Friday Music at Midday
Come and join us on most Fridays of the year at 12:15 p.m. for beautiful music in the magnificent setting of National City Christian Church.
Schedule of Performances: Fridays at 12:15 p.m.
Archive of Virtual Concerts: March - July 2020
VIRTUAL CONCERTS: March, April, May, June
All live Music at Midday concerts were canceled beginning in mid-March. In their place we were proud to present a series of virtual concerts each Tuesday and Friday between March 24 and July 7. You may enjoy any of these wonderful performances by clicking on the links below.
March 24 – John Nothaft, Organist (Vienna, Virginia)
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March 27 – Loreto Aramendi, Organist (San Sebastián, Spain)
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March 31 – Emmanuel Duperrey, Organist (Villemonble, France)
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April 3 – Jordan Prescott, Organist (Baltimore, Maryland)
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April 7 – Carol Feather Martin, Organnist (Arlington, Virginia)
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April 10 (Good Friday) – Wm. Glenn Osborne, Organist (Baltimore, Maryland)
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April 14 – Colin MacKnight, Organist (New York City)
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April 17 – Julie Vidrick Evans, Organist, and the Apollo Orchestra (Washington, DC)
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April 21 – Christian Gautschi, Organist (Zurich, Switzerland)
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April 24 – Mark Valenti, Pianist (Chicago, Illinois)
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April 28 – James Kosnik, Organist (Norfolk, Virginia)
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May 1 – Willem Hörmann, Organist ( ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands)
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May 5 – Adam Graham, Organist (Arlington, Virginia)
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May 8 – Michał Szostak, Organist (Warsaw, Poland)
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May 12 – Stefan Donner, Organist (Vienna, Austria)
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May 15 – Joby Bell, Organist (Boone, North Carolina)
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May 19 – Patrick Pope, Organist (Charlotte, North Carolina)
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May 22 – Lisa Mitchell Tyler, Organist (Arlington, Virginia)
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May 26 – Craig Williams, Organist (West Point, New York)
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May 29 – Colin MacKnight, Organist (New York City)
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June 2 – Chad Pittman and Mark Thewes, Organists (Canton, Ohio)
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June 5 – Mitchell Miller, Organist (Stuttgart, Germany)
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June 9 – Nathan Lively and Peggy Brengle, Organists
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June 12 – Samantha Scheff, Organist (Washington, DC)
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June 16 – John A. Wolfe, Organist (New York City)
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June 19 – Jackson Borges, Organist (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware)
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June 23 – Emmanuel Duperrey, Organist (Villemonble, France)
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June 26 – Victoria Shields, Organist (New Canaan, Connecticut)
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June 30 – Jordan Prescott, Organist (Baltimore, Maryland)
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July 3 – Carol Feather Martin, Organist (Arlington, Virginia)
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July 7 – Alain Truche, Organist (Silver Spring, Maryland)
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There are no midday recitals during July and August. Music at Midday will resume on Friday, September 4, 2020.
September 2020 - June 2021
There are no midday concerts during July or August. The fall series of Friday Music at Midday will begin on September 18, 2020. Social distancing will be practiced, including designated places for audience members to sit and the requirement that masks be worn at all times.
September 18 – Tyler Canonico, organist (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Saraband for the Morning of Easter – Herbert Howells; Sonata No. 6 in G Major (I. Vivace; II. Lente) – J. S. Bach; Scherzo from 24 Pièces en style libra pour Orgue ou Harmonium – Louis Vierne; Benedictus – Max Reger; Three Selections from “Star Wars” (The Imperial March; May the Force Be with You; March of the Resistance) – John Williams; trans. J. Mark Baker
September 25 – David K. Houston, organist (College Park, Maryland)
Veni Creator (1. en taille à 5; 2. Fugue à 5; 3. Duo; 4. Récit de Cromorne; 5. Dialogue sur les Grands Jeux) – Nicolas de Grigny; Veni Creator, Toccata from Twelve Choral Preludes – Jeanne Demessieux; Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du ‘Veni Creator’, Op. 4 – Maurice Duruflé
October 2 – Theodore S. Davis, organist (Baltimore, Maryland)
Suite No. 1 for Organ (Fantasy; Fughtetta; Air; Toccata) – Florentine Price; Esquisses Byzantines (Nef; Rosace; Tu es petra) – Henri Mulet
October 9 – TBD
October 16 – Mark Valenti, pianist (Chicago, Illinois)
Organ Prelude in G minor, BWV 535 – J. S. Bach, arr. Siloti; Sonata, Op. 26 (Allegro energico; Allegro vivace e leggiero; Adagio mesto; Fuga Allegro con spirito) – Samuel Barber; L’isle joyeuse – Claude Debussy
October 23 – Russell Weismann, organist (Washington, DC)
Deux Pièces (I. Marche) – Arthur Foote; Trois Pièces pour Grand Orgue (I. Fantaisie) – César Franck; Cantata 29, BWV 29 (I. Sinfonia) – J. S. Bach; Vier Kleine Praeludien und Fugen (IV. Präludium und Fuge D-dur ‘Alleluja’) – Franz Schmidt
October 30 – David Brock, organist (Zephyr Springs, Nevada)
Prelude in G minor, BuxWV 149 – Dietrich Buxtehude; Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist, BuxWV 208 – Dietrich Buxtehude; Chorale No. 1 in E Major – César Franck
November 6 – Mi Zhou, organist (Baltimore, Maryland)
November 13 – Carol Feather Martin, organist (Arlington, Virginia)
November 20 – Derrick Ian Meador, organist (Laurel, Mississippi)
November 27 – NO RECITAL (Thanksgiving holiday)
December 4 – Kimberly Ann Hess, organist (Arlington, Virginia)
December 11 – Eric Bowman, organist (Charles Town, West Virginia)
December 18 – Jackson Borges, organist (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware)
December 25 – NO RECITAL (Christmas)
There are no midday recitals during January. The spring series of Music at Midday will resume on Friday, February 5, 2021.
