the University of Washington.

Adam received international attention in 1991 when he was awarded the first prize in the prestigious St. Albans International Organ Competition in England. Subsequently he has given recitals in notable venues throughout Western Europe and the United States and at the national conventions of professional organizations such as the American Guild of Organists, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians, and the Organ Historical Society. His first solo recording, “Melodia: German Romantic Organ Works,” received high praise in Fanfare and The American Organist magazines.

2 p.m. Sunday, March 5, in The O’Shaughnessy auditorium at the College of St. Catherine, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul: The UST Bands – the Symphonic Band, conducted by Dr. Douglas Orzolek, and the UST Chamber Winds, conducted by Dr. Matthew George – give a concert. The concert will feature faculty soloist Ruben Haugen, saxophone, with music by Vaughan Williams, Childs, Joplin, Iannacone and others.