Santa Barbara Music Club

Three Organists

Saturday, November 9, 2019 3:00 pm

First United Methodist Church

305 E Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Image: Emma Lou Diemer

On Saturday, November 9, at 3:00 PM the Santa Barbara Music Club will present, “Three Organists,” another program in its popular series of beautiful classical-music concerts. Presented in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the concert originally featured organists Emma Lou Diemer, Steven Hodson, and Thomas Joyce playing music by Diemer, Duruflé, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, and J.S. Bach. However, Dr. Joyce was injured and his place was filled by Charles Talmadge, playing César Franck and 20th Century works. The concert is located at First United Methodist Church, 305 E. Anapamu Street in Santa Barbara. As always, admission is free!

Program Details

Adoro Te Devote (1988)
Naji Hakim (b. 1955)
Chorale No. 3 in A minor
César Franck (1822-1890)
Mountain Air and Dance (2012)
Mahlon Balderston (1923-2019)
Charles Talmadge, organ
Toccata in D minor
Johann Jakob Frohberger (1616-1667)
Toccata in F major
Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Toccata in E minor
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
Toccata in G major
William Hieronymous Pachelbel (1686-1764)
Toccata in G major
Johann Ludwig Krebs (1730-1780)
Toccata in G minor, HWV 586
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Toccata in D minor
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Steven Hodson, organ
MUSIC BY EMMA LOU DIEMER (b. 1927)
Toccata for a Joyful Day (1995)
Morning Has Broken – Gaelic Melody (2019)
In Thee Is Gladness (2016) – Tune by Giovanni Gastoldi (1556-1622)
Fiesta (1996)
Emma Lou Diemer, organ

Notes on the Program

The pipe organ at FUMC is considered a premiere instrument in the city of Santa Barbara. A three-manual Artcraft pipe organ was installed during construction of the present sanctuary in 1927; it remained in service up until 1961, when the church purchased a three-manual Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ of 31 ranks. In 1993, a 61-pipe Trompette-en-chamade was added as a memorial gift, installed above the altar by the Schantz Organ Company of Orville, Ohio. In 1999 the same firm installed a new three-manual console, featuring multiple memory systems and capture action. Most recently, in 2003, Schantz brought the organ to gorgeous tonal completion with the addition of 20 new ranks of pipes, as well as three digital ranks of 32′ pitch stops. The added registers include an entirely new Great division mounted on slider chests; unenclosed diapason pipework from the new Great is now framed in classical pipe façades on both sides of the Chancel. The instrument stands today at 52 ranks, totaling over 2,500 pipes, plus three digital pedal stops. It is the third largest pipe organ in Santa Barbara.

The Performers

Composer, pianist, and organist Emma Lou Diemer is an active keyboard performer (piano, organ, harpsichord, synthesizer), and has given concerts of her own music at Washington National Cathedral, St. Mary’s Cathedral and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, and elsewhere. She studied composition at the Yale Music School (BM, 1949; MM, 1950) and at the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D, 1960). She studied in Brussels, Belgium on a Fulbright Scholarship and spent two summers of composition study at the Berkshire Music Center. In 1971 she moved from the East Coast to teach composition and theory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was instrumental in founding the electronic/computer music program. In 1991 she became Professor Emeritus at UCSB.

Steve Hodson is Professor of Music at Westmont College where his duties have included teaching piano and organ, conducting, and music survey, and leading various singing groups. He conducts the Santa Barbara Master Chorale and serves as organist at First United Methodist Church of Santa Barbara. Hodson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is Vice-President of the Western Division of the American Choral Directors Association (encompassing California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona), and past President of California ACDA. He enjoys performing on piano, organ, and harpsichord and is an accomplished accompanist.

Charles Talmadge, organist, is currently Assisting Organist at The Old Mission and Interim Organist at All Saints-By-The-Sea Episcopal Church. He likes to think of himself as a well-rounded musician who plays organ and piano, with experience as bassist and cellist; choral singing from an early age has added to his enjoyment of creating music with others, with these contrasting liturgical traditions providing a rich background in sacred music. He majored in piano performance at California State Universities, San Bernadino and Fullerton, and did graduate study in organ at San Diego State University. Past recitals have been presented at St. Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco, Trinity United Methodist Church, Eugene, Oregon, Advent Series at Trinity Episcopal and Lenten Series at First United Methodist Church, Santa Barbara, and he has been pianist for Capitol Opera in Sacramento since 1997.


Funding support for our 50th Anniversary Season is provided by the City of Santa Barbara's Organizational Development Grant Program and by the Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts, a field of interest fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation.