Organ Tribute to John Williams (Boston)

[rsp3studio 1]

I'd like to announce a concert I will be presenting outside of Boston, Massachusetts, An Organ Tribute to John WIlliams, on Saturday, June 30 at 7:00 PM. In celebration of the maestro's 80th birthday, I have assembled a program of works spanning his career arranged for/improvised at the organ, in this case the mighty Louise S. Janesco Memorial Organ, a digital instrument of 58 stops equipped with six complete organ suites and MIDI. The program will include extended medleys from the Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as a special tribute to American heroes accompanied by "Hymn to the Fallen". If there is sufficient interest, we may stream the event for those who can't be present physically that evening, or explore the possibility of repeating the program in other venues in New England and beyond.

The concert will be held at St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 950 East Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. The venue is easily accessible by I-95 off the Mass Thruway or from Boston by the Franklin Line MBTA.

This event is FREE and open to all - any freewill offerings received will benefit St. Luke's Music Ministry. Hope to see you there!

_ _

Robert S. Potterton, III MSM/SPC

Director of Worship Arts

St. Luke's Lutheran Church

Dedham, MA

[Miguel Andrade 1,631]

I would love if this was streamed... I live an ocean away

Otherwise I would surely be there.

Best of luck on this endeavor!

[Thor 9,323]

I thought the STAR WARS album by John Rose was an interesting experiment in the same fashion. I'd love to hear it too....somehow.

[Marian Schedenig 10,833]

Is this a new euphemism for people giving a kidney for a complete box of Star Wars scores?

[MSM 128]

I'd like to announce a concert I will be presenting outside of Boston, Massachusetts, An Organ Tribute to John WIlliams, on Saturday, June 30 at 7:00 PM. In celebration of the maestro's 80th birthday, I have assembled a program of works spanning his career arranged for/improvised at the organ, in this case the mighty Louise S. Janesco Memorial Organ, a digital instrument of 58 stops equipped with six complete organ suites and MIDI. The program will include extended medleys from the Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as a special tribute to American heroes accompanied by "Hymn to the Fallen". If there is sufficient interest, we may stream the event for those who can't be present physically that evening, or explore the possibility of repeating the program in other venues in New England and beyond.

The concert will be held at St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 950 East Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. The venue is easily accessible by I-95 off the Mass Thruway or from Boston by the Franklin Line MBTA.

This event is FREE and open to all - any freewill offerings received will benefit St. Luke's Music Ministry. Hope to see you there!

_ _

Robert S. Potterton, III MSM/SPC

Director of Worship Arts

St. Luke's Lutheran Church

Dedham, MA

Nice! Good luck with the concrt. What is MSM/SPC? Just wondering if this is a title and what it stands for.

Btw, did you have to pay for giving a public performance of (arrangements of) copyrighted work?

[rsp3studio 1]

We may be able to stream live for those not local - I'll let you know if that works out.

@MSM - The letters stand for Master of Sacred Music and Service Playing Certification, my current highest qualifications in organ performance. And we are running this as an education program, and I'm not using any published material (almost all learned by ear), so no fee - not to mention I'm not making any money off of it

Hope to generate some more interest with the locals around Boston, but if not, please chime in everyone and let me know if you'd be interested in a live stream. If there's enough interest, I'll make that a priority as it draws closer. Thanks!

[SF1_freeze 137]

I would be really interested in a live stream too!

[Miguel Andrade 1,631]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- and as many more times needed... please, do find a way to stream your performance

[Ren 77]

did someone play this type of repertoire in Portland Maine a few years ago at Merrill? I seem to remember it.....

[tannhauser 101]

Please stream!

[rsp3studio 1]

I'm pleased to announce that the Organ Tribute to John Williams will be streamed live from Boston on June 30 starting at 6:45 PM EST. Here is the link: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jw-organ-tribute. We'd love to hear who will be watching live, so we can greet you and announce to the audience how many US states and countries around the world are represented. This will be the first time we have done anything like this, so we're hoping to amass a good following that will lead to other performances in the future. Thanks so much!

