UST Music Department hosts concerts this month

UST Music Department hosts concerts this month

The University of St. Thomas Music Department welcomes the public to the music performances listed below. All will be held on the university's St. Paul campus unless listed otherwise. Admission is free.

(Please note: Many of the events below also are part of the university’s Sacred Arts Festival this year. Festival events are noted with an asterisk [*].)

For more information, call the St. Thomas Music Department, (651) 962-5850.

5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas: All Souls’ Day Solemn Evening Prayer, an ecumenical service of liturgy and music, has its roots in a centuries-old tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. The service, led by St. Thomas’ president Rev. Dennis Dease, includes psalms, petitions and music by the university’s Women’s Choir, conducted by Dr. Angela Broeker. All Souls’ Day is an opportunity to remember the dead and celebrate the communion of saints. *

8:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas: Swedish organist Hans Fagius, since 1989 an organ professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and since 1998 a member of the Royal Swedish Music Academy, will give a recital on the St. Thomas chapel’s Gabriel Kney organ. *

Fagius performed at the organ’s dedication recital 20 years ago.

Fagius’ recital will include Johann Sebastian Bach’s Pièce d’Orgue (Fantasia) in G major, Triosonata in G major and Prelude and Fuge in G minor; “Chords and Bells,” a 2006 work by Rolf Martinsson (b. 1958); and Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 59, by Louis Vierne (1870-1937).

Fagius’ recital also is part of “Piping Hot: A Twin Cities Celebration of the Pipe Organ,” a week of free concerts, master classes and workshops Nov. 4-11 co-sponsored by the Twin Cities chapter of the American Guild of Organists. For more information on “Piping Hot,” visit https://pipedreams.publicradio.org/ or call (651) 290-1087.

Fagius, who studied in Paris with famous organist and composer Maurice Duruflé, began his concert career after winning international organ competitions in Leipzig and Stockholm in 1972 and 1973. He has made numerous recordings on the Swedish label BIS, including J.S. Bach’s complete organ works, a 17-CD collection.

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7, in O’Shaughnessy Educational Center auditorium: Sowah Mensah conducts the St. Thomas African Music Ensemble in a free concert. The ensemble recently received an invitation to perform at the Music Educators’ National Convention next spring in Milwaukee, Wis. *

3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas: The 60-voice UST Women’s Choir will present a concert, “Something Old, Something News,” an afternoon of classic and contemporary choral works for women’s voices. Dr. Angela Broeker directs; Robert Fickery is accompanist.

3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, in St. Mary’s Chapel at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, 2260 Summit Ave.: A recital, “Songs and Meanings,” features the premiere of “Five Songs of Walt Whitman” by Dr. James Callahan, a St. Thomas professor emeritus of music. Performers are St. Thomas faculty: Dr. Alan Bryan, baritone; Dr. Sarah Schmalenberger, French horn, and Will Kemperman, percussion. Callahan, a renowned organist, also will perform. The evening also will include a short lecture on Whitman’s poems by Dr. Andrew Scheiber of the St. Thomas English Department and a talk by Callahan about his compositions. *

Callahan, Schmalenberger and Kemperman also will perform “Five Songs” at the Schubert Club’s Courtroom Concert at noon Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul. Also included on the program will be Callahan’s “Six Note Card Bagatelles for Bruce” for fortepiano.