2014-2015

After a one year hiatus Choral Evensong is returning! Join us on March 30 at 5:00pm as we welcome our new artistic director Dr. Nicholas Capozzoli and local guest organist Madison Thompson. They will be joined by the St. John’s Choir School and Adult Choir.

This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

This event is free admission, donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Learn more about the St. John’s Choirs at this page.

What is Choral Evensong? Evensong is a service of prayer, scripture, and music offered around sunset. It originated in 16th-century England as a blend of Vespers and Compline, two ancient monastic offices. Taken from our Book of Common Prayer, the archaic, poetic language might call to mind that of William Shakespeare.

Our 2024-2025 season draws to a close with Pipes Alive! featuring St. John’s organ artist-in-residence Christa Rakich playing the St. John’s organ Sunday, June 1, 2025, at 12:30pm. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

The concert is free admission – donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Click the image below to watch. Click here for full program pdf.

Learn more about St. John’s famed Austin pipe organ.

About the Artist:

Concert and recording artist Christa Rakich performs widely throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. She is Visiting Professor of Organ at Oberlin Conservatory. Near her home in Connecticut, she maintains two Artist-in-Residencies: St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford and the Congregational Church of Somers. Past Artist-in-Residencies have included the University of Pennsylvania and First Lutheran Church in Boston.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Christa Rakich studied with renowned Bach interpreter Anton Heiller at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Organ and German from Oberlin College (Phi Beta Kappa).  After receiving her Master’s degree with honors from New England Conservatory, she joined the faculty there, teaching for many years, and serving ultimately as department co-chair. She has also served on the faculties of Westminster Choir College, Brandeis University, and the University of Connecticut, and as Assistant University Organist at Harvard.

Join us for half-hour organ concerts featuring St. John’s magnificent Austin pipe organ, on the first Sunday of the month, November through June, 12:30 p.m. with regional organists. Free!

The 2024-2025 Pipes Alive! series continues with organist Angela Kraft-Cross playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, May 4, at 12:30pm. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

The concert is free admission – donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Learn more about St. John’s famed Austin pipe organ.

About the Artist:

Angela Kraft Cross, San Francisco Bay Area organist, pianist and composer, graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in 1980 with bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Organ Performance. She then earned her Doctor of Medicine degree at Loma Linda University, where she subsequently completed her residency in ophthalmology. In 1993, she completed her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the College of Notre Dame with Thomas LaRatta. Her organ teachers have included Louis Robilliard, Aude Heurtematte, Marie-Louise Langlais, Sandra Soderlund, S. Leslie Grow, William Porter and Garth Peacock. In 2001, she was awarded the Associateship credential of the American Guild of Organists (AAGO) after passing rigorous playing and written examinations. She has studied composition with Pamela Decker.
Dr. Kraft Cross has performed extensively on both organ and piano, having given over six hundred concerts across the United States, in Canada, England, Holland, France, Russia, Finland, Hungary, Korea, Lesotho and Guam, including such venues as Notre Dame Cathedral, St. Sulpice and the Madeleine in Paris, Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Thomas Church in New York City, Methuen Memorial Music Hall and Trinity Church in Boston, E. Power Biggs’ organ at Harvard, and Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Southwark Cathedral in London. She has been featured soloist with local Bay Area ensembles; Master Sinfonia Orchestra, Soli Deo Gloria, Sine Nomine, Masterworks Chorale, Viva la Musica, The Choral Project, and the San Jose Symphonic Choir as well as Seattle’s Philharmonia Northwest Chamber Orchestra and the Skagit Symphony in northern Washington. In October 2017, Viva la Musica performed her composition Exsultate Deo on their international tour to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia. In spring 2022, she performed the Jongen Symphonie Concertante and Guilmant Symphonie 1 with the Saratoga Symphony.

In July 2011, Dr. Kraft Cross was a featured recitalist at the San Francisco AGO Region IX Convention. She has released nine solo CD albums, recorded locally in California as well as in Paris, Lyon and London.  Her latest CD album, Passages on the Journey, recorded in Methuen, Massachusetts, features her compositions of the past ten years. Her organ recordings can be heard on Pipedreams with Michael Barone on American Public Media, as well as on Sounds of the Spires with Jennifer Pascual and are accessible on Spotify and other streaming services. Starting in 2018, Lorenz Music/Sacred Music Press has begun publishing her compositions and has released seven books of organ compositions: Tree of Life, Journey to Wholeness, Messianic Longings, House of Love, Courage in a Time of Struggle, Eternal Oasis, and Organ Inventions. They have also published her anthems Exsultate Deo and What Does the Lord Require of You? During the Covid19 pandemic, she has built a YouTube channel of organ and piano performances: Angela Kraft Cross organist. For the National Prayer Service associated with the 2021 Presidential Inauguration, Thomas Sheehan performed her “Healing” movement from Journey to Wholeness for the postlude at Washington National Cathedral. She has served as the organist of the Congregational Church of San Mateo since 1993, and is currently the Artist in Residence.  She is also a regular organ recitalist at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor as well as at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Trinity Church, and Mission Dolores in San Francisco.

