Free Lafayette Square concert January 9

Marvin Mills at Riverside Church, 2003

 

Marvin Mills, concert organist, will play at St. John's Church, Lafayette Square in a 30-minute performance beginning at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday, and the public is invited.

On the program is Avec une touche Francaise, with works by Saint-Saens, Widor, Durufle, Litaize, and Dupre.  The presentation is part of the church's "First Wednesday" series.

Mills is organist for St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Kensington, Maryland, and music director for the National Spiritual Ensemble.  He has performed at the Kennedy Center, The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the Barns at Wolf Trap, and with choral groups and symphonies throughout the U.S. In a weekly series of 14 programs at All Soul's Church Unitarian in Washington, Mills played the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

 St. John's, Lafayette Square/patricia leslie

 

Other noontime concerts in the First Wednesday series at St. John's are:

Feb. 6: Soloists from St. John's Choir

Mar. 6: Bianca Garcia, flute, assisted by Michael Lodico, organist, featuring the world premiere of a work by Stephen Cabell

Apr. 3: Benjamin Hutto, director of music ministry and organist, St. John's, performing "Organ Treasure Old and New"

May 1: Alvy Powell, bass-baritone and Gershwin interpreter

June 5: Jeremy Filsell, Washington National Cathedral Artist-in-Residence, performing organ works by Bach, Dupre, and Rachmaninov

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church on Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with James Madison, who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has either been a member of, or has attended services at St. John's, including President Barack Obama and his family. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln pew where President Abraham Lincoln sat when he often stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

Who:  Marvin Mills, concert organist

When: 12:10 p.m., January 9, 2013

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square or Farragut North

For more information: 202-347-8766

patricialesli@gmail.com