FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Deb Faling,

APRIL 23, 2003 269-337-7407, or bach@kzoo.edu,

for further information.

MUSIC OF BACH FEATURED AT ANNUAL

BACH-AROUND-THE-BLOCK ORGAN CRAWL

The music of J.S. Bach and his son J.C. Bach will be featured this year during the 16^th Annual Bach-Around-the-Block Organ Crawl. Three of downtown Kalamazoo’s most beautiful church pipe organs will be played by the areas best organists. The audience walks from church to church to hear the entire concert. This year’s free concert will begin at St. Augustine Cathedral, move to First Presbyterian Church and end at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Organist Francis Zajac of St. Augustine Cathedral will begin the concert with Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565. Also included in the program at St. Augustine’s will be Katharine Hoogerheide playing Sonata No. 6 in G Major, BWV 530.

Concerto in C Major, BWV 594, played by David Bassin, will be the opening piece at First Presbyterian Church. Three vocal chorales featuring soprano Julia Lindsay Grennon are also on the program for that church. The featured organist will be Linda Mack, assisted by Asta Sakala LaBianca, mezzo-soprano and organist, Jean Bartz, recorder, and Eika Müller, cello.

The last stop on the Organ Crawl will be St. Luke’s. Organists Mary Peterson and Rebecca McLaren Barnes will be playing Sonata No. 1 in C Major for four hands by J.C. Bach. Concluding the concert will be Three settings of “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” played by Timothy Tikker.

Following the concert there will be a reception in the dining hall at St. Luke’s. The Organ Crawl will begin at 7:00 p.m., on Monday, May 12, and is co-sponsored by Bach Festival of Kalamazoo as part of Bach Festival Week and by American Guild of Organists, Southwest Michigan Chapter.

The American Guild of Organists, the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields, is one of the largest arts-related organizations in North America. Founded in New York City in 1896, the AGO now serves over 21,000 members throughout the United States and in Europe, Argentina, Antigua, Korea, and Sydney. The Guild is absolutely nonsectarian, and membership is available to both organists and choirmasters in all religious bodies and to others interested in sacred music. Dr. Henry Overley, founder of the Kalamazoo Bach Festival, was one of the charter members of the Southwest Michigan Chapter.

Bach Festival Week runs from May 11 to 17 and includes the Young Vocalists Concert on Sunday, May 11, Bach-Around-the-Block Organ Crawl on Monday, May 12, and the Bach Legacy Lecture with Raymond Harvey, lecturer, on Thursday, May 15. These events are all free and open to the public. The Festival Finale Concert will take place on Saturday, May 17. J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass will be performed by the Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra conducted by James Turner, music director. Tickets for the B Minor Mass are $25, $18, or $5 and are available by calling the Bach Festival office at 269-337-7407 or at the Miller Auditorium Box Office, 269-387-2300. For further information regarding any of the Bach Festival events, please call the office or check out their web site, www.kzoo.edu/bach/.

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The Bach Festival is generously supported by Kalamazoo College, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Fund of Kalamazoo County, Burdick-Thorne Foundation, Center for Western European Studies, H.P and Genevieve W. Connable Fund, Dorothy U. Dalton Foundation, Plaza Arts Circle, Harold and Grace Upjohn Foundation, Stryker Corporation, Fritz and Associates, Inc., Jaqua Realty, Millennium Restaurant Group, Peter J. Thomas Company, Inc., and many individual supporters.