In addition to her musical career, Dr. Kraft Cross retired in 2011 having worked for 22 years as an ophthalmic surgeon at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Redwood City, and now volunteers as an ophthalmologist at the Samaritan House San Mateo. She is committed to the musical education of young people, and since 1997 has been instrumental in organizing Organ Camps for young pianists headquartered at her church. She deeply enjoys teaching and several her students have gone on to incorporate organ study in their university studies in schools such as Oberlin, USC, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Yale. Dr. Kraft Cross is the founding director of the San Francisco Peninsula Organ Academy, a nonprofit organization formed in 2014 to support young concert organists with scholarships on short intensive overseas study trips. She also served as faculty and/or performed in Pipe Organ Encounters in San Francisco 2005, San Diego 2012, and Stanford 2013 and 2016 and Los Angeles 2018. She was the President of the Junior Bach Festival in Berkeley 2018-2021. She is also a member of the Concert Artist Cooperative III.  Come visit her website at:     www.angelakraftcross.com

Join us for half-hour organ concerts featuring St. John’s magnificent Austin pipe organ, on the first Sunday of the month, November through June, 12:30 p.m. with regional organists. Free!

The 2024-2025 Pipes Alive! series continues with organist Sarah Ku playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, April 6, at 12:30pm. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

The concert is free admission – donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Learn more about St. John’s famed Austin pipe organ.

About the Artist:

Sarah Ku is currently an 11th-grade student attending Groton School, MA, where she is studying the organ under the guidance of Dan Moriarty. Before joining Groton, she was an organ music scholar at Clifton College in Bristol, UK, where she received the Britton Organ Scholarship. Sarah is a passionate organist and pianist, achieving Grade 8 distinction through the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music exam at a young age. Notably, she also came second in the 2020 St Edmundsbury Cathedral Virtual Organ Competition. As a student member of the Bristol and District Organists’ Association (BDOA), Sarah participated in various performances including a virtual recital and received financial awards from ‘the Edgar Joyce Fund of the BDOA.’

Since transitioning to Groton, Sarah has seamlessly integrated herself into the musical community. She frequently accompanies the choir and contributes her voice, while also playing a significant role in the activities of the Groton Chamber ensembles as a pianist. In 2023, Sarah achieved second place in the advanced division of the North Carolina Salem College high school competition and also secured second place in the 26th Annual Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival Hartford (High School Division Competition). Last summer, she attended the Curtis Summer Organ Intensive Program, where she had the opportunity to receive masterclasses from Peter Conte and Alan Morrison and to perform on the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ.

Join us for half-hour organ concerts featuring St. John’s magnificent Austin pipe organ, on the first Sunday of the month, November through June, 12:30 p.m. with regional organists. Free!

Noted by the Boston Globe for playing with passion and precision, join us 0n Friday, March 21, at 7:30pm for an evening of exquisite chamber music with The Claremont Trio. Known as the freshest breath of air in the world of chamber music today, be ready as they take full advantage of the beautiful acoustics of the St. John’s nave. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

A reception will follow this concert.

The concert is free admission, suggested donation $20. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Click on the image below to watch by livestream. Click here for the full program pdf.

PROGRAM:
Piano Trio in E Major, Hob. XV: 28 – Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Queen of Hearts – Kati Agócs (b. 1975)
Cafe Music (1986) – Paul Schoenfield (1947-2024)
Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 63 – Robert Schuman (1810-1856)

About the artists

The Claremont Trio was formed in 1999 at the Juilliard School. Twin sisters Emily Bruskin and Julia Bruskin grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they both play old French instruments. Emily’s violin is a Lupot from 1795; Julia’s cello is a J.B. Vuillaume from 1849. Sophiko Simsive grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Claremonts are all now based in New York City near their namesake: Claremont Avenue.

Lauded as “one of America’s finest young chamber groups” Strad Magazine, the Claremont Trio is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances. First winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Claremonts are consistently lauded for their “aesthetic maturity, interpretive depth, and exuberance” (Palm Beach Daily News).

In 2022 the Claremont Trio released Queen of Hearts, an album of music composed especially for the trio by six of today’s leading composers – Gabriela Lena Frank, Sean Shepherd, Judd Greenstein, Helen Grime, Nico Muhly and Kati Agócs. Highlights of their 2022-23 season include return engagements at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, New York’s Music Mondays, and the Polinger Artists of Excellence Series at the Bender JCC of Greater Washington. They will also debut at the Blue Hill Concert Association (ME) and perform at Concerts at the Point (MA) and Broward College (FL).

