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May 8, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

1A Arts Lead Archives

Emmanuel Church to host organ recital February 21

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Emmanuel Church will host Daniel Colaner who will give an organ recital on Friday Feb. 21st at 7:00 p.m   Tickets $25.

Daniel Colaner, St. Paul’s Organ Scholar, first captured international media attention at the age of 12 with his same-day performance on piano at Carnegie Hall and on organ at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Since then, his talents have been showcased on ABC, BBC, NPR and PBS. In 2021, he was chosen for The Diapason’s “20 Under 30,” a select group of young adults at the forefront of the organ field. He was the First Prize and Audience Prize Winner at the 2023 Arthur Poister Organ Competition and the 2023 L. Cameron Johnson Memorial Organ Competition. As the winner of the 2023 Cleveland Chapter RCYO Quimby Competition, Daniel is currently a student of Todd Wilson at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Emmanuel Church is located at 101 N. Cross St. Chestertown MD.

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Andrew Sheranian, Organist Returns to Emmanuel Church on Friday October 27

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Since 2010, Andrew Sheranian has been Organist and Master of Choristers at the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont in Boston, an Anglo-Catholic church known for its commitment to excellence in music and liturgy. His duties at Ashmont include recruiting, training, and conducting the choir, as well as playing the parish’s two pipe organs.

Prior to taking up the post at Ashmont, Andrew he served as Organist and Choirmaster at Christ’s Church in Rye, New York for seven years. In 2003, Mr. Sheranian completed his Master of Music degree through the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, as a student of Martin Jean. His undergraduate training took place at New England Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of William Porter, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree.

A lifelong disciple of Johann Sebastian Bach, Mr. Sheranian is the founding director of The Bach Project at Ashmont Hill Chamber Music, a baroque ensemble of instrumentalists and singers aiming to perform the full spectrum of Bach’s music in performances in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, with plans in upcoming seasons for tours and recordings. In addition, Mr. Sheranian maintains a busy schedule as guest conductor, choir trainer, accompanist, organ and piano recitalist.

Tickets are available at the door, $20 for adults, $5 for students. There will be a reception in the Parish Hall after the concert.  Emmanuel Church is located at 101 Cross St. Chestertown

 

 

 

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Emmamuel Church Presents Avis Wheatley Organ Recital Sept.22

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The 30th season of the Emmanuel Concert Series at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chestertown presents an organ recital by Avis Wheatley, on Friday, September 22, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Avis Wheatley joined the Emmanuel music program as Organist in September 2016 after having played for many of its services and Choral Evensong for several prior years. She is a protégée of Emmanuel’s revered organist Bob Tyson.  Avis is a graduate of Bridgewater College in Virginia with a BA in music and Spanish. Currently she a member of the faculty at Gunston School in Centreville where she teaches Spanish. Previous organ posts include Centreville United Methodist Church, Bridgewater Presbyterian Church, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Kent Parish, in Chestertown.

Tickets are available at the door, $20 for adults, $5 for students. There will be a reception in the Parish Hall after the concert.  Emmanuel Church is located at 101 Cross St. Chestertown

 

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Emmanuel Church Organ Concert on March 24th

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Katherine Johnson

The 29th season of the Emmanuel Concert Series continues at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chestertown presenting an organ recital by Katherine Johnson, on Friday, March 24th, at 7:30 p.m.

Katherine Johnson studies in the organ department at Oberlin Conservatory, where her principal teacher is world class organist Christa Rakich who has also performed here. She is enrolled in Oberlin’s double degree program, studying Organ Performance and English. Katherine currently serves as Organist and Music Director at Church of the Redeemer in Lorain, O.H.

Prior to taking this position, Katherine worked as Organ Scholar at Plymouth Church UCC in Shaker Heights Ohio, and before beginning at Oberlin, as the Cathee Jean Huber Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Greenville, N.C.

In 2016, Katherine was awarded the first prize in the high school division of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition and performed on the Winner’s Recital at the 2017 Schweitzer Festival. She has participated in a number of other competitions in the southeastern U.S., including the Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists, the Greater Columbia AGO Competition, and the 2014 ECMAEF competition in Greenville, N.C. Katherine has been a Organ Teaching Assistant at Interlochen Arts Camp, with Thomas Bara. Her former teachers are Phil Valera, Samantha Koch, and Andrew Scanlon.

