Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation shares news about its upcoming special event
“The the first half of the concert is performed on the historic 1893 Hutchings/Fisk organ in the Gloucester Meetinghouse (home of the Unitarian Universalist Church) and the second half is performed on the innovative 1989 C. B. Fisk organ in St. John’s Episcopal Church next door. Six professional organists, related in various ways to Gloucester, will perform diverse repertoire on these two fine pipe-organs. The concert will include narration about the work of Charles Fisk, the relationship of the players to the Fisk legacy, and a bit about how the two instruments sound. A reception will follow the concert.”
Another unforgettable Cape Ann Cinema & UU Gloucester Meetinghouse collaboration was held on Sunday, December 3, 2017–a special screening of the silent film adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan as a benefit for Pathways for Children. Ellen Sibley was there for Pathways, welcoming guests and opening the evening.
photo caption: Sound check (Peter Krasinski and Lindsay Crouse readying their accompanying live performances for silent film Peter Pan screening at Gloucester Cinema & Stage, a Gloucester Meetinghouse benefit for Pathways for Children)
Renowned organist Peter Krasinski explained that star Lindsay Crouse would use her artistry to accompany this silent screening like a Benshi, a Japanese word for performers who provided live narration for silent films in order to translate the intertitles. Though Krasinski has collaborated with benshi in Japan for some of his live performances, yesterday’s event was the first time he’s done so in the United States. I went to film school and was fortunate to take master classes in cinema studies with Bill Everson, a film historian and major collector. He’d invite Lillian Gish and other silent screen stars and producers to lecture, and always there were amazing accompanists. Not once though have I experienced a narration, too. I’ve heard Krasinski play before and seen Crouse act in film, tv and Gloucester Stage. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it would be like nothing else I’d ever experienced. Krasinski has seen Peter Pan numerous times and his confident music was subtle and charming, cueing the music to the action on the screen and improvising along with Crouse. Crouse’s narration was pitch perfect. Crouse spoke of her affection for the story and related seeing it 17 times as a child (yes, with Mary Martin) and how it’s among the defining and formative theatrical pulls of her youth.Who knew Nana’s whimpering and such subtle variations of so many characters crying throughout Peter Pan was possible? I googled Lindsay Crouse audiobooks right when I got home. Lindsay Crouse audiobooks
On Saturday evening, December 16th the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation will host a return performance by The Musicians of the Old Post Road. This beloved chamber ensemble gave us an amazing performance last year. They fell in love with our acoustics, the ambience of the historic building, and hope to make a future recording in the Meetinghouse. ‘Follow the Star’ will showcase music written for Epiphany as we approach the holidays with festive selections by Georg Philipp Telemann, Christian Geist and a cantata by Christoph Graupner. The ensemble performs on period instruments including violin, viola, cello, flute and harpsichord.
Aside from the music, this will be a special evening as we recognize the many grants and significant individual gifts to our fire-sprinkler & deterrence project. The treasured 1806 Meetinghouse, the largest and oldest surviving example in Gloucester, is now protected from fire with a state-of-the-art sprinkler system and walls filled with fire-proof, high-efficiency thermal insulation. The completed project is Phase I of a strategic plan to completely restore the building by the City’s 400th anniversary in 2023 and make the Meetinghouse sustainable for centuries to come.
The concert poster is below and attached with the press release. Please do all you can to publicize this fine community event.
Many thanks,
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Tomorrow the Gloucester Meetinghouse will toll the Paul Revere bell in the Meetinghouse tower at 2:45pm, 15 minutes prior to the Spectrum Singers concert. We will do this in honor of those who died or are suffering in Paris, the worldwide victims of terrorism or intolerance, and affirmation of our precious heritage of religious freedom.
The concert was planned before the tragic events in Paris but speaks to our common humanity through musical settings of the psalms and prayers of the 3 Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – including the premiere of a choral piece by Mohammed Fairouz. It concludes with the hauntingly beautiful setting of Psalm 90 by Charles Ives with the full chorus, soloists, bell choir, chimes and organ.
Whether you subscribe to a traditional religious practice or simply find a divine presence in nature…we hope you will join us for this meaningful community event.
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Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation shares news about its upcoming special event
Read the full press release Continue reading “THE FISK CONNECTION | A PROGRESSIVE ORGAN CONCERT ON APRIL 14 Gloucester Meetinghouse UU and St. John’s” 
Good Morning Gloucester 