The 2024-2025 Pipes Alive! series continues with organist Michelle Horsley playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, March 2, at 12:30pm. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

The concert is free admission – donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Click on the image below to watch. Click here for the program pdf.

PROGRAM:
Praeludium in F# minor, BuwWV 146 – Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Chorale Prelude on O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622 – J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Chorale Prelude on Drop. Drop Slow Tears, Op. 104 – Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987)
Toccato from Organ Suite No. 1 – Florence Price (1887-1953)

Learn more about St. John’s famed Austin pipe organ.

About the Artist:

Michelle Horsley is a conductor, organist, pianist, and collaborative artist whose musical endeavors have taken her into diverse artistic engagements across the world. She has served churches of various sizes in Central Florida, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Central Connecticut and in positions of musical leadership and has extensive experience both leading and accompanying choirs in religious, academic, and community environments. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Stetson University and a Master of Sacred Music from Duquesne University.

Join us for half-hour organ concerts featuring St. John’s magnificent Austin pipe organ, on the first Sunday of the month, November through June, 12:30 p.m. with regional organists. Free!

The 2024-2025 Pipes Alive! series continues with organist Madison Thompson playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, February 2, at 12:30pm. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

The concert is free admission – donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Click on the image below to watch. Click here for the full program pdf.

PROGRAM:
Messe pour les Couvents – François Couperin (1668-1733)
I. Plein Jeu
VIII. Premier Couplet du Kyrie
XVIII. Elévation, Tierce en Taille
VIII.  Duo sur les Tierces, 3ème Couplet
La Nativité – Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
II. Les Bergers
Symphony No. 4 – Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
IV. Romance
Finale Op. 78 – Rachel Laurin (1961-2023

Learn more about St. John’s famed Austin pipe organ.

About the Artist:

Madison Thompson is a senior at Trinity College where she studies organ with Christopher Houlihan. Originally from Derby, CT, Madison became interested in the organ through her local church, and began organ study at age 14 with Dr. Noah Horn. She was a recipient of the 2019 New Haven American Guild of Organists Encore Organ Scholarship, earning funding for organ lessons and culminating in a year-end recital. At Trinity, Madison is a recipient of the John Rose Organ Scholarship, sings in The Chapel Singers, and serves as Assistant Chapel Organist.

In addition to her roles at Trinity College, Madison serves as Organ Scholar at St. Patrick-St. Anthony Catholic Church in Hartford, CT under the direction of Dr. Gabriel Lofvall. In addition to this, she engages with many other churches in the Greater Hartford area as an accompanist or assistant on various occasions. She has performed organ in professional settings throughout Greater Hartford, New Haven, and in New York City.

This past year, Madison spent a semester studying organ in France with Jean-Baptiste Robin, professor at the Versailles Conservatory, and furthered her studies in music at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Madison was also a participant in the 2024 Yale Organ Academy, a week-long intensive program for undergraduate organists from around the country.

Join us for half-hour organ concerts featuring St. John’s magnificent Austin pipe organ, on the first Sunday of the month, November through June, 12:30 p.m. with regional organists. Free!

The 2024-2025 Pipes Alive! series continues with organist Kari Miller playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, January 5, 2024, at 12:30pm. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

The concert is free admission – donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Click on the image below to watch. Click here for full program pdf.

PROGRAM:
Chorale Prelude on Hostis Herodes impie – Flor Peeters (1903-1986)
Chorale Prelude on Christe, redemptor omnium – C. Hubert H. Parry (1848-1918)
Fiat lux – Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)
Paraphrase on Auld Lang Syne – Edwin H. Lemare (1865-1934)
Toccata in F Major, BuxWV 156 – Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Fugue in F Major, BWV 540 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Learn more about St. John’s famed Austin pipe organ.

About the Artist:

Kari Miller’s musical life began with piano lessons at the age of five. Organ lessons followed some years later, and she held church organ positions throughout her junior-high and high school years. Pursuit of advanced musical education took her to The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and then to Indiana University, where she earned the Doctor of Music degree in Piano Performance in 1989. A native of Washington state, she has called Connecticut home for the past thirty-five years and has performed many recitals in the area as a chamber musician and soloist pianist.

Kari is currently the organist at Simsbury United Methodist Church. A long-standing and active member of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the AGO, she has performed on numerous Pipescreams and member’s recitals. During her years as Director of Music at Central Baptist Church in Hartford, she offered Midday Music, a monthly noon-time recital series. She is in demand as a guest organist, and she has assisted at St. John’s in several Evensong and other services. Today marks Kari’s third appearance on the Pipes Alive! series.

Join us for half-hour organ concerts featuring St. John’s magnificent Austin pipe organ, on the first Sunday of the month, November through June, 12:30 p.m. with regional organists. Free!