Here is a chance to hear tomorrow’s famous organist at the beginning of her career.

Tickets are available at the door, $20 for adults, $5 for students.

Emmanuel Church is located at 101 Cross St. Chestertown.

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Emmanuel Church Christmas Bazaar November 19

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Emmanuel Church Christmas Bazaar Resumes Inside, Saturday November 19, 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Admission Free.

Last year Covid restrictions effectively made Emmanuel Church’s Holiday Bazaar impossible to hold inside, so it took place outside. This year we can resume the traditional fund-raising event in the Parish Hall.

Our tables will be filled with many holiday items including baked goods, jams and chutney, botanical items for the Holidays, Attic Treasures, and knit goods.  All proceeds go to benefit local charities listed below.

Emmanuel also hosts a Preview Party on Friday November 18th, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.  Entrance fee is $20 that includes beverages and hors d’oeuvres. All are welcome.

Emmanuel Church has always had fund raising events. They have consisted of rummage sales, fairs, bazaars, and even an organ concert event. Those of us involved now remember Bazaars beginning in 1992 with all sorts of worthy causes being funded.

Our beneficiaries this year will be Open Doors Partners in Education, Community Food Pantry, and Kent Attainable Housing

Emmanuel Church is located on Cross St at Fountain Park in downtown Chestertown

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Organ Recital by Jeffrey Brillhart at Emmanuel Episcopal Church

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Jeffrey Brillhart

The 29th season of the Emmanuel Concert Series at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chestertown presents an organ recital by Jeffrey Brillhart, on Friday, September 30, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.

Organist Jeffrey Brillhart served as director of music at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church since 1983. He is also music director of Philadelphia’s Singing City Choir, one of the first racially and religiously integrated symphonic choirs in America. In addition, he teaches organ improvisation at Yale University. He first gained national recognition for his abilities in organ improvisation after winning the 1994 National Competition in Organ Improvisation, sponsored by the American Guild of Organists.

He earned his MM from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with Russell Saunders and piano with Barbara Lister Sink. A native Iowan, his responsibilities at Bryn Mawr Church include directing the Senior Choir and Bryn Mawr Chamber Singers; oversight of the Vespers Series; oversight of all children and youth choirs; the West Philadelphia Children’s Choir, and the church’s arts outreach and visual arts ministries. He is the church’s principal organist.

In June 1999, Brillhart was appointed the fourth music director of Singing City.  As music director, Brillhart provides artistic leadership for a rich program of concerts, educational instruction in local schools, and outreach to diverse communities. He directs the choir and oversees all aspects of Singing City’s musical initiatives. During his tenure with Singing City the choir has traveled to Cuba, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, presented more than one hundred-fifty concerts, performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and worked with such internationally renowned artists as Helmuth Rilling, Dave Brubeck, Nick Page, Moses Hogan, Andre Thomas, Anton Armstrong, and Weston Noble.  His organ, teaching, and conducting engagements have taken him throughout America, Europe and South America, with engagements in Paris, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, Birmingham, Alabama, Waco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, Iowa City, Des Moines, Walla Walla, and Worcester, Massachusetts. In May 2006, he made his Philadelphia Symphony debut in one of the inaugural concerts of the new Dobson Organ in Kimmel Center.

Tickets are available at the door, $20 for adults, $5 for students.

Emmanuel Church is located at 101 Cross St. Chestertown

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Emmanuel Concert Series Presents an Organ Recital by Bruce Barber

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Bruce Barber

The 28th season of the Emmanuel Concert Series at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chestertown presents an organ recital by Bruce Barber, on Friday, March 11, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.

Bruce J. Barber II serves as Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church Christiana Hundred in Greenfield Delaware. Prior to his work at Christ Church, he served as Director of Cathedral Music of St. James Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois from March 2004 until February 2015, as Canon Precentor & Director of Cathedral Music at the Cathedral Church of St. John, Albuquerque, New Mexico from May 1994 until March of 2004, and as Parish Musician at Christ and Holy Trinity Church, Westport, Connecticut from July 1984 until May 1994.

