The annual Donia Organ Recital at Hope College will feature Bradley Welch, winner of the 2003 Dallas International Organ Competition, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The performance will include Johann Sebastian Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BMV 543" and Felix Mendelssohn's "Sonata III in A Major, Opus 65," as well as works by David Johnson, George Thalben-Ball, Charles-Marie Widor, and Alexandre Guilmant.
Currently serving as organist of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas, Welch was also awarded the prestigious Audience Prize for the second time at the Dallas competition. About his much-applauded performance in the event, the "Dallas Morning News" said, "Visceral excitement...consistently the most compelling player...he played with unmatched assurance and e'lan."
"The Diapson" said, "A spectacular solo program... sensitive, well-balanced performances of the two required concerti both beautifully registered and delivered with requisite virtuosity as well as deep musical insight... a powerhouse organist with considerable communicative skills... the subtlest and most consistent player among the contestants."Welch won first place in the Undergraduate Division of the 1994 William Hall Organ Competition in San Antonio, Texas. In 1995 he won first place in the American Guild of Organists Region VII Competition for Young Organists. In the same year he was a national finalist in the Organ Division of the Music Teachers National Association Competition.
Welch earned his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Yale University, and his Bachelor of Music from Baylor University.He received Yale's Horatio Parker Prize, one of the institution's most prestigious awards. Among his other accolades are the Robert Baker Prize, given to the top one to two percent of the nation's young organists, the Charles Ives Prize, and the Yale School of Music Alumni Association Prize.
The recital at Hope 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.