Hartness Organ Series opens Oct. 26

The Furman University Department of Music announces the return of the Hartness Organ Series. The three concerts comprising the series are free and open to the public. It opens Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. in Daniel Memorial Chapel on the Furman campus with a recital by Greenville native Caroline Robinson, associate organist-choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta.

Robinson performs Poulenc concerto with Kansas City Symphony, 2013.

At St. Philips, Robinson shares organ playing and accompanying responsibilities and leads the Royal School of Church Music-based Chorister program. She has been featured as a solo recitalist in many venues across the United States, including churches and concert halls. Her performances have been broadcast on American Public Media’s “Pipedreams,” “Pipedreams LIVE!” and on “Wanamaker Organ Hour,” a Philadelphia-based public radio show.

A featured performer at Organ Historical Society and American Guild of Organists regional conventions, Robinson is the Second Prize Winner of the 2018 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. She holds First Prize from the 11th annual Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival (2008) and the 10th annual West Chester University Organ Competition (2010). She was a semifinalist in the 2014 Dublin International Organ Competition.

Robinson completed her undergraduate work at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Alan Morrison. Aided by a grant from the J. William Fulbright fellowship fund, she studied at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse. She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts and the Master of Music in Organ Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with David Higgs.

Robinson’s recital, the Posey and Jean Orr Belcher Organ Concert, honors Furman alumni the late Posey ’54 and Jean Orr Belcher ’53. It is made possible by an endowment created by the Belcher children: the late David O. Belcher ’79, Philip B. Belcher ’82, Elizabeth Belcher Mixon ’87, and Miriam Belcher Ponder ’91.

Next in the Hartness Organ Series is a recital Thursday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. in Daniel Chapel by internationally acclaimed organist Jens Korndörfer, professor of organ at Georgia State University and organist at First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta. Korndörfer’s recital will be presented in conjunction with the 2022 Furman University Church Music Conference.

The third concert in the series takes place Thursday, March 17, at 8 p.m. in Daniel Chapel. Furman University Organist Charles Tompkins, professor of music, will present works by Sweelinck, J.S. Bach, Vierne, and Price, as well as Vincent Persichetti’s 1960 “Sonata for Organ.” Tompkins also serves as organist for John Knox Presbyterian Church and artist-in-residence for Christ Church (Episcopal), both in Greenville.

Interior of Daniel Memorial Chapel with Hartness Organ.

The Hartness Organ Series presents recitals each season by major national and international organ recitalists. These concerts feature the Hartness Organ, Opus 121 of C.B. Fisk, based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The 42-stop organ, a gift from the late Tom and Edna Hartness, was presented in honor of Bobby and Becky Berry Hartness in 2004.

For more information, contact the Furman Music office at 864-294-2086, and FurmanMusicAdmin@Furman.edu, or Charles Tompkins at 864-294-2969, and charles.tompkins@furman.edu. For more Department of Music events, visit the Furman Music Calendar.