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Tulip Time Organ Recitals Run
Wednesday-Saturday, May 16-19

Posted May 8, 2001

HOLLAND -- Hope College will feature a series of organ recitals in conjunction with the 2001 Tulip Time Festival.

The recitals will run on Wednesday-Saturday, May 16-19, in Dimnent Memorial Chapel on the campus of Hope College.

The programs will begin every half hour, starting from 10 a.m. through 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday-Friday, May 16-18, and from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 19.

The public is invited. Admission is free. Historic Dimnent Memorial Chapel is located on College Avenue at 12th Street.

Eleven different organists will perform throughout the week. The performers will be: Robert Abbott, Marie Blauwkamp, Elizabeth Claar, Thomas Gouwens, Joy Huttar, Huw Lewis, Patricia Pratt, David Schout, Krista Shinew, Linda Strouf and David Whitehouse.

Robert Abbott is liturgical music assistant at the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak. He is also currently pursuing a master of music degree at the University of Michigan, from which he received the Robert Glasgow Scholarship in Organ Performance in 1999. He is a 1998 graduate of Hope, where he was a pupil of Huw Lewis.

Marie Blauwkamp graduated from Hope College in 1962, majoring in piano and music education. She taught vocal music for 26 years at Byron Center Christian and Jenison Public Schools. She is an organist and handbell director at Community Reformed and Bethel Christian Reformed churches in Zeeland. Blauwkamp studied piano with Anthony Kooiker and organ with various teachers in the area.

Elizabeth Claar has served as organist for Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York, and has presented recitals in New York, Michigan and West Virginia. She has studied organ with Huw Lewis for the past year. She will begin a master of music degree at the University of Michigan in the fall, studying with Robert Glasgow.

Thomas Gouwens graduated from Hope in 1972, and completed a doctorate in organ performance with honors from the University of Kansas in August of 1997. He currently lives in Chicago, Ill., and is minister of music at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Melrose Park, Ill. He is also a visiting professor in music at Concordia University of River Forest, Ill., where he also directs the Festival Choir. He holds a master's in organ performance from the University of Michigan.

Joy Huttar graduated from Wheaton College in 1952 with a degree in English literature. After raising seven children, she began organ study with Roger E. Davis at Hope, graduating with a music major in 1984. Huttar is a member of the Holland Area Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), and holds the Colleague Certificate (CAGO) of the national AGO. She is in her 22nd year as organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Holland.

Huw Lewis was born in Wales, educated at the Royal College of Music in London and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and came to the University of Michigan to earn master's and doctoral degrees in music. He was appointed college organist and coordinator of the music theory program at Hope in the fall of 1990, and has chaired the department of music. Before coming to Hope, Lewis spent 16 years in the Detroit area, where he was director of music at St. John's Episcopal Church, director of the St. John's Bach Society and choir director at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. He maintains a full performing schedule and was a featured artist in the 1987 International Congress of Organists. His playing has been broadcast nationally in both the U.S. and Britain. He records regularly for the BBC.

Patricia Pratt graduated from Hope in 1981 having studied organ with Roger Davis. She teaches private piano and organ lessons, and is organist and director of music ministries at Resurrection Reformed Church, where her husband, Paul, is a minister. They live in Flint and have a son, Phillip, who is a Hope student, and a high school-age daughter.

David Schout is organist and choir director at St. Peter's United Church of Christ in South Bend, Ind. This fall, he will pursue a master's in organ performance at either the University of Michigan or the College- Conservatory at the University of Cincinnati. He is a 2000 graduate of Hope, where he studied organ with Huw Lewis and piano with Charles Aschbrenner.

Krista Shinew graduated from Hope this spring with a degree in organ performance, having studied with Huw Lewis. She has given numerous recitals locally in Saugatuck, Grand Rapids and Holland, and internationally in Toronto and on Prince Edward Island. In August, she will continue her organ studies at the University of Michigan, studying with Robert Glasgow.

Linda Strouf is the fine arts division recruiting coordinator and an adjunct assistant professor of music at Hope. She is also minister of music at Third Reformed Church in Holland. A 1984 Hope graduate, she studied harpsichord with Anthony Kooiker and earned her degree in vocal and instrumental music education. She earned a master's in organ performance in 1986 from the University of Wyoming. She currently serves as treasurer of the Holland Area Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

David Whitehouse, who is a 1976 Hope graduate, is director of instrumental music at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Geneva, Ill. He has been organist and choirmaster at Episcopal churches in Barrington, Ill., Park Ridge, Ill., Chicago, Ill., and Arden, N.C. He holds a master of music degree in piano from Northwestern University, and has done postgraduate study at the Royal School of Church Music in Croydon, England, and Clare College in Cambridge, England.

Dimnent Memorial Chapel is located on College Avenue at 12th Street.

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