Christa Rakich

Friday, November 2, 2018, 8:00 p.m.

Concert and recording artist Christa Rakich currently directs the music program at St. Mark the Evangelist Church in West Hartford, CT, in addition to her appointment as Artist-in-Residence at First Congregational Church in Somers, CT. Previous Artist-in-Residencies include the University of Pennsylvania and First Lutheran Church in Boston. Teaching posts have included New England Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, Brandeis University, and the University of Connecticut. She has also served as Assistant University Organist at Harvard University.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Christa Rakich studied for two years with Anton Heiller at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Organ and German from Oberlin College (Phi Beta Kappa). After receipt of her Master’s degree with honors from New England Conservatory, she was asked to join the faculty there, where she taught for many years, serving ultimately as Organ Department Co-chair

Rakich’s performing career has taken her throughout North America and Europe.

Active in the American Guild of Organists, she has served as Dean of the Northeast Connecticut Chapter and as a judge for competitions at both regional and national levels, for both repertory and improvisation. She has been a member of the National Committee for Organ Improvisation, and appears regularly as a performer and presenter at AGO conventions.

A prizewinner at international organ competitions (notably Bruges 1976), Rakich has received particular acclaim for her interpretations of the music of J.S. Bach, such as her celebrated recording of the Leipzig Chorales and her most recent release, a 2-CD set of his Trio Sonatas. 

Other released recordings include Deferred Voices: Organ Music by Women Composers, and Transcriptions from St. Justin’s, both made on the 1932 Kilgen organ at St. Justin’s Church in Hartford, and Christa Rakich in Recital at St. Mark’s Cathedral, a live recording of her performance at the 2000 National AGO Convention in Seattle. 

Photo: Martin Rakich-Kelly

Jens Korndörfer is Director of Worship and the Arts, and Organist at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, GA, and instructor of organ at Georgia State University and Agnes Scott College.

He maintains a busy concert schedule at major venues and festivals around the world. Highlights include solo concerts at Westminster Abbey, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Royal Chapel in Versailles, Moscow Cathedral, Berlin Cathedral, the Münster in Ulm, Oslo Domkirke, Suntory Hall and Metropolitan Art Space in Tokyo, Kyoto Concert Hall, and the Cultural Centre in Hong Kong.

Korndörfer has also given many master classes and presentations. In addition, he has published in American, Belgian, British, French, German, Russian, and Swiss music journals, and has served on the jury of the Quimby Competition (2015).

A native of Germany, Korndörfer pursued his studies in Germany, France, the United States, and Canada. He holds a Church Music Diploma from the Musikhochschule in Bayreuth, an Organ Diploma from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, an Artist Diploma from Oberlin Conservatory, and a D.M.A. from McGill University.

In September 2005 he was appointed organist in residence at the Concert Hall Kitara in Sapporo, Japan. During one year, he gave approximately fifty recitals at major venues throughout Japan, made two recordings, concertized with orchestras (Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini under Lorin Maazel), gave master classes, and taught private lessons.

Korndörfer is a triple prizewinner of the Canadian National Organ Competition (2008 and 2011).

He has recorded three CDs: two solo recordings and one in collaboration with Kazuhiro Maekawa, solo trumpeter of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. A recording of the renovated Klais/Schlueter organ (IV/112) at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta is currently in preparation.

Jens Korndörfer is represented by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc., in North America.

Jens Korndörfer

Friday, February 8, 2019, 8:00 p.m.