Choral & Organ Masterworks

Saturday, March 18 at 7:30 PM
All Saints’ Episcopal Church, 6300 North Central Avenue, Phoenix

Sunday, March 19 at 3:00 PM
Ascension Lutheran Church, 7100 North Mockingbird Lane, Paradise Valley

The Arizona Masterworks Chorale performs works from 19th and 20th Century masters of both choral and organ composition. No less than Robert Schumann called Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s setting of Luther’s German translation of Psalm 42 “the highest point that he reached as a composer for the church. Indeed the highest point recent church music has reached at all.”

Jean Langlais (1907-1991), a blind French composer of modern classical music, organist, teacher, and improviser extraordinaire, wrote over 250 works, many unfamiliar in America. Often using the modes of Gregorian chant, he evokes medieval choral sounds in both the Missa and Psaume Solennel (Solemn Psalm), the Chorale presents the Arizona premiere of Langlais’ works..M

Choral & Organ Masterworks Featured Artists

A lifelong church musician and organist, James Gerber has served congregations as a minister of music in his home state of Wisconsin, as well as in Minnesota, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Arts degree in Liturgical Music, with an organ emphasis, from St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from Arizona State University. An active member of the American Guild of Organists, he enjoys performing, presenting music-related lectures, accompanying choirs, and musical theater.

An active member of the American Guild of Organists, he enjoys performing, presenting music-related lectures, accompanying choirs and musical theater. In 2014, he was the organist for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s choir summer residency in the U.K. and in 2015 for All Saints’ Episcopal Church’s choir tour in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland. James currently serves as the organist and worship coordinator for American Lutheran Church of Sun City.