Belmont Abbey College

 

Eighteenth century Britain was a remarkable place. Because of Britain’s number of colonies, international trade grew at a fast pace with London as the centre. Good manufactured here were sold at home and abroad. A new ‘middle’ class could afford the time and money to participate in opera houses, and music clubs. In London, the pleasure gardens offered instrumental music and the latest songs. According to Samuel Johnson; "there is in London all that life can afford."

England, the musical center of Europe, saw a great influx of continental musicians seeking fame and fortune. The best known was George F. Handel. Virtuosic Italian performers and composers Francesco Geminiani and Francesco Barsanti could be found working in the London theaters. Their music, along with that of Handel, was in print. Appealing to the new middle class desire for music to perform at home, we find publication of instrumental works by Geminiani and Barsanti based on famous Scottish and English popular songs.

 

Patrick Pope is the Organist and Director of Music at The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in Charlotte, NC.  He is a candidate for the Doctor of Music degree in Organ Performance and Literature at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, from which he also earned his Master’s degree. 

A native of Statesville, NC, Mr. Pope was Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Charlotte, from 2006-2008, where he also worked with the Choir School at St. Peter’s.  Previously he served as Director of Music and Organist at Steele Creek Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Charlotte.  His teachers have included Todd Wilson, Marilyn Keiser, William Bates, and Christopher Young. 

Concert engagements have taken him to Princeton University Chapel; the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA; the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Charleston, SC; and Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York City. 

He has served as dean of the Indiana University/Bloomington Chapter, American Guild of Organists, and on the executive board of the Charlotte Chapter, AGO.  He has participated extensively in the AGO’s “Pipe Organ Encounter” initiative introducing young people to playing the organ. He will chair the 2015 AGO Region IV Convention hosted in Charlotte.

Laurel Talley is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, where she received a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance and music education, and a Master of Music teaching. Currently in Charlotte, Laurel is the Suzuki coordinator and lead violin instructor for Community School of the Arts, elementary music teacher for The Fletcher School, and a teaching artist for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

Mark Dulin is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Music, the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, and SUNY-Stony Brook. He is currently an adjunct professor of trumpet at Winthrop University. Dulin is a Vincent Bach Performing Artist.

 

Mary Akerman has concertized and taught around the globe. She currently teaches at Kennesaw State University (Georgia) and has recently given concerts and masterclasses at guitar festivals in Paracho and Saltillo, Mexico, San Antonio, Texas and at the East Carolina University’s Summer Music Workshop. In addition to giving solo concerts throughout the US and internationally, she has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, recorded with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Festival Singers, and has played on National Public Radio’s “In Performance Today” program. Mary Akerman won first prize in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition and the Casa de Espana of Puerto Rico Competition. She was also awarded the bronze medal in the Concours International Radio France. In 1986 she had the honor of being selected to perform in the Master Class of Andres Segovia. She also studied with Jose Tomas in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Bob Teixeira first gained recognition as one of twelve guitarists selected to compete at the Guitar Foundation of America’s 1987 international festival. He has appeared as a soloist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and the North Carolina Dance Theater. Texeira has also composed music and developed and performed arrangements to accompany the Moving Poets Theater and Dance Company. In addition to his duo performances with Akerman, he performs with his wife, cellist Tanja Bechtler and with the seven member world music ensemble, “Without Borders”. He teaches guitar a Central Piedmont Community College and Davidson University.

 

Music for audience participation is a highlight of this event. Karen Hite Jacob, directs.

 

William Lawing enjoys a distinguished career as a solo, chamber and symphonic musician. A member of the Western Piedmont Symphony, he has performed with the Charlotte Symphony, the Salisbury Symphony, the Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra. Concerto and solo performances have included concerts with the Charlotte Symphony and Charlotte Pops, the Chamber Orchestra of Macau, and the Davidson College Symphony Orchestra.

His solo career has been centered principally upon the literature of the Baroque era.  He performs regularly on piccolo trumpet and also performs on an Edward Meinl natural trumpet. In 2010 he performed throughout Austria under the auspices of the Classical Music Festival, in Eisenstadt. In 2011, he gave a series of concerts in Taiwan and Hong Kong with his wife, Cynthia. Most recently, the duo performed several concerts in a tour of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

He is the inaugural holder of the J. Estes Millner Endowed Chair in Music at Davidson College, NC.  He has received Davidson's Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching award, given annually on the basis of nominations by students and alumni. His most recent performance activities have included performing as soloist for the inauguration of Carol Quillen, Davidson's new president, and lecturing in Charlotte on Romare Bearden for the Mint Museum of Art, and on Sun Records for the Blumenthal Center for the Performing Arts.

Cynthia Lawing's performance career has taken her throughout the United States, and to Europe, South America and Asia. Recently she performed at the Haydnsaal at Schloss Esterhazy, the center of Joseph Haydn's compositional career, as part of the Classical Music Festival, in Eisenstadt, Austria.

Her joint performances with William Lawing, trumpeter took them to Chile, and last summer, to Taiwan on a concert tour to help establish a scholarship at St. John's University and to Hong Kong to commemorate the centennial celebration of her home parish, St. Paul's Anglican Church.  She is also a duo pianist with D

 

Music - Telemann: Concerto for Recorder and viol (soloists: Edward Ferrell, recorder and Holly Wright Maurer, viol)
Bach: Cantata #202 (soloist: Rebecca Miller Saunders, soprano) Bach:  Double Violin Concerto and Suzuki strings music featuring local students.

This is made possible by a special grant from Target.
Vaughan Williams:  Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

 

The Charlotte Civic Orchestra http://www.charlottecivicorchestra.org/ is a civic orchestra of and for the citizens of the Charlotte region. Through an educational entertainment approach, the CCO is able to break down the traditional barriers that can limit exploration of symphony music by new listeners. The CCO creates an approachable environment of exploring and learning about music, for its audience with enjoyable and informative concert discussions along with partnerships with other nonprofit organizationsCollaborative educational events encourage students to participate in the process of creating and learning about music through our Composers in Schools and other like initiatives.

For more than 20 years, the Charlotte Civic Orchestra has continued to serve three distinct yet complimentary roles in the Charlotte Region: (1) providing an opportunity for accomplished vocational musicians to perform together:   (2) delivering high-quality, affordable, and accessible cultural experiences to diverse audiences and (3) an educational program that involves school children that may never have had the chance to work with an orchestra.  The orchestra and programs continue to evolve under the direction of our Music Director, Geoffrey Whitehead who joined us in 2007.

 

The music ensemble Carolina Pro Musica (www.carolinapromusica.org) celebrates 35 years of early music performance. The ensemble finishes their season with an updated version of one of the most requested programs in their repertoire - songs about Virgin Mary through the eyes of pilgrims in medieval Spain. This is a concert dedicated to the Abbey graduating class of 2013.

 

The lovely acoustics of the Abbey Basilica lend a helping hand to sacred selections with or without organ.  Secular works point us toward spring.