Organ Recital Performed on the Feast of Saint Bernard

Brother Luke Armour of Gethsemane has been visiting Mepkin as our guest organist while Abbot Stan and Brother John are in Ecuador.  On the Feast of Saint Bernard, through Brother Luke's kindness, Mepkin had the pleasure of hearing an organ recital by Dr. Dudley Oakes.     Dr. Oakes who is a dear friend of Brother Luke, is Vice President of Sales with Letourneau Organs, Ltd. (who built the new instrument for Gethsemane), and is organist and choirmaster at Saint John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.  He also teaches at Appalachian College and has performed recitals throughout the United States, Europe and Australia.

The program for the evening was as follows:

Toccata	Georgi Mushel (b.1940)
Two Chorale Preludes	Gerald Near (b. 1942)
Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (Blessed Jesus, at Thy word) Ubi Caritas) (Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found)
Prelude and Fugue in g Minor, BWV 542	Johan Sebastian Bach  (1685-1750)
I Danced in the Morning    South Carolina Premiere	Emma Lou Diemer  (b. 1927)
Intermission
Passacaglia and Fugue in G minor    on the theme BASF-AG      Reconstructed from tape to       manuscript by Dudley Oakes	Marcel Dupre (1886-2972)
I am Black but Comely, O Ye Daughters of Jerusalem, Op. 18, No. 3	Marcel Dupre
Symohonie II for Organ    Scherzo	Louis Vierne
Symohonie No. V for Organ    Adagio    Allegro	Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

The community very much enjoyed the recital.  As we know Father Francis loved Bach, played Dupre often and had a fondness for the particular piece by Widor that we heard.  We are grateful to Dr. Oakes and Brother Luke for providing us this wonderful gift so close to the first anniversary of Abbot Francis' death.  It was both a comfort and a special note of celebration as we honored Saint Bernard on this great Cistercian feast.