2014-2015

We welcome concert organist Sebastian Heindl and the Greater Hartford American Guild of Organists’ Jolidon Concert Series on Friday, June 16, 2023, at 7:30pm. In 2021 the leading German newspaper DIE ZEIT noted: “Sebastian Heindl does not just play the organ. He can lift his audience up to heaven or plunge them into misery – a miracle musician from Leipzig.”

This concert is free admission, no tickets required. Suggested donation: $20 Checks payable to Music at the Red Door.

This event is co-sponsored by the Greater Hartford Chapter, American Guild of Organists.

An outdoor reception will follow the concert, weather permitting. Read the history of our amazing instrument here.

Program:
TBA

Sebastian Heindl received his fundamental musical education as a chorister in Leipzig‘s famous St. Thomas Boys Choir, where Johann Sebastian Bach was once the director of music. After that Heindl continued his studies in Church Music at Leipzig conservatory with Prof. Martin Schmeding and Prof. Thomas Lennartz.

Over the past years he attracted the attention of the international organ scene by earning a number of prizes in organ competitions all around the globe – including the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition, St. Albans Organ Competition, Silbermann Wettbewerb Freiberg, Internationale Orgelwoche Nürnberg. In 2019 he won the Longwood Gardens Organ Competition (USA), which is considered to be one of the most prestigious organ competitions worldwide. Concert tours lead him to United Kingdom, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, USA, Canada and Russia. Heindl was invited to play at Philharmonie Essen, Bamberg Symphony, Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzerthaus Wien and had his debut at the Gewandhaus Leipzig with Francis Poulenc‘s Concerto for organ and orchestra. He maintains a close cooperation with the Berliner Philharmoniker. During the COVID-19 pandemic he recorded a much appreciated concert with the Berlin Phil Brass Ensemble for the Digital Concert Hall. Since then he appeared frequently as a soloist and ensemble player at the Philharmonie.

The main focus of his extensive repertoire are the works of Bach, which he has memorized for the most part, the works by Liszt, Franck, Reger and Messiaen. He is particularly famous for his own transcriptions, among which are classical masterworks by Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Saint-Saens, Dukas, Mussorgsky, Holst and Gershwin. Sebastian Heindl also appears as improviser and composer. His highly individual own musical language consists of elements of modern Jazz music and classical formal structures. In 2021 and 2022 he conducted Bach cantata services at St. Thomas Church Leipzig and at the Leipzig University Church St. Pauli.

Thanks to his frequent activity on social media and the internet, especially YouTube, Heindl encouraged thousands of people to fall in love with organ music. For more information click here.

Music at the Red Door is supported in part by the Richard P. Garmany Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation, the George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, the William & Alice Mortensen Foundation, and the Marjorie Jolidon Fund of the Greater Hartford Chapter, American Guild of Organists. 

The Pipes Alive! series continues with artist-in-residence Christa Rakich playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, June 4, 2023, at 12:30pm. 

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:

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 Pipes Alive! series continues with organist Alexander Straus-Fausto playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 12:30pm. 

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:

Alexander-Richard Straus-Fausto is known for his exhilarating and innovative organ performances. He is currently a third-year undergraduate organ performance student of Hans-Ola Ericsson and formerly harpsichord performance and continuo with Hank Knox at McGill University, Schulich School of Music, class of 2022. In the academic year 2020, Alexander received the John Grew award for organ performance. His former organ teachers are Christian Lane, Thomas Bara, Dr. Peter Nikiforuk, and Joe Carere. Straus-Fausto has a broad repertoire of music, dating from early fifteenth-century keyboard music to contemporary organ music, and he has completed over fifty original transcriptions of major orchestral works for organ. He is particularly passionate about musical freedom on the orchestral symphonic organ. He sees the organ as an orchestra with unlimited capabilities, being a personal palette for musical expression. Read more at alexanderstrausfausto.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 ancient and beautiful service of Choral Evensong is presented on the fourth Sunday of selected months at St. John’s. Join us on April 23 at 5:00pm for this time of music and worship.

Sung by the St. John’s Schola; Scott Lamlein, organist/choirmaster.

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

The St. John’s Schola is a small ensemble that is drawn from the St. John’s Choir. Varying in size from four to sixteen singers, the Schola specializes in harmonious a capella choral music, both ancient and modern. The St. John’s Choir School is a group of singers that has fun while learning all about music reading, theory, vocal training, and the great sacred choral repertoire, old and new. With worship at the core of their work together, the Choir School prepares anthems and other music twice monthly for the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service at St. John’s Church. St. John’s Choir School is affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music, an international organization of choirs that sing in the English choir school tradition. Alongside professional and amateur adult singers, they learn adult-level choral music and look beyond the words and music to communicate a message. The St. John’s Adult Choir is a semi-professional ensemble of 35 singers. Presenting music at St. John’s weekly services requires learning more than 100 choral works each year, which the choir does with joy and grace. Both choirs sing for Evensong and two major concerts at St. John’s each year, and for a number of special events at other venues. In 2019, the choirs sang in residence at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Learn more about the St. John’s Choirs at this page.