[Miguel Andrade 1,631]

Count me in

[tannhauser 101]

Yes please! Best wishes from Ireland!

[thx99 2,015]

Thanks for the heads-up, rsp3studio!! And also for the sample video featuring the Star Wars medley. The "Imperial March" and the "Emperor's Theme" sound particularly ominous and appropriate on the organ. I hope to be tuning in from Virginia next Saturday.

[rsp3studio 1]

@thx99 - You're lucky to have tuned into the channel while that video was still up. It wasn't actually a sample, just a test which we didn't move to 'private' right away. Glad you enjoyed it though! Maybe I'll post a sampling after all to try and draw more people in...

[Miguel Andrade 1,631]

@thx99 - You're lucky to have tuned into the channel while that video was still up. It wasn't actually a sample, just a test which we didn't move to 'private' right away. Glad you enjoyed it though! Maybe I'll post a sampling after all to try and draw more people in...

Please do

[Marc 914]

You'll have someone watching from France

[Ren 77]

Yay!

[indy4 160]

Oh, I'll definitely try to catch this!

[rsp3studio 1]

Due to popular demand - here is a brief preview of the concert (streaming quality - it will be a bit better that night). There will be projected images up front, but they're not showing up online so you guys will just have to watch the console during the performance - hope you enjoy!

[Miguel Andrade 1,631]

Thank you for the preview. It sounds awesome

[rsp3studio 1]

Hello friends - I very much regret that due to technical issues which can not be remedied in time, we will not be able to stream the performance live after all. It is repeatedly cutting off the broadcast, and I don't want to take the chance it will do it in the middle of the concert and not come back.

HOWEVER, we will definitely have an audio recording (which will be better quality anyway), and if all goes well, video too, which means you'll be able to see the projected images up front which otherwise wouldn't have been possible through streaming. After the event, I will post links so you all can check it out. Thanks for the support - it means a lot. We'll be doing some work on the technical side this coming year so we can be sure to stream next time without problems.

[thx99 2,015]

Sorry to hear that, Robert, but I'm sure we will appreciate the audio and/or video recordings! Break a leg at the performance...

[Williamsfan301 12]

There's a double entandre joke in this thread title somewhere...

[rsp3studio 1]

Hello again! I'm pleased to announce that the concert went well, and you can find a few highlights from the performance here (the video is 11:30 total, including the encore). Thank you all for your support!

[Incanus 5,882]

Thank you for sharing this.

[tannhauser 101]

Beautiful performance! Excellent transcriptions, which you played very orchestrally with a wonderful choices of registrations. I particularly like the ethereal feel you got with Cantina Band.

[indy4 160]

Great job! It was cool to hear these pieces on organ. I think "Somewhere in My Memory" and "Hymn to the Fallen" worked especially well on organ.

[thx99 2,015]

Fantastic job, Robert!! And thanks very much for sharing the highlights via YouTube. Standout cues for me were "Imperial March", The Cowboys, "Somewhere in my Memory", "Hymn to the Fallen" (in agreement with indy4 on those last two), and of course, the "Cantina Band" encore (which would be perfect accompaniment for an old fashioned carousel ride)!

[Miguel Andrade 1,631]

Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Thank you so much for sharing

[Maurizio 6,313]

Amazing job indeed. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[Thor 9,323]

Great!

What really strikes me is how fitting Williams' socalled religious or pastoral sound is in organ format -- stuff like "Face of Pan", "Somewhere in my Memory", "Hymn to the Fallen", "The Ark Theme", "The Grail Theme" etc. I think you could do a whole concert with just that stuff rather than the more famous action stuff (which isn't that fitting for the instrument). That is, in fact, my favourite Williams "sound" and probably the biggest reason for why he's my favourite composer.