Music at the Red Door Continues Online Concerts Through June

Music at the Red Door, the music series at St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, will continue its live-streamed Wednesday recital series through the end of June. The half-hour performances, featuring locally- and internationally-acclaimed musicians, are offered each Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. via St. John’s YouTube channel and the St. John’s Facebook page

The series is offered not only to provide musical enrichment to the community, but to encourage donations to help vulnerable people who are especially affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“These online recitals are offered as a benefit for people in Greater Hartford who are deeply affected by COVID-19: the homeless and the hungry,” said Scott Lamlein, Artistic Director of Music at the Red Door and Director of Music and Organist for St. John’s. “We encourage our online listeners to thank our performers by donating generously to organizations that help these vulnerable people, but are stretched to the limit in this time of special need.”

Listeners are invited to donate to Loaves & Fishes, Journey Home, and/or Food Share.

“Since we are not able to welcome music-lovers to the beautiful St. John’s building for live concerts during this time of social isolation, we invite everyone to join us online for some much-needed musical refreshment,” explained Lamlein.

Since it was established in late March, the Wednesday Online Recital Series has taken listeners to the home studios of many performing artists, where viewers may enjoy up-close views of live performances on a variety of instruments, including harpsichord, cello, piano, violin, clavichord, organ, and pedal piano.

“Though these informal recitals can’t offer the grand acoustic experience of a live recital in a resonant space such as we have at St. John’s, the technology allows for close-up views of our guest performers and their instruments,” added Lamlein. “Music-lovers of all ages will enjoy these programs, and we hope that when we are able to resume live performances at St. John's, we will welcome many new listeners.”

The recital series has included performances by Leonid Sigal, concertmaster of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra; Michele Horsley, director of music at South Church in New Britain; Edward Clark, organist of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra; Pi-Hsun Shih, pianist of the New World Trio; Christa Rakich, a local organist acclaimed around the world for her interpretations of Baroque keyboard music; and others.

June’s events will feature recitals of music for Baroque cello, harpsichord, pedal piano, and, in an online stream from St. John’s, the pipe organ.

On June 3, acclaimed Baroque cellist Shirley Hunt, who has been praised by The Strad as “stylish and accomplished,” will play a recital of music by Bach, Supriani, Dall’Abaco, and Ahbez.

On June 10, Tim Stella, Music Director at the Church of St. Peter Claver in West Hartford, CT, and Associate Conductor of Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera for the past twenty two years, will perform harpsichord music of Bach and Phillips.

On June 17, concert and recording artist Christa Rakich, Organ Artist in Residence at St. John’s, will play Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor on a pedal piano, a variety of piano that has a pedalboard like that on a pipe organ, adding a lower register of notes that are played with the feet. Photos of the instrument that will be heard in this recital may be seen at Christa Rakich’s website, here: https://christarakich.com/instruments/#

On June 24, organist Scott Lamlein will perform, via livestream, music of Bach and Duruflé on the celebrated Austin Organ at St. John’s.

Additional events in this series will be announced as they are scheduled.

To learn of forthcoming events from Music at the Red Door:

• Subscribe to the newsletter here: https://www.reddoormusic.org/signup/
• Subscribe to the YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIEVXhY2PTm4jCVbdNVihtw
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• And Twitter: https://twitter.com/sjparish

EVENT DETAILS:

WHAT: Wednesday Online Recital Series, online-only live-streamed recitals featuring local musicians, with listeners invited to make donations to local services providing assistance to people in need who are affected by COVID-19.

WHEN: Wednesdays at 12:15 p.m.

June 3, 2020, 12:15 p.m. – Shirley Hunt, Baroque cello; music of Bach, Supriani, Dall’Abaco, and Ahbez.

• Info: https://www.reddoormusic.org/event/online-event-pop-up-salon-recital-shirley-hunt-cello/
• Livestream link: https://youtu.be/VhY48Yb0kMY

June 10, 2020, 12:15 p.m. – Tim Stella, harpsichord; music of Bach and Phillips.

• Info: https://www.reddoormusic.org/event/wednesday-online-recital-series-tim-stella-harpsichord/
• Livestream link: https://youtu.be/KuzVQ7V2ke0

June 17, 2020, 12:15 p.m. – Christa Rakich, pedal piano; music of Bach.

• Info: https://www.reddoormusic.org/event/online-event-pop-up-salon-recital-christa-rakich-pedal-piano/
• Livestream link: https://youtu.be/bdkPQelN7wk

June 24, 2020, 12:15 p.m. – Scott Lamlein, organ; music of Bach and Duruflé.

• Info: https://www.reddoormusic.org/event/online-event-pop-up-event-scott-lamlein-organ/
• Livestream link: https://youtu.be/uSde4KYOPxc

WHERE: Free online live video-stream via St. John's YouTube channel and St. John's Facebook page. All performances are archived and are available free for later viewing.

ADMISSION: No charge. Listeners are encouraged to donate to Hartford-area organizations that are assisting hungry and homeless people affected by COVID-19: Loaves & Fishes, Journey Home, and/or Food Share.

MORE INFO: https://www.reddoormusic.org/events/ or concerts@reddoormusic.org. Those interested in learning about upcoming events may subscribe to the Music at the Red Door email newsletter.