Free harp and organ concert Sunday at Immaculate Conception

Michael Lodico will play the organ and Rebecca Anstine Smith, the harp, in a free concert at 6 p.m. July 7 at Crypt Church, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The Lafayette Square Duo, composed of Michael Lodico on the organ and Rebecca Anstine Smith on the harp, will play Fantasy in F-Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and "Rhapsodic Poem" by Dewey Owens (1925-2006) at Crypt Church at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday.

It will be the first performance in the church's 2013 summer organ recital series.

This Sunday's program will also include "O Festive Day" (Dan Locklair, b. 1949), "Wondrous Love Variations" (Daniel Pinkham, 1923-2006, with arrangement by Burton/Lodico), "Aria in Classic Style" (Marcel Grandjany, 1891-1975), "Salamanca" (Guy Bovet, b. 1942), and "Prelude in A" (Henry Martin, b. 1950).

Ms. Anstine Smith and Mr. Lodico first teamed up in 2010 when they performed with the choir at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, where Mr. Lodico is the assistant organist, choir director, and artistic director of the church's First Wednesday Concert series.  

He is also keyboard artist at St. Albans and National Cathedral schools, and director of choral activities at St. Anselm’s Abbey School in Washington.

Mr. Lodico is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, and a 2004 recipient of a Fulbright grant for graduate study on historic instruments in the Netherlands.

Ms. Anstine Smith is a former principal harpist for the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra who teaches at St. Mary's College and Anne Arundel Community College.  She graduated from Dickinson College and received a M.M. from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. She studied at the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony and at Tanglewood Institute. In 2008 she recorded Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols with the Washington National Cathedral Girls Choir.

Who: Rebecca Anstine Smith and Michael Lodico

What: Harp and organ concert

When:  6 p.m., July 7, 2013

Where: Crypt Church, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C.

How much:  It's free

Metro station:  Brookland/CUA

patricialesli@gmail.com

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