Autumn 2017

In this issue…

Volunteer of the Year—2017 —Page 2 Audience Evaluates the Sunday Concerts —Page 3

Concerts on the Spreckels Ogan

The Spreckels Organ plays every Sunday, rain or shine, at 2 p.m for a free public concert in the heart of Balboa Park.

Sundeay, Oct. 29 – Former Civic Organist Jared Jacobsen – program includes Ravel’s “Bolero” and a march by Dachshunds across the Spreckels Pavilion stage.

Sunday, Nov. 5 – Alison Luedecke celebrates Panama Independence Day with the help of Conjunto Folk-lorico Sonares de mi tierra.

Sunday concerts continue on Nov. 12, Nov. 19, Nov. 26, and through the Holiday Season

Holiday schedule:

Friday, Nov. 24 - Community Christmas Center opening – 4:30 p.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Organ-ist: Robert Plimpton.

Friday, Dec. 1 - December Nights opening – The Spreckels Organ plays at dusk to launch San Diego’s finest holiday celebration throughout Balboa Park, now in its 40th year! Details at www.BalboaPark.org

Sunday concerts continue at 2 p.m. weekly! Dec. 3, Dec. 10, Dec. 17, Dec 24, and Dec. 31 – Yes, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve!

Monday, January 1, 2018 - New Years Day Concert at 2 p.m.

Please Note – No event is scheduled on Nov. 12 as had been indicated in prior publicity. The Society will hold a “Meet the Organist” event in early March, 2018.

Unique entrance to the Spreckels Organ Pa-vilion, via carriage: Carol Williams and Council Member Chris Ward are driven by Sioux Munyon Swart of Pegasus Rising. a close friend to Carol.

No Halloween movie is showing this year at the Organ Pavilion, but there’s other spooky fun to be had

In Balboa Park… The Haunted Trail is open every day during the week before Halloween (Hours: Sunset to 11 p.m.)

Saturday October 28 the Park celebrates Halloween Family Day sponsored by the Balboa Park Conservancy from 11 a.m .to 4 p.m.

Halloween movies... Saturday, October 28 - 7PM—The Theatre Organ Society of San Diego presents Silent Film screenings with Russ Peck performing the scores – 3902 Kenwood Dr. Spring Valley CA 91977 – Box office opens 6 p.m. Shorts: Felix the Cat in SWITCHES WITCHES (1927), Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in DO DETECTIVES THINK? (1927), then the Three Fatties in HEAVY LOVE (1926). Followed by the silent feature THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927).

Saturday Oct 28 at 4 p.m. in Copley Symphony Hall: Ratatouille in Concert. Watch the Academy Award win-ning film Ratatouille on the big screen while the beloved score by composer Michael Giacchino is performed live by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Scott Dunn.

Tuesday, October 31 – 7:30 p.m. at the Balboa Theatre (4th & E Streets downtown). Hear Russ Peck on the Wonder Morton Organ for ½ hour, then watch cult classic Night of the Living Dead. Costume Contest too! Call for tickets – 619-570-1100.

Former Civic Organist Carol Williams has been named Civic Organist Emerita by the San Diego City Council. This honor comes as a feminine counterpart to the similar honor be-stowed upon Robert Plimpton after his retirement as San Diego’s Civic Organist in 2001. The City’s proclamation honors Carol with the appreciation of an entire community for her work on behalf of the cause of music and San Diego as “an effective musical ambassador both nationally and internationally on concert tours while sustain-ing musical programming at the Spreckels organ pavilion,” according to the Proclamation. “She has built bridges with community organi-zations such as the Humane Society, Pegasus Ris-ing, Operation Rebound, Write Out Loud, and others to offer a platform for their community-building missions,” notes the document, and she has “broadened the appeal of the Spreckels Organ to fans of David Bowie, Prince, Drive Like Jehu, and the Von Trapp Family Singers, through inno-vative musical partnerships.” For the Society, Carol spearheaded the artistic presentation of the Ccntennial Celebration and “Taking the Title” – once-in-a-lifetime concerts commemorating key milestones in the life of the Spreckels Organ. During her time as Organist, Carol introduced numerous original works by herself and others on the Spreckels Organ and demonstrated its amaz-ing versatility as a concert instrument. San Diego’s District 3 Council Member Chris Ward presented the proclamation at Carol’s Au-gust 28th finale concert of the Summer Organ Festival. It's a fitting capstone to this portion of Carol’s career; she is not retiring but continues her composing and concertizing from her new base in Virginia and online at www.Melcot.com.

HALLOWEEN FUN

Dear Music Friends,

I do hope that you en-joyed the International Summer Organ Festival - we certainly had a great line-up of artists. I was very honored to receive the Civic Organist Emerita from the City of San Diego and I shall al-ways treasure this title. The ride into the pavilion on a horse-drawn carriage also will be remembered with great fondness. If you weren't there, then check out the photos for the occasion on the Spreckels website. At long last, I have issued my score of the "Flight of the Bumble Bee." This is now available on my website if you are interested. This one video has had over two million views! Shortly, I am off to Phoenix, AZ to play a concert. I love to travel. Do check out my concerts as I would love to see you when I’m on the road.

