This month, the Music & More program presents an organ recital and short, informal discussions about the organ by visiting musician and scholar Marc-Frédéric Indorf. The performance is at 3 p.m. April 19 at First United Methodist Church, 915 Second Ave.
The performance will include a repertoire that echoes the Easter season in the church calendar and showcases the different attributes of the Casavant organ at First United Methodist Church. The program will include works by Bach, de Grigny, Hakim, Hebble, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Schroeder.
Originally from Ohio, Marc-Frédéric Indorf is currently an organist and bryologist based in Québec City, Canada. His musical training took place at several French institutions in and around Paris where he received first prizes in analysis, organ and musical style writing. He also holds a master’s degree in musicology from the University of the Sorbonne analyzing musical narrativity. As an organist, he has performed internationally from France to Alaska (Fairbanks in 2012) and has served as organist and music director for various churches, including the Catholic Mission of Saint Joseph in Paris. He was the resident organist in Val d’Or, Québec, for a number of years and in France has served as music director and accompanist for staged productions including “Orphée aux enfers,””The Fairy Queen,” “Showboat” and “The Marriage of Figaro.” Other past musical activities include choir director of Voices Chœur International in Paris and haut-contre for early medieval reconstitutions prepared by the ensemble, Vox in Rama. As a bryologist specializing in the Sphagnum genus (also known as peatmoss), he currently is working for the Québec government on several projects including vegetation classification of Québec’s Arctic.
While in Fairbanks, Indorf will also present a second concert featuring the Gress-Miles pipe organ at 7:30 p.m. April 24 at the UAF Davis Concert Hall. An organ and percussion duet with Professor Sean Dowgray will be performed first, followed by a silent film with organ improvisation from the days before movies had sound. The featured film will be the original classic silent film from 1922: “Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror.” Marc-Frédéric will improvise a live soundtrack on the organ to this first cinematographic adaptation of the story of “Dracula” which initiated the horror genre, coined the idea that vampires cannot survive in broad daylight, and inspired film producers and aficionados over the past century.
In May, for the third year in a row, Music & More will feature high school musicians from Lathrop and West Valley. These talented students will present a program of selections they will later perform at the May 2025 Alaska School Activities Association Solo and Ensemble Music Festival in Anchorage. That performance is 7 p.m. May 3.
In June, the church’s organ will again be featured, this time in a recital by eminent German organist Roland Voit. A graduate of Musikhochschule Köln, where he studied organ, music theory and composition, Voit resides in Essen, Germany, where he lectures and performs at Bischöfliche Kirchenmusikschule. But he is well-known across the globe, with recent recitals in Japan, South Africa, Australia, and many locations in Germany and the United States. His program at 3 p.m. on June 29 will be accompanied by Power Point slides of the natural world, a fitting addition his musical offerings.
Music & More began in August 2022. This popular series features mostly local talent, with occasional visitors from Outside. The intent is to provide entertainment for all ages in an atmosphere that is comfortable, safe and convenient. Admission is free; donations are encouraged, most of which are provided to the performers.
Call the church at 907-452-2956 for more information.
