Join James Kennerley and the Kotzschmar Organ for a kaleidoscopic celebration of patriotic music written for the King of Instruments. Featuring the 7,101 pipes plus just about every other bell, whistle, and toy stop of the Mighty Kotzschmar Organ, the program is sure to thrill and delight. The concert will feature iconic marches by John Philip Sousa (including the famous Stars and Stripes Forever