Best Wishes,

Dr. Carol Www.melcot.com

Dear Spreckels Family, We are in exciting times at Spreckels. A little over a year ago, Carol Williams re-signed as Civic Organist to move with her husband and their menagerie to Virgin-ia. We very quickly started the process of finding a replacement. We had twenty well-qualified organists from all over the world apply for the job. After many hours of work the search committee got that num-ber down to six, and then to four. This summer you have been able to hear all four, but, in order to insure confidentiality so that no one would lose his or her job, we interspersed the candidates' con-certs with those of local organists who were not well known at Spreckels. We did not webcast those concerts, and the perform-ers were never referred to by name, so that we could protect the candidates as best we could. If you came to all of those summer concerts, you heard the next Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society. We are in the contract stage right now, and an announcement will be made soon. We will miss Carol and her delightful wit and British accent, to say nothing of her wonderful programming and presence at the console, and wish her and Kerry the very best as they contin-ue their lives on the East Coast. The summer also brought a delightful group of organists to perform in the International Summer Organ Festival. We heard some beautiful and also technically demanding music. We want to thank, once again, the individuals who underwrote those con-certs. Many of them contribute year after year, and their gener-osity is greatly appreciated. We now look to the future, and the excitement that it will bring. Stay tuned for the big announcement!

. Warmly, Jack Lasher President

Chair, Search Committee

Page 2 StopTab Autumn 2017

Audience Surveys The period between August 6th and October 15th was unique in the history of Spreckels Organ concerts. Not only was each performer anonymous, but also they were evaluated by the audience. The evaluations allow the Society to better understand who makes up the audience and how they like the con-cert. Further, audiences were rating the auditions of can-didates for the position of Civic Organist/Artistic Direc-tor, whose audition concerts were among the series of anonymous programs. Of the ten concerts, only a few were actually auditions by candidates for the new organ-ist position. An average of 43 evaluations came in per concert, about a 20% response rate. Of those who did the evalua-tion, nine percent declined to state whether or not they were Society members. Of the remainder, 29% were members and 62% were not. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 as excellent), the average of the ten performers was 4.34 for Musical Selection, 4.58 for Playing Skill, 4.41 for Stage Presence, and 4.47 for Overall Performance. The Society’s Program Committee will use these re-sults in choosing future guest artists, and the Search Committee has taken the results into account in consider-ing candidates for Civic Organist/Artistic Director.

Page 3 StopTab Autumn 2017

StopTab: A Quarterly published by the

SPRECKELS ORGAN SOCIETY 1549 El Prado, Suite 10, San Diego CA 92101-1661

(619) 702-8138 / SOSorgan@gmail.com / www.SpreckelsOrgan.org

Officers President - Jack Lasher

Vice President - Dang Nguyen Treasurer - Clifford McMillan

Secretary - Jean Samuels

Trustees Kris Abels Max Nanis Gary Allard David Nesvig Mitch Beauchamp Marion Persons Andrea Card Will Pierce Joseph DeMers Lynn Reaser Len Filomeo Paulette Rodgers-Leahy Dennis Fox Paul Saunders Richard Griswold Tony Uribe Pamela Hartwell Tony Valencia Ralph Hughes Thomas Warschauer

Ex-Officio Trustees Lyle Blackinton—Curator Emeritus

Ross Porter—Executive Director & StopTab Editor Dale Sorenson—Curator

Dr. Carol Williams—Artistic Director

More great photos online at www.SpreckelsOrgan.org.

Annual Membership Meeting 2017

The annual Membership Meeting of the Spreckels Organ Society was held on August 14 and attracted about 50 members prior to the Rising Stars concert. Trustee Joe DeMers played the piano as attendees en-joyed a cup of coffee and the chance to chat. Presentations from Society officers covered topics from park operations to the ongoing search for a new Civic Organist / Artistic Director.

Then it was time to an-nounce the Volunteer of the Year! This year the Board of Trustees recognized the outstanding work of Gary Allard, who most summer audiences may know as the man behind the coffee ser-vice. Gary has worked long hours and exhibits patience, teamwork, and persistence in this realm and many oth-ers. Congratulations, Gary, and Thank You!

Summer Magic—in pictures

See more photos at this link: http://sosorgan.org/photogallery.htm Below, left column:

Sponsors of the Rising Stars concert join the soloists at the console: from left to right: Scott Reaser, Lynn Reaser, Ken and Jackie Hanson, Seamus Gethicker, Greg Zelek, Beverly and Harold Martyn, Ron and Shirlee Koons and Society President Jack Lasher.

Right column:

Ken Cowan

Steven Ball

Christian Lane

Finale concert offering a musical tribute to The Doors.