February 5 – John A. Wolfe, organist (New York City)
February 12 – Laurent Jochum, organist (Paris, France)
February 19 – Pierre Zevort, organist (Paris, France)
February 26 – Amir Farsi, flute (Baltimore, Maryland)
March 5 – Samantha Scheff, organist (Washington, DC)
March 12 – Sondra Goldsmith Proctor, organist (Canton, New York)
March 19 – Colin MacKnight, organist (New York City)
March 26 – Nicholas Will, organist (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
April 2 – NO RECITAL (Good Friday)
April 9 – Kelly Lenahan, organist (Washington, DC)
April 16 – Loreto Aramendi, organist (San Sebastián, Spain)
April 23 – Carson Cooman, organist (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
April 30 – Lisa Mitchell Tyler, organist (Reston, Virginia)
May 7 – Chuyoung Suter and Erik Wm. Suter, plano/organ (Gaithersburg, Maryland)
Piano Concerto No. 2 – Sergei Rachmaninoff
May 14 – Egor Kolesov, organist (St. Petersburg, Russia)
May 21 – Justus Parrotta, organist (Washington, DC)
May 28 – Carter Stevens, organist (Falls Church, Virginia)
June 4 – Sara Su Jones, violin, and Tatyana Stepanova, piano (Chicago, Illinois)
June 11 – PRIDE RECITAL: Christopher Reynolds, organist (Richmond, Virginia)
June 18 – Brent Nolte, organist (Circleville, Ohio)
June 25 – Michał Kopyciński, organist (Lublin, Poland)
There are no Music at Midday recitals during July and August. Concerts will resume on Friday, September 10, 2021.
Most of the Friday concerts at National City feature the church’s pipe organ, its MAGICAL, MYSTICAL, MUSICAL MACHINE!
Performers in our concert series make the pipe organ come alive and opens your eyes to the amazing world of the King of Instruments. Come surround yourself with the instrument’s 7,000 pipes and hear the ROAR that Washington D.C.’s third-largest pipe organ makes in this reverberant space. You’ll experience the organ’s MAGIC, power, and versatility, the MYSTERY of the organ’s unique sounds, the exciting MUSIC of the great composers for the pipe organ, and a fascinating fully hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind musical MACHINE that incorporates wood working, metal-smithing, electricity and electronics, computer technology, physics, acoustics, and a lot of other scientific and musical know-how.
You are invited to come hear the majesty of the five-keyboard Möller pipe organ in 30-minute FREE recitals of some of the most thrilling and sublime music written by the great musical geniuses of the pipe organ. Hands-on displays of organ pipes, colorful photographs of the inner workings of the NCCC organ, interesting information on pipe organ history, and a post-recital demonstration of how the organist operates the keyboards, pedal board, and over 300 controls provides an up-close-and-personal look at this complex and intriguing musical machine.
Be sure to join us on FRIDAYS from 12:15-1:00pm (September through December & February through June) and start your weekend with the exciting and floor-shaking sounds generated by National City Christian Church’s “Magical, Mystical, Musical Machine” and other concert offerings.
National City Christian Church is enormously grateful to all those who have supported and continue to support this recital series through their weekly presence and generous financial contributions. You can donate here.
Rev. Dr. J. Michael McMahon
Artistic Director, Music at Midday
National City Christian Church
5 Thomas Circle, NW
Washington D.C. 20005
