From the Dean…

Together Again

Many thanks to Phil Brown for hosting the October meeting at First Church. Jeffrey Smith from The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University led us in a spirited hymn sing. Thirty of us were present.

   Our November meeting will take place at Idlewild Presbyterian Church Sunday 11/10/24. Organist Isabelle Demers will play a recital in the sanctuary at 5pm then we will eat dinner with her in the Montgomery Room at 6:30pm. This is a departure from what we had planned for two reasons: 1) we had hoped to have her lead us in a masterclass but her schedule doesn’t allow this; 2) our regular meeting night is the 1st Monday of the month but not in November. So, for those of you who can’t normally join us on a Monday night, can attend this second Sunday of the month event. Be sure to make a dinner reservation for that evening.

John Palmer, FAGO, ChM

Dean, Memphis Chapter, American Guild of Organists

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NOVEMBER MEETING OF THE MEMPHIS AGO CHAPTER

Isabelle Demers in Recital

With playing described as having “bracing virtuosity” (Chicago Classical Review) and being “fearless and extraordinary” (Amarillo-Globe News), organist Isabelle Demers has enraptured critics, presenters, and audience members around the globe for her entrancing performances. Her 2010 recital for the joint International Society of Organbuilders-American Institute of Organbuilders convention so enchanted the audience that she “left the entire congress in an atmosphere of ‘Demers fever’.” That same year, her national convention of the American Guild of Organists, in Washington, D.C., was received with great acclaim not only by critics, who deemed it “one of the most outstanding events of the convention” (The American Organist), but also by the standing-room-only audience, which called her back to the stage five times.

A native of Québec and a doctoral graduate of the Juilliard School, Dr. Demers is Associate Professor of Organ at McGill University (Montréal, Québec). She was formerly the Joyce Bowden Chair in Organ and Head of the Organ Program at Baylor University (Waco, Texas).

AGO Memphis is a local chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields.

The Chapter was chartered February 1914 as the Tennessee Chapter and rechartered in 1954 as the Memphis Chapter, the Original Tennessee Chapter.

Programs are open to the public and free. We welcome you to join us anytime. Visit our programs page for a schedule.

Membership is open. To anyone. Music skill is not required, only interest. Visit our membership page to learn more.

To get a complete list of upcoming programs and news from the Memphis Chapter, please see our AGO November newsletter.

American Guild of Organists
Memphis Chapter
P.O. Box 770004
Memphis, TN 38177-0004