At Christ Church, he directs the 107-year-old Christ Church Choir, a fully professional ensemble, in music ranging from plainsong to commissioned works. Also, he directs the St. Cecilia Choir of adults, the “parish choir,” which is comprised of parishioners and interested singers and led by a quartet of section leaders from the Christ Church Choir.

As an orchestral musician, Mr. Barber has performed with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Symphony Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and during his time in Chicago, has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of such notable maestros as Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, James Conlon, David Zinman, Helmuth Rilling, Semyon Byshkov, Charles Dutoit, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Tickets are available at the door, $20 for adults, $5 for students.

Emmanuel Church is located at 101 Cross St. Chestertown

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Emmanuel Church Christmas Bazaar Goes Outside

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A scene of the Emmanuel Church Bazaar Nov 2019

Due to Covid restrictions that effectively make Emmanuel Church’s Holiday Bazaar impossible to hold inside, it will take place outside this year. We have picked 2 Saturdays in November to stage our Bazaar in the town market. November 13th and November 20th from 8-12:00.

Our tables will be in Memorial Plaza next to the church. Items include baked goods, jams and chutney, botanical items for the Holidays, Attic Treasures, and knit goods.

Emmanuel Church has always had fund raising events. Over time they have consisted of rummage sales, fairs, bazaars, and even an organ specific event.

Those of us involved now remember Bazaars beginning in 1992 with all sorts of worthy causes being funded.

The last three years we have given to:

2020:  Kent Attainable Housing, and The Samaritan Group

2019:  Bridges at Worthmore, Camp Wright, Kent Family Center.

2018:  Janes United Methodist Church Roof Project, Kent Center Kent County Medical Adult Care Foundation, KidSPOT.

Our beneficiaries this year will be Meals on Wheels and Community Mediation Upper Shore.

Emmanuel Church is located on Cross St at Fountain Park in downtown Chestertown

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Emmanuel Episcopal Church Presents an Organ Recital by Andrew Sheranian

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Andrew Sheranian

The 28th season of the Emmanuel Concert Series at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chestertown presents an organ recital by Andrew Sheranian, on Friday, October 15, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

Since 2010, Andrew Sheranian has been Organist and Master of Choristers at the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont in Boston, an Anglo-Catholic church known for its commitment to excellence in liturgy and music. His duties at Ashmont include recruiting, training, and conducting the Choir of Men and Boys, as well as playing the parish’s two pipe organs.

Prior to Ashmont, Mr. Sheranian served as Organist and Choirmaster at Christ’s Church in Rye, New York, working with a large semi-professional choir of adults, teens, boys, and girls. Before that, Mr. Sheranian was enrolled at Yale University through the Institute of Sacred Music, where he completed his Master of Music degree. While at Yale, Mr. Sheranian was the Fellow in Church Music at Christ Church New Haven, working alongside Martin Jean and Robert Lehman. His undergraduate training was completed at the New England Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of William Porter. As a student in Boston, Mr. Sheranian worked with Michael Kleinschmidt as Assistant Organist at All Saints, Ashmont.

Tickets are available at the door, $20 for adults, $5 for students.

Emmanuel Church is located at 101 Cross St. Chestertown

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Concert at Emmanuel Church Chestertown February 9

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The Emmanuel Church Concert Series will present the Christ Church Choir from Christ Church, Christiana Hundred, Wilmington, Delaware on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 4 p.m.  Emmanuel is located at Cross & High Streets in Chestertown.

Founded over 100 years ago, the Christ Church Choir is a fully professional ensemble of musicians who lead the worship of the congregation at the Sunday 11:00AM Service, Choral Evensong Services, and many holy days, special liturgies, and concerts throughout the year. The musicians who are the Christ Church Choir are also part of any number of other musical organizations throughout the region. During August of 2018, the Choir took part in Christ Church’s Choral Pilgrimage to England, singing in residence at Bristol Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.

The choir is directed by Bruce J. Barber II, and the organist is David Hearn. They will perform a program rich in treasures of the English and American choral traditions including works by Herbert Howells, Daniel Pinkham, Bob Chilcott, and Benjamin Britten’s beloved Rejoice in the Lamb.

Tickets will be available at the door at $20, students $5. A reception will follow the concert.For more information call the Church Office at 410-778-3477.

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