Music at St. Thomas in November: Faculty guitar concert, Korean organist, student ensembles

Music at St. Thomas in November: Faculty guitar concert, Korean organist, student ensembles

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.

  • 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, in Brady Educational Center auditorium: A faculty concert features guitarists Joan Griffith, Jeff Thygeson, Mike Hauser, Steve Morgan and Christopher Kachian. From Bach to bossa nova and blues, the program offers a little something for everyone: jazz improvisations; classical pieces by Schubert and Paganini; music for solo guitar as well as for multiple guitars and guitar-piano pieces; flamenco, acoustic and electric styles; and, to top off the evening, an all-performers samba.
  • 8:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas:  Korean organist Dong-ill Shin, winner of the Grand Prize this past summer at the prestigious 20th Concours International d’Orgue “Grand Prix de Chartres,” gives a recital during the university’s 28th annual Sacred Arts Festival. Born in 1974, Shin won first prize in Korea’s National Competition for Piano when he was 10 years old. At 11, he debuted with the Pusan Philharmonic Orchestra, playing Mozart’s Concerto in D minor, No. 20. He since has won dozens of organ competitions and has performed all over the world. He is the organist at First United Methodist Church in Hurst, Texas, and teaches organ at Texas Wesleyan University. His St. Thomas program will include works by Couperin, J.S. Bach, Escaish, Franck and Liszt. For other Sacred Arts festival events, visit www.stthomas.edu/saf.
  • 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, in Brady Educational Center auditorium: Students in the university’s small ensembles give a recital.
  • 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, in Brady Educational Center auditorium: The university’s African Music Ensemble, conducted by Sowah Mensah, gives a concert.

For more information about these and other music events at St. Thomas, call the Music Department, (651) 962-5850.