Concert organist John Walker will present a concert at Hope College on Sunday, Jan. 27, at 4 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The program will include the "Sortie in E flat Major," by Louis J.A. Lefebure-Wely; "Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542," by Johann Sebastian Bach; "Piece Heroique," by Cesar Franck; "Toccata on 'Veni Emmanuel,'" by Adolphus Hailstork; "Variations on Adeste fideles," by Gaston Dethier; "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella," by Keith Chapman; "Marche Religieuse," by Alexandre Guilmant; "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," by William Bolcom; "Carillon," by Leo Sowerby; and "Final (from Symphonie I)," by Louis Vierne.
Walker's active performance schedule takes him regularly throughout North America, with frequent performances in Europe and Asia. He completed a residency in Taiwan as a Fulbright Scholar, and his many performances there culminated in a televised concert with the National Symphony Orchestra to welcome the new millennium.
The "New York Times" has called his registrations "colorful and imaginative, his technical command impeccable." The "Kansas City Star" said that he performed "with energy and elan," noting "A high-profile musical personality was never in doubt, and there was virtuosity to burn."
Walker has been director of music and organist at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pa., since 1992. He is also adjunct professor of organ at Duquesne University.
He was previously on the staff of Riverside Church in New York City, serving first as associate musician and later as director of music and organist. During that time he was also chair of the organ department at the Manhattan School of Music. Prior to his Riverside appointment, he served as organist/coordinator of music at the First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto, Calif., and as professor of organ at San Jose State University.
His discography includes compact disc recordings on the Gothic, Pro Organo and Xpressions labels. Additionally, he has recorded for National Public Radio and has performed in national telecasts from the Riverside Church.
A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, Walker has served the guild in many capacities, including two terms as national treasurer, and as dean of the San Jose and New York City chapters. He has performed and taught at regional and national conventions of the AGO, and on Monday, Jan. 28, he will conduct a workshop at Hope Church in Holland on service playing for the Holland Area Chapter of the AGO.
He has been a clinician and service organist at conventions of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Montreat Conference of Presbyterian Church Musicians, the Redlands Organ Festival and the Richner- Strong Institute for Church Music at Colby College.
Walker holds the doctor of musical arts degree from Stanford University, and double master's degrees with honors from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he later became a faculty member. He was the 1984 alumni recipient of the Professional Achievement Award from Westminster College in Pennsylvania.
The recital was made possible through the generous support of the college's Tom Donia Memorial Organ Fund. The fund was created in 1990 by family and friends of Tom Donia, a 1971 Hope graduate who died in 1990. The director of communications for the American Red Cross, Donia had a life- long interest in music.
Dimnent Memorial Chapel is located on College Avenue at 12th Street.