Huntingburg and surrounding community members are in for a treat this week as talented students from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music prepare to perform on the spectacular Casavant Frères organ at the Salem United Church of Christ. The first of two recitals – this Saturday, March 5, at 3:00 pm – will be performed by Rees Roberts and James Walton. They plan to perform works that take advantage of the grand instrument’s 2,255 pipes, four divisions, three manuals, 42 stops, and 31 registers.
- What: Organ Recital
- Where: Salem United Church of Christ, Huntingburg, Indiana
- When: Saturday at 3pm
- Admission: FREE!
About the Artists
James Walton is an organist, countertenor, and multi-instrumentalist from Portland, Oregon. He has performed with many groups including the Oregon Bach Festival, the Oregon Symphony, and has sung as a soloist with the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project. He is currently a Choral Scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bloomington under the direction of Marilyn Keiser. James has been playing organ since 2018, studying with Bruce Neswick and Hannah Brewer. Previously, he was a singer at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland and the organist at Camas United Methodist Church in Camas, Washington. Also a harpsichordist, he studies early music and improvises and creates accompaniments from figured bass. James is pursuing degrees at the IU Jacobs School of Music in Organ Performance and Historical Performance in Voice, studying with Christopher Young and Judith Malafronte.
A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Rees Taylor Roberts is studying organ performance at IU with Janette Fishell. At Indiana, Roberts sings in the school’s award winning chamber choir, NOTUS, under the direction of Dominick DiOrio, which was recently featured at the conference of the American Choral Directors’ Association (ACDA), where he both sang and accompanied. Previously, he served as Organist & Choirmaster at Saint Luke’s Episcopal (North Little Rock, Arkansas), interned as organ scholar at both Saint Paul’s K Street (DC) and the Church of the Advent (Boston), and has been organ scholar at four Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) summer conferences. He was named a 2022 finalist in the National Competition in Organ Accompaniment, sponsored by the D.C. chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He earned his Bachelors from Arizona State and is presently a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Anglican Musicians.
The project is supported by the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement, the Jacobs School’s Office of Entrepreneurship & Career Development and Organ Department.
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