Master Class With Ken Cowan

On Saturday, April 24, 2010, the Potomac Chapter of the American Guild of Organists held a Master Class with the well known teacher and performer, Ken Cowan, professor at Westminster Choir College.
We met at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church of College Park, Maryland, which has a 1990 Lewis & Hitchcock organ of thrity-nine ranks. In 2005 a new console was added along with nine digital stops from Walker Technical Products. The full specification is available on the Lewis & Hitchcock website: http://www.lhorgans.com/

Ken first addressed the four organists and the members of the chapter in attendance, telling them how the class would be held. The four organists who performed were Mark Biales, Emily Koons, Justus Parrotta and Susan Burkhalter.

First up was Susan Burkhalter.

Here Ken is asking her to repeat a section, and he made suggestions about changes in tempo and interpretation.

Next was Mark Biales.

Here Ken is playing a section to demonstrate how he would perform it.

Next was Justus Parrotta. Jay is the youngest person ever to earn the Fellow Certification from the AGO, so he is now Justus Parrotta, FAGO.

Next was Emily Koons, and her teacher and our host Dr. Dale Krider, turned pages for her.

Here Ken is giving some general advice to Emily and the assembly about how he communicates the music.

As there were several present who could not attend Ken's concert on Sunday, April 25, Ken was kind enough to perform a Toccata from his program.

The Potomac Chapter wishes to thank St. Andrew's Church and Dr. Dale Krider, Organist/Choirmaster, for helping to provide this wonderful event.

Susan Burkhalter tells her version of playing in this Master Class in her blog:

http://organistsnews.bachorgan.com

Here is a review of Ken's concert on Sunday, written by past Dean David Haykin:


Ken Cowan at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Sunday, 25 April 2010

Colleagues Rosemary Birchard, Carol and Jerry Dennis, Julie and Rees Evans, Becky and Andy Lee, Emily Koons, David McCahan, Gerald Piercey, my wife Georgie, and I joined host Dr. Dale Krider to hear Ken Cowan play. I have always felt that the Lewis and Hitchcock organ at St. Andrew's is a wonderful instrument, visually and tonally, and this recital once again confirmed my opinion.

Ken played Felix Mendelssohn's Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; George Thalben-Ball's Elegy in B-flat; and Marcel Dupre's Deuxieme Symphonie, Op. 26, for the first part of his program. For the second part of his program Ken played Bach's Prelude and Fugue in e minor, BWV 548; Stephen Paulus' Blithely Breezing Along, from the Baronian (as in "Michael Barone") Suite; Sigfrid Karg-Elert's Voices of the Night, Op. 142, No. 1; and the Final from Louis Vierne's Symphonie VI, Op. 59.

For an encore, Ken played the Paganini Variations. Ken played his entire program, including the encore, off book. Ken is clearly a major talent. Those of us lucky enough to join him at lunch on Saturday found him to be modest and unassuming, a thoroughly nice guy. My suggestion is "Don't miss an opportunity to hear Ken Cowan play!"

Dave Haykin