By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
Two organists, a violinist and a harpist are on the bill for FASO's 2016-17 concert season.
Friends of Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1024 will host four concerts in St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, spotlighting the church's world-class organ.
The 11th season opens with a 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 concert by TIm Effler, a South Carolina native who's in his 22nd year as organist and associate director of music at First United Methodist Church in Dallas.
Effler has played for numerous worship services of the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church and also has performed at both regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. Effler has accompanied choirs on numerous European tours performing in such magnificent venues as St. Paul’s in London, Notre Dame and La Madeleine in Paris, the Salzburg Cathedral and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.
Violnist Rachel Barton Pine will perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16.
Pine has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie.
British organist David Briggs will perform at 7:30 p.m. March 5.
With an extensive repertoire spanning five centuries, he is known around the world for his organ transcriptions of symphonic music by composers such as Mahler, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Bruckner, Ravel, and Bach. Fascinated by the art of improvisation since a child, Briggs also frequently performs improvisations to silent films such as Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Nosferatu, Jeanne d'Arc and Metropolis, as well as a variety of Charlie Chaplin films.
The season closes with harpist Katherine Siochi at 7:30 p.m. April 2.
Siochi is the 2016 gold medalist of the 10th USA International Harp Competition, and is only the second American to win the prize since the competition's inaugural year in 1989. Active as an orchestral and chamber musician, Siochi has performed in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher/David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Harris Theater in Chicago and Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
Concerts take place at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 1601 S. Georgia St. Season tickets range from $110 to $2,500.
Panhandle PBS will livestream educational concerts by each performer at 10 a.m. the day following their subscription performances.
Previously:
- Amarillo Little Theatre
- Lone Star Ballet
- Amarillo Opera
- Amarillo Symphony
- Broadway Spotlight Series
- West Texas A&M University theater
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and at www.facebook.com/chipchandlerwriter on Facebook.
