{"id":244432,"date":"2011-07-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-labor-of-love\/"},"modified":"2011-07-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-25T07:00:00","slug":"a-labor-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-labor-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"A labor of love"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
Spreckles Organ Pavilion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Disparate musicians offer talents at summer outdoor organ concert series nearing silver anniversary<\/p>\n

By Dave Fidlin |<\/strong> Reportero SDUN<\/p>\n

From an early age, Carol Williams was enthralled with music\u2014particularly organ music, which she dreamed of having an opportunity to play.<\/p>\n

The British native is living out a life\u2019s ambition through her role with the Spreckels Organ Society. In addition to serving as artistic director of the San Diego-based organization, in its 24th year of operation, Williams routinely plays organ music at venues throughout the city.<\/p>\n

Williams is one of nearly a dozen organists performing this summer in Spreckels\u2019 2011 Summer International Organ Festival concerts, held Monday evenings in Balboa Park. She kicked off the 11-week season June 20 and also will have the distinct honor of closing out this year\u2019s festival, which, like the parent organization, is a year shy of its silver anniversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began reading music before I even knew how to read,\u201d said Williams, who is in her 10th year of performing at Spreckels\u2019 summer festivals. \u201cFor me, playing the organ is just an incredible experience. There\u2019s nothing else like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Arcus is another venerable organist who has a special affinity with the instrument. The Durham, N.C.-based musician is showcasing his talents Aug. 15 at the festival. It will be Arcus\u2019 first time performing in Balboa Park and his second concert on the West coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be interesting to perform in an outdoor setting,\u201d said Arcus, a chapel organist at Duke University. \u201cMy work doesn\u2019t really allow me to travel much because I am needed for long stretches of time. I stay pretty busy throughout the year, so this will be something new for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each organist brings something different to the stage throughout the summer festival. While she is performing twice this year, Williams vows her performances will not be mirror images of one another. The San Diego Civic organist was joined by musicians from disparate groups during her opening performance, \u201cCelebration.\u201d They included the House of Scotland Pipe Band, Finest City Brass Herald Trumpets and the choir of St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral.<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 grand finale performance in late August will pay homage to great Hollywood musical numbers, featuring scores from a wide range of films\u2014from such legendary pieces as \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d to more recent works, including \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some great arrangements planned,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be something really different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arcus, who studied at Oberlin Conservatory and received graduate degrees from the Yale University
\nSchool of Music, said he plans to perform pieces from a variety of composers, including renowned organist Johann Sebastian Bach. Arcus also is planning to incorporate a few original pieces into his evening concert.<\/p>\n

Since organ music is traditionally performed in church settings, weddings and more intimate indoor concert settings, Balboa Park is an unusual venue for an organ concert.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the venue, Williams said she is grateful for an opportunity to perform before an audience, whether it be before an audience of 20 or 2,000\u2014an average crowd size at one of the summer outdoor concerts at Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it doesn\u2019t really matter because I\u2019m so engrossed in my music,\u201d Williams said. \u201cBut I will say this: When I turn around to speak, it really is phenomenal to look out into a crowd of that size. It just feeds your energy if you get good vibrations from the people listening to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arcus praises the City of San Diego for backing the Summer International Organ Festival concerts. The Department of Parks and Recreation and Spreckels Organ Society have been working in tandem for the past two-plus decades to ensure the concerts are free.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need the music, and we need the arts,\u201d Arcus said. \u201cSometimes that can be a hard sell for politicians, especially these days, with budgeting issues. But I think it\u2019s incredibly essential to society.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks ahead, a few crowd-pleasers will be returning as the concert series begins to wind down. Organist Dennis James, for example, will mark his return to the outdoor festival series Aug. 22 with a silent movie night.<\/p>\n

Spreckels will be showing the 1924 Paramount Films classic, \u201cPeter Pan,\u201d on the big screen while James plays accompanying music.<\/p>\n

The Spreckels Organ Society was born out of a donation to the city. John D. and Adolf Spreckels, of the Spreckels sugar family, donated their instrument\u2014considered the largest outdoor pipe organ in America.<\/p>\n

Ron DeFields, president of the society\u2019s board of trustees, said the organization and the free concerts have endured for more than two decades because of a dedicated, passionate group of volunteers and people pledging funds to keep the events returning each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m retired, so for me this, is my give-back period; I look at it as a part of my civic work,\u201d DeFields said. \u201cI know for a lot of the other trustees, it\u2019s a true labor of love to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeFields said he also wants to dispel any myths about the quality of the concerts and the cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cDedicated, generous people are covering all the costs so these concerts are available to anyone,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople should never feel that just because an event is of little or no cost, it isn\u2019t worthwhile to go to. That would be very short-sighted.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the summer concerts on Monday nights, Spreckels hosts Sunday concerts, at 2 p.m., with Williams and guest artists throughout the year. The organization also spearheads a variety of other events and initiatives.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disparate musicians offer talents at summer outdoor organ concert series nearing silver anniversary By Dave Fidlin | SDUN Reporter From an early age, Carol Williams was enthralled with music\u2014particularly organ music, which she dreamed of having an opportunity to play. The British native is living out a life\u2019s ambition through her role with the Spreckels […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A labor of love","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}