MONROE - "Another Side of Swiss" is the title for the Midday Masterworks program, a free half-hour organ mini-recital to be presented at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday at the United Methodist Church of Monroe and again at 5:15 p.m. at St. Victor Catholic Church in Monroe.
In contrast to the Swiss folk music with which many people in Green County are familiar, this program will feature music for organ written by classically-trained Swiss-born composers, including Ernest Bloch and Louis Niedermeyer.
Classical will meet folk in the performance of Carl Rutti's "Suite Pastorale," a five-part work for organ and alphorn based on traditional alphorn melodies from various parts of Switzerland. A notable Swiss composer, Rutti was born in 1949 and grew up in Zug, receiving a diploma in organ and piano from the Zurich Conservatoire in 1975. He currently teaches piano at the Conservatoire, gives concerts and recitals as a pianist and organist and is the organist of the local church in Oberageri, Zug.
The featured alphornist for the recital will be guest artist John Knechtenhofer from Savannah, Missouri. Knechtenhofer, whose family roots are in Thun, Switzerland, has studied alphorn in Switzerland with Fritz Frautschi of Schoenried, canton Bern. For the past several years, he has attended the annual North American Alphorn Retreat in Utah, studying and playing under renowned international staff and alphornists. He also is a member of the St. Joseph (Missouri) Gruetli Verein club and the Kansas City Swiss Society.
Midday Masterworks organist Deborah Krauss Smith also is of Swiss descent, with a paternal grandmother from the canton Aargau. She also is a direct descendent of Jakob and Elsbeth Stauffacher-Speich, original colonists of New Glarus. Krauss Smith began her organ studies in Monroe with the late Merruth Seaton, continuing at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where she received a music education degree with applied majors in both organ and voice, and then continued organ studies with the late Lawrence G. Kelliher, longtime organist/director of music at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison. Her career has included serving as organist/director of music for several denominations in Monroe, Eau Claire and Madison. Twice in recent years, she has been invited to lead community hymn sings in Madison, playing the Overture Center concert organ.
For the past two years, Krauss Smith has served as president of the Madison-based Association of Church Musicians and dean of the Madison Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She also has directed the Monroe Swiss Singers mixed choir since 1985.
Krauss Smith established Midday Masterworks in 2002 as a way to feature the new 39-rank, three-manual Berghaus pipe organ at the United Methodist Church of Monroe. A reprise of the noontime program was added in 2008 to showcase St. Victor Church's new Matthew Ronald Buholzer Memorial Organ, a hybrid combination of a 1968 Moeller pipe organ and a three-manual Rodgers digital organ.
Each Midday Masterworks program is presented quarterly on the fourth Wednesday of January, April, July and October and is developed around a theme with music selected to appeal to all kinds of listeners.
Both churches are handicapped-accessible. More detailed information, including the full program listing, is available at coldspringsroad.com/middaymasterworks.html.
In contrast to the Swiss folk music with which many people in Green County are familiar, this program will feature music for organ written by classically-trained Swiss-born composers, including Ernest Bloch and Louis Niedermeyer.
Classical will meet folk in the performance of Carl Rutti's "Suite Pastorale," a five-part work for organ and alphorn based on traditional alphorn melodies from various parts of Switzerland. A notable Swiss composer, Rutti was born in 1949 and grew up in Zug, receiving a diploma in organ and piano from the Zurich Conservatoire in 1975. He currently teaches piano at the Conservatoire, gives concerts and recitals as a pianist and organist and is the organist of the local church in Oberageri, Zug.
The featured alphornist for the recital will be guest artist John Knechtenhofer from Savannah, Missouri. Knechtenhofer, whose family roots are in Thun, Switzerland, has studied alphorn in Switzerland with Fritz Frautschi of Schoenried, canton Bern. For the past several years, he has attended the annual North American Alphorn Retreat in Utah, studying and playing under renowned international staff and alphornists. He also is a member of the St. Joseph (Missouri) Gruetli Verein club and the Kansas City Swiss Society.
Midday Masterworks organist Deborah Krauss Smith also is of Swiss descent, with a paternal grandmother from the canton Aargau. She also is a direct descendent of Jakob and Elsbeth Stauffacher-Speich, original colonists of New Glarus. Krauss Smith began her organ studies in Monroe with the late Merruth Seaton, continuing at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where she received a music education degree with applied majors in both organ and voice, and then continued organ studies with the late Lawrence G. Kelliher, longtime organist/director of music at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison. Her career has included serving as organist/director of music for several denominations in Monroe, Eau Claire and Madison. Twice in recent years, she has been invited to lead community hymn sings in Madison, playing the Overture Center concert organ.
For the past two years, Krauss Smith has served as president of the Madison-based Association of Church Musicians and dean of the Madison Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She also has directed the Monroe Swiss Singers mixed choir since 1985.
Krauss Smith established Midday Masterworks in 2002 as a way to feature the new 39-rank, three-manual Berghaus pipe organ at the United Methodist Church of Monroe. A reprise of the noontime program was added in 2008 to showcase St. Victor Church's new Matthew Ronald Buholzer Memorial Organ, a hybrid combination of a 1968 Moeller pipe organ and a three-manual Rodgers digital organ.
Each Midday Masterworks program is presented quarterly on the fourth Wednesday of January, April, July and October and is developed around a theme with music selected to appeal to all kinds of listeners.
Both churches are handicapped-accessible. More detailed information, including the full program listing, is available at coldspringsroad.com/middaymasterworks.html.