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.
September - December 2019
November 22 – Jordan Prescott (Baltimore, Maryland)
Ih the Organ Gallery of St. Clotilde
Improvisation sur le ‘Te Deum’ – Charles Tournemire, reconst. Maurice Duruflé; Cantilène – Gabriel Pierné; La Nativité from Poèmes Évangéliques – Jean Langlais; Chorale in E – César Franck
November 29 – No Recital (Thanksgiving Weekend)
December 6 – Kimberly Ann Hess (Arlington, Virginia)
December 13 – Joby Bell (Boone, North Carolina)
Tuba Tune – Norman Crocker; Pastorale from Sonata No. 1 – Alexandre Guilmant; Sinfonia from Messiah – George Frederick Handel, trans. Joby Bell; Pastorale – César Franck; Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella – arr. Keith Chapman
December 20 – Jackson Borges (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware)
There are no midday concerts on December 27 or during the month of January. Music at Midday will resume on Friday, February 7, 2020.
February - June 2020
There are no midday concerts during January. Friday Music at Midday will resume on February 7.
February 7 – James D. Hicks, Organist (Califon, New Jersey)
February 14 – Chuyoung Suter and Erik Wm. Suter, Piano and Organ (Gaithersburg, Maryland)
Piano Concerto No. 2 – Sergei Rachmaninoff
February 21 – Natalia Kazaryan, Organist (Washington, DC)
February 28 – Samantha Scheff, Organist (Asbury Park, New Jersey)
March 6 – Timothy Duhr, Organist (Washington, DC)
March 13 – Hans Uwe Hielscherr, Organist (Wiesbaden, Germany)
March 20 – Sara Su Jones, Violin, with Tatiana Stepanova, Piano (Chicago, Illinois)
March 27 – Carson Cooman, Organist (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
April 3 – Nathan Lively, Organist (Stamford, Connecticut) and Peggy Brengle, Organist (Westminster, Maryland)
April 10 – NO RECITAL (Good Friday)
April 17 – Mark Thewes and Chad Pittman, Organists (Canton, Ohio)
April 24 – Alexander Frey, Organist (Berlin, Germany)
May 1 – Colin MacKnight, Organist (New York City)
May 8 – Michael Stefanek, Organist (Salisbury, Maryland)
May 15 – Christopher Schmitt, Pianist (Washington, DC)
May 22 – Michael Britt, Organist (Baltimore, Maryland)
May 29 – Carol Feather Martin, Organist (Arlington, Virginia)
June 5 – Zacchaeus Lock, Organist (Brookfield, Connecticut)
June 12 – Christopher Reynolds (Richmond, Virginia)
June 19 – Alain Truche (Silver Spring, Maryland)
June 26 – Aaron Cumins (New York City)
There are no midday recitals during July and August. Music at Midday will resume on Friday, September 4, 2020.
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.
Even if you’re not a musician, familiar with the pipe organ at all, or one who rarely steps foot inside a church: these recital/demonstration events are for YOU! The recital series events are geared to attract and engage people of all ages, those familiar with the pipe organ, and those who’ve never seen one up close, or are acquainted with its musical possibilities.
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.
Organists who are interested in performing on the Friday noon-time recital series are encouraged to apply by submitting an unedited recording of a most recent public organ recital and a printed program from that recorded recital, other copies of recently played recital programs, and a current biography. Please send all materials by e-mail to mmcmahon@nationalcitycc.org or by postal mail to:
Rev. Dr. J. Michael McMahon
Artistic Director, Music at Midday
National City Christian Church
5 Thomas Circle, NW
Washington D.C. 20005
For additional information about this series, the music ministry, and the organ of National City Christian Church, please call the NCCC Music Office 202-797-0103 or contact us via email.