What is Choral Evensong? “Evensong … is a very tiny fragment of something else:  it is a fragment of the worship which is offered to God by Christian people every hour in every part of the world. When you come to Evensong here it is as if you were dropping in on a conversation already in progress — a conversation between God and people which began long before you were born and will go on long after you are dead.”

On Friday, April 21, 2023, at 7:30pm, we are excited to welcome the Grammy-award-winning Catalyst String Quartet. The New York Times writes: “…the Catalyst Quartet is beautiful to watch, like a family in live conversation at the dinner table.”

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

Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience. Read more at catalystquartet.com.

The Pipes Alive! series continues with our own Scott Lamlein playing the St. John’s organ on Sunday, April 2, 2023, at 12:30pm. 

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.

Watch Scott’s 2021 concert right here:

About the Artist:

As our director of music and organist, Scott plays the renowned Austin pipe organ, and directs the Royal School of Church Music-affiliated St. John’s Choir School and our semi-professional Adult Choir. He also serves as artistic director of the Music at the Red Door concert series.

Cited by The American Organist magazine as infusing his music with “virtuosic flair and fire,” Scott’s organ performances bring a unique emotional and spiritual inspiration to his audiences. In demand as a concert artist, Scott has performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe, with appearances at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in South Carolina, Methuen Memorial Music Hall, the Überlinger Münster in Germany, and St. Thomas Church, New York. Upcoming recitals include Schopfheim, Germany, and St-Sulpice, Paris. Scott’s concerts have been broadcast in South Carolina, Boston and Worcester. Previously, he served as Artistic Director of the Music Alive! Concert Series, the a cappella chorus, Sacred Voices, and the South Hadley Chorale.

Scott has three CDs in current release—The Organ at Worship, and In Quiet Joy: Music of Advent and Christmas, and a CD of his piano compositions, entitled Peace. He also is featured on the CD, Great Organs of Worcester. His compositions are often featured as part of the online Jesuit daily podcast, Pray as You Go, and his organ compositions have been published by Lorenz. Scott is a 1994 graduate of the Hartt School, University of Hartford, where he studied organ with John Holtz and Larry Allen. Active as an organ instructor for over 25 years, he is adjunct faculty at the Hartt School and at Holyoke Community College, where he specializes in organ education for pianists. More info can be found at www.scottlamlein.com.

Scott’s greatest passion, however, is his work at St. John’s, where he sees music as a ministry and a real connecting point with the sacred. Each person involved in our music ministry plays a role in helping others through the ups and downs of life by providing moments of solace and wonder through beautiful music. He loves to talk about all aspects of St. John’s, especially the music program, so feel free to be in touch!

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 ancient and beautiful service of Choral Evensong is presented on the fourth Sunday of selected months at St. John’s. Join us on March 26 at 5:00pm for this time of music and worship.

Sung by the St. John’s Choir School; Scott Lamlein, organist/choirmaster.

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

The St. John’s Schola is a small ensemble that is drawn from the St. John’s Choir. Varying in size from four to sixteen singers, the Schola specializes in harmonious a capella choral music, both ancient and modern. The St. John’s Choir School is a group of singers that has fun while learning all about music reading, theory, vocal training, and the great sacred choral repertoire, old and new. With worship at the core of their work together, the Choir School prepares anthems and other music twice monthly for the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service at St. John’s Church. St. John’s Choir School is affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music, an international organization of choirs that sing in the English choir school tradition. Alongside professional and amateur adult singers, they learn adult-level choral music and look beyond the words and music to communicate a message. The St. John’s Adult Choir is a semi-professional ensemble of 35 singers. Presenting music at St. John’s weekly services requires learning more than 100 choral works each year, which the choir does with joy and grace. Both choirs sing for Evensong and two major concerts at St. John’s each year, and for a number of special events at other venues. In 2019, the choirs sang in residence at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Learn more about the St. John’s Choirs at this page.

What is Choral Evensong? “Evensong … is a very tiny fragment of something else:  it is a fragment of the worship which is offered to God by Christian people every hour in every part of the world. When you come to Evensong here it is as if you were dropping in on a conversation already in progress — a conversation between God and people which began long before you were born and will go on long after you are dead.”