SAVE THE DATE!

ADMISSION

Free - All Welcome

ABOUT THE CONCERT

Elm Grove Lutheran Church, 945 N. Terrace Drive in Elm Grove, invites Milwaukee area residents to a public concert on Saturday, June 20, at 3:00 p.m.

The concert features Mr. Richard C. Ewert on the church’s digitally enhanced Casavant Pipe organ and Dr. Aaron Wunsch, Professor of Keyboard Studies at the Juilliard School in New York City, on its classic Steinway Piano.

Richard Ewert first played for services at Elm Grove Lutheran (EGL) in his youth. He earned a bachelor’s degree in organ performance at Carroll College in Waukesha plus advanced studies leading to the Master of Church Music degree from Concordia University Wisconsin. He is a member of the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. His skills in organ performance and hymn accompaniment have been recognized widely at home and abroad, serving as organist at several local and national conventions of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod as well as dedication recitalist and hymn festival accompanist locally and in Kenya.

Aaron Wunsch is the son of EGL member Duane Wunsch and his late wife Anne. He earned the Bachelor of Arts cum laude at Yale University; his graduate studies were at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Juilliard School. Presently he teaches master classes in piano and other music classes at Juilliard and performs as a concert soloist and with ensembles around the world. He is artistic director of the Music Mondays concert series in New York City and co-artistic director of the Skaneateles Festival in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Concert selections incorporate organ and piano favorites and will feature a rare live performance of the Concerto for Organ and Piano (Op. 74) composed by the Belgian organist Flor Peeters in 1951. Peeters taught famed American organist Paul Manz, whose musical influence in turn shaped Mr. Ewert’s approach to creative hymn accompaniments.

Popular piano and organ solo performances include George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Charles Ives “Variations on ‘America,’” in honor of the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of American Independence on July 4th. The concert concludes with the singing of two hymns appropriate to the occasion. 

A reception will be held afterwards in the fellowship hall for the artists and their families. Admission is free and open to the public; free will donations will be received.