St. James, Fairhope announces 2009 Concert Series

The St. James Concert Series offers excitement for all ages and especially the younger listener as it features 14 year old pianist Aleksandra Kasman and the much anticipated return of the American Boychoir.

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Friday,  November 13, 2009

Helen Van Abemma Rodgers,
Organist

— Helen is the Director of Music Ministries at St. James, a position held since 1992. She coordinated both pipe organ installations. The 1896, 14 rank Hook & Hastings chapel organ, and the 1968, 63 rank Schlicker, Heissler organ from a church in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Highlights of her career have been to play organs in England, Scotland, France, East Germany and Spain, as well as conducting the St. James Choir as they toured in Italy summer of 2005.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Akov Kasman an Aleksandra (Sasha) Kasman, pianists

— Last season’s phenomenal concert by Yakov Kasman led to a repeat performance, this time with his daughter Aleksandra (Sasha) who won the Silver Medal at the VIII Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev, Ukraine in October of 2008. Yakov Kasman’s debut in America in 1997 as Silver Medalist in the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth was the culmination of several competition triumphs and tours. Since his American debut, he has played more than one hundred fifty concerts in the United States, Russia, and Asia. He has appeared as soloist with more than twenty-five orchestras in the US, Greece, France, China and Russia. A graduate and postgraduate of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and previously a Professor of Piano at the Music College of the Conservatory, Dr. Kasman is now Assistant Professor of Piano/Artistin-
Residence at UAB.

Sasha began piano lessons at age six with her mother Tatiana Kasman and for the last four years she has been studying with her father. Since 2003 Sasha has been a consistent winner of local, state and regional competitions and July of 2008 made her first appearance with an orchestra, performing the complete Mozart Concerto No. 23 with the Ukraine National Symphony. A ninth-grader at Vestavia Hills High School, Sasha takes ballet lessons and enjoys reading in both English and Russian.

Sunday, February 7, 2010
American Boychoir

Celebrating its 70th Anniversary season, The American Boychoir, under the direction of Litton-Lodal Music Director Fernando Malver-Ruiz, is regarded as the United States’ premier concert boys’ choir and one of the finest boychoirs in the world. It continues to dazzle audiences with its unique blend of musical sophistication, effervescent spirit and ensemble virtuosity. Boys from grades 4 through 8 pursue a rigorous musical and academic curriculum at the American Boychoir School, the only non-sectarian boys’ choir school in the nation. In addition to maintaining an active national and international touring schedule, the ensemble performs and records regularly with such world-class artists and ensembles as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, soprano Jessye Norman, pop diva Beyoncé, and Sir Paul McCartney.

Friday, March 12, 2010
Faythe Freese, Organist

Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alabama School of Music, Dr. Faythe Freese, holds degrees in organ performance and church music from Indiana University. As a Fulbright scholar she studied the works of Jean Langlais with the composer in France, and the works of Max Reger with Heinz Wunderlich in Germany. With performances described as “powerful …masterful… impressive … brilliant,” Dr. Freese is in demand as a recitalist throughout the United States, Germany, Denmark, South Korea and Singapore.

In addition to continuing her concert career, Ms. Freese recruits and teaches undergraduate and graduate organ students majoring in Organ Performance and Church Music at the UA School of Music.