Click here to download the flyer.
Introducing “Music for a Sacred Space” to be performed at St. Mark’s
Thursday, May, 18th at 6:30 pm
St. Mark’s parishioners are acquainted with Nancy LeRoi Nickel who has so generously served as our substitute organist over the past years. Nancy and her husband Timothy are both outstanding musicians – specifically, organists. They have come to know and love our sacred space, our outstanding organ, the wonderful acoustics of St. Mark’s and they have created a distinctive evening of music to be enjoyed by parishioners and the public alike.
The Nickel duo will be performing together on St. Mark’s magnificent organ as the evening’s program is primarily set for two organists on one instrument, employing four hands and four feet, with some selections dating back to the 16th century. This unique program features works composed for these specific sacred spaces —
Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria
the 12th century basilica at Vézelay, France
the parish church of St. Rémy in Dieppe, France — the church where Nancy’s Famille LeRoi worshiped for generations
AND
the Meditations on ‘The Apostles,’ by contemporary Lebanese/French composer Naji Hakim, based on woodcuts of Lukas Cranach the Elder –
featuring photographic images from St. Mark’s stained glass in St. Marks’ rose window
Sung chants, by St. Mark’s cantor Thomas Busse, and projected photos will accompany this hour-long program of works by Schubert, Lachner, Ferko, Hakim, and T. Nickel.
This performance is the U.S. premiere of Timothy Nickel’s recent composition, The Gargoyles of St. Rémy. (for more details about the evening’s program, click here)
Our Sacred Space —The Anglican Parish of Saint Mark, began as a mission of Trinity Episcopal Parish in 1872. (for historical details, click here) The present building, located on the corner of NW 21st Avenue and Marshall Street, was built in 1925 and is the third building to house the parish. It is Romanesque in style, based on the 10th-century Basilica of San Zeno in Verona, Italy. During this performance, you will be surrounded by the special features of the interior of the church, namely walls of hand-painted frescoes and murals from the1930’s, sturdy pillars, rounded arches and walls of alternating courses of cream and red brick, soaring wooden beam ceiling, clerestory and ground floor stained glass windows beautifully depicting scenes from Christ’s ministry, several of which date back to 1890 having been moved to this building from the previous two homes of St. Marks.
The massive pipe organ, featured instrument of this concert, sits over the narthex at the back of the church’s nave, framing the classic rose window of the twelve apostles high in the back wall of the church. The organ, a modern German tracker-action instrument made by Werner Bosch firm of Kassell, Germany, was installed in 1966 as a memorial to the Savier and Washburn families of Portland. The late E. Power Biggs, renowned British-born American concert organist, was consultant on the instrument and came to St. Mark’s to play the four inaugural recitals. The organ has 3 manuals, 44 ranks — 2,153 pipes in total. The rose window is a memorial to Miss Catharine Percival, the church’s primary benefactor, who is actually responsible for what you see and experience today. She not only donated the funds and specifications to build this edifice, gifting the parish many of its treasured furnishings, but even after her death, provided a vision for St. Mark’s through her endowments, stipulating that the parish continue in Anglo-Catholic faith and practice, as it remains today. The rose window was created at the famed Connick Studios of Boston in 1936.
Music for a Sacred Space is the first concert in what we hope will become a series of artistic presentations, open to our friends and neighbors. This concert is offered to attendees for a free-will donation. You are invited to meet the musicians in the Parish Hall following the performance.
If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please provide us with your contact information in the church narthex or in the Parish Hall.