Tiffany Series

The Tiffany Series offers opportunities to hear beautiful music and notable speakers while bathed in the light of the church’s eleven original Tiffany stained glass windows.

2010-2011 SERIES • SUNDAY AFTERNOONS

• WINTLEY PHIPPS IN CONCERT – September 26 at 3 p.m.
In a 30-year career singing spirituals, baritone Wintley Phipps has performed for every sitting American president since Ronald Reagan. His celebrated rendition of “Amazing Grace” — which he performed at the Inaugural Prayer Breakfast for President Barack Obama, as well as at Carnegie Hall — has been viewed on YouTube almost five million times.

A two-time Grammy Award nominee, Phipps has sung for former South African President Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Pope John Paul II, and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as at the Billy Graham Crusades, and the Rosa Parks Birthday Celebration.

Phipps will also speak briefly about the U.S. Dream Academy, the national after-school program he founded to provide mentoring and tutoring to children whose parents are incarcerated. Baltimore’s Dream Academy Learning Center at Collington Square Elementary School was one of the organization’s earliest centers. It serves approximately 500 students in pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade.

General admission tickets: $15; students $5; children 10 and under: Free

• 80th ANNIVERSARY SKINNER ORGAN RECITAL – March 6, 2011 at 2 p.m.
Organists John Walker, Marvin Mills and Michael Britt will celebrate the birthday of Brown Memorial’s renowned 1931 Skinner organ. This event is part of the American Guild of Organists’ Baltimore Organ Weekend, celebrating the city’s three landmark instruments. Young organist Janet Yieh will also play.

• HAYDN’S CREATION WITH FREDERICK SWANN- May 22, 2011 at 3 p.m.
John Walker will conduct Brown Memorial’s Chancel Choir and Frederick Swann will serve as guest organist in a spectacular performance of Haydn’s great oratorio. A not-to-be-missed event! (The last time Frederick Swann joined John Walker and Brown Memorial’s Chancel Choir, the result was an unforgettable performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah. See below for a review.)

“ELIJAH” PERFORMANCE AVAILABLE ON CD

Brown Memorial’s extraordinary recent performance of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” featuring the Chancel Choir and Frederick Swann as guest organist, with John Walker conducting, is available on CD. The 3-CD set—a perfect gift—is $15. To order your copy/copies, click on the “Buy Now” icon below.

Soaring "Elijah" Earns Accolades

• Felix Mendelssohn, “Elijah,”performed Sunday, May 17, 2009

A stunning performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” — which brought the 300-member audience to its feet and elicited prolonged cheers and pew-thumping — concluded the 2008-2009 Tiffany Series. John Walker conducted the Chancel Choir and Frederick Swann served as guest organist for this memorable event.

“Thrilling” was the word heard over and over, as people thronged Walker, Swann and the soloists after the performance. “Thrilling” was also the word chosen by choir members to describe their experience singing the oratorio.

The soloists—Lydia Beasley, soprano; Diane Schaming, mezzo; James Cox, tenor; Andrew Sauvageau, baritone, as Elijah; and Graham Bishai as the youth—came in for particular praise. Not only do they have gorgeous voices, people agreed, but they also sang with extraordinary intelligence and artistry. The strong sense of ensemble among the singers was also noted as a factor in the performance’s success.

At the organ, Frederick Swann showed why his skill with accompaniment is legendary. The renowned organist had “extra-sensory perception,” as one person put it, anticipating each singer’s intention and providing a foundation from which he or she could “soar.”

Eileen Guenther spoke of hearing “the rushing of the water and the flicker of the flames” in the “countless notes” Swann played, and noted the hundreds of piston changes it took to create various effects. Guenther, national President of the American Guild of Organists and Professor of Sacred Music at Wesley Seminary, asserted, “I have seldom been so struck by a total musical experience.”

John Walker was specially praised for his expert pacing and his ability to get highly nuanced emotional expression from his finely prepared choir. During welcoming remarks, Andrew Foster Connors presented John with a white floral arrangement from the Chancel Choir and, on their behalf, thanked him for the opportunity to perform “Elijah.”

Among the accolades:
“Your choir sang with clarity and conviction and delivered the emotion of this music so well. Your soloists just melted my heart with their musicianship. Frederick Swann’s accompaniment was so colorful and varied…”

“About twenty-five years ago I sang ‘Elijah’ with the Mendelssohn Choir under André Previn. John Shirley-Quirk was Elijah. In 2004 I sang ‘Elijah’ with the Choral Society of Durham under Rodney Wynkoop. Sanford Sylvan was Elijah. So when I tell you that Sunday’s performance was the most totally fulfilling and satisfying ‘Elijah’ I’ve ever experienced, I want you to know that I’ve set the bar pretty high.”

“The organ music was sublime; the choir was so crisp that I could understand the text. All of the performance was wonderful, wonderful — what I’d expect to hear at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall!”

Previous Tiffany Series events have included:
• “Family Organ Extravaganza” — a special concert with teenage musicians (and John Walker) designed to teach young people about the organ as an instrument. Live video projection of the organists actually playing was a highlight.
• “Imagine a World Without War,” with music by Brian Prechtl, a talk by Elizabeth McAlister, and a performance by Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa
• “How Can I Keep From Singing?” —a lively, varied vocal concert by Brown Memorial’s soloists.
• The Baltimore Area Handbell Festival, directed by Richard Frey. Four choirs of handbell ringers played as a 250-bell ensemble and as individual choirs.
• A Gospel Music Festival, directed by Dr. Barbara Baker. This inspiring concert was presented by the combined choirs of Brown Memorial Park Avenue Church and Colesville United Methodist Church of Silver Spring, MD.

…and speakers Harry Belafonte and Marian Wright Edelman!

Proceeds from Tiffany events support Brown Memorial’s mission programs in Baltimore and beyond.