Performances
Evening concerts begin at 8pm and are usually an hour and a half,
including a brief intermission.
Each concert is followed by a reception with refreshments and an
opportunity to interact informally with the performer(s).
Admission
$10 per person, children admitted free.
Location
All performances are held at the Essex Community Church in Essex,
NY.
The church is located within one block of the Essex - Charlotte Ferry. During the summer months the ferry operates late enough in the evening to accommodate visitors to the evening programs from Vermont.
Location Map
(courtesy of Mapquest)
Lake Champlain Ferries Schedule
This program is made possible with a Developing Community Arts
Grant with public funds from theNew York State Council on the Arts
Decentralization Program, administered locally by the Arts Council for
the Northern Adirondacks, and by the generous support of our individual
and corporate benefactors.
Carol's formal training started with five years at the Royal Academy of
Music where she specialized in organ performing as a student of David
Sanger and obtained the Academy's prestigious Recital Diploma together
with an LRAM (organ) and an LRAM (piano). She was awarded all the major
prizes for organ performing and, during her studies, she became a Fellow
of the Royal College of Organists and a Fellow of Trinity College London
plus an Associate of the Royal College of Music.
Moving to the USA, Carol undertook postgraduate study at Yale University under the direction of Professor Thomas Murray where she was appointed University Chapel Organist and was awarded an Artist Diploma together with the Charles Ives prize for outstanding achievement. She then became the Associate Organist at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Long Island's Garden City and undertook Doctoral study under Professor McNeil Robinson at the Manhattan School of Music where she received the Helen Cohn award for her D.M.A. degree.
Carol's performances have taken her all over the world. Some popular venues include: St. Sulpice and Notre Dame, Paris; Westminster Abbey; St. Paul's Cathedral; King's College, Cambridge; Queen's College, Oxford; Blenheim Palace; Woolsey Hall, Yale University; Memorial Chapel, Harvard University; St. Patrick's, New York; Washington National Cathedral; Riverside Church, New York. She has also given numerous concerts in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Monaco, Luxembourg, Holland, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Singapore, China and Russia. En route, Carol has been elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in recognition of her contribution to music.
In October of 2001 Dr. Carol Williams is the first woman in the world to be appointed as Civic Organist. She has been the San Diego Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society in San Diego, California since 2001.
Laura is currently an MA student in organ at the University of
Washington in Seattle. She and her family have summered on Willsboro
Point for many years. She performed for the first time in Essex last
summer in the Mid Day Concert series to a full and enthusiastic house.
Laura has worked closely with Raul de Zaldo Fabila, a Mexican organ
composer who writes unique organ music based on birdsong and performed
one of his works last summer.
Prior to her relocation to Seattle, Laura was the music Director of the North Haven (CT) United Church of Christ and the choir accompanist at a small college in the New Haven area. Laura has performed Fabila's works at Wesleyan University, Colorado University, and a number of venues in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Ray Cornils is the Municipal Organist for the City of Portland, a post
which he has held since 1990. He presides over America's first municipal
organ, (102 ranks and 5 manuals) built in 1912 and enlarged in 1927 and
2003 by the Austin Organ Company. It donated to the City of Portland by
publishing magnate Cyrus H.K. Curtis in memory of his child-hood music
teacher Hermann Kotzschmar.
Mr. Cornils also serves First Parish Church, UCC in Brunswick, Maine as Minister of Music where he leads an extensive music program of five vocal and two handbell choirs. In addition, he is a member of the music faculties of Bowdoin College, the University of Southern Maine, and the Portland Conservatory of Music, where he teaches organ, harpsichord and related classes.
Born in Sterling, Illinois, Mr. Cornils received the B. Mus. degree from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the M. Mus. degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. He has studied organ with Robert Reeves, Fenner Douglas, William Porter, Yuko Hayashi and Dame Gillian Weir, and harpsichord with William Porter, Lenora McCroskey, Rhona Freeman and Lisa Goode Crawford.
Ray has concertized throughout the United States and in Germany, France, Spain, Russia, New Zealand and Ecuador. Recent concerts have included the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., the Wanamaker Organ at Macy's in Philadelphia, and the Spreckles Organ in San Diego.
In 2008 he performed a series of concerts in France and Spain. Last spring he e played concerts throughout Ecuador, including three concerts in the International Festival of Sacred Music in Quito during Holy Week. He has been a featured recitalist for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society.
In addition to his solo work, he performs regularly with the Portland Symphony Orchestra (including solo concertos such as Samuel Barber's Toccata Festiva, all six of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, Poulenc's Concerto Champetre and Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, String and Tympani) and Musica Tricinia, a group of two trumpets and organ. His CD recording, The Mighty Kotzschmar, has been released on the Pro Organo label.
Dr. Rose Chancler Feinbloom (piano) is a frequent
performer in the United States, Canada and Europe, making appearances
equally as a soloist, collaborative artist and teacher. She has played
concertos and solo recitals throughout the United States. Recent solo
piano recitals include those in Port Henry, Elizabethtown, Essex and
Westport New York and several concerts on harpsichord with the Summer
Baroque Ensemble. Recent recital appearances include Series Guest Artist
in Latrobe Pennsylvania, Series Guest Artist at Cornell University,
Tucson Friends of Chamber Music and the International String Bass
Convention in Oklahoma City. Rose and double bassist Volkan Orhon have
recently released a critically acclaimed CD of violin and cello
masterworks on the Centaur label. Rose has also played chamber music
performances with a number of notable artists. She has been Guest Artist
and teacher at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and at Magisterra--the
University of Iowa International Chamber Music Festival and Academy.
Rose has held teaching positions at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, the Baylor University School of Music, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the Iowa School of Music. She has been a faculty accompanist and coach at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York and the Meadowmount School of Music in Lewis. She was most recently a faculty member at Plattsburgh State University of New York and currently runs a private studio in her home in Wadhams.
Rose holds a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin and master's and doctoral degrees in piano performance and literature from the Eastman School in Rochester, New York.
Born in the UK, Jane Boxall (marimba) completed Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Music at the University of York, before relocating to the USA. She studied with renowned percussionist William Moersch at the University of Illinois, earning a Doctorate in Percussion Performance. Jane has performed and toured in the US, UK, Italy, Belgium, France and Ireland. Currently living in Vermont (USA), Jane is an enthusiastic music educator, working with students from pre-school to University level. Together with pianist Rose Chancler Feinbloom, Jane founded Ricochet Duo, a New England-based piano-marimba duo. Jane plays and endorses Coe Percussion marimbas and Vic Firth sticks and mallets. Jane currently lives in Charlotte, Vermont. Learn more about Jane at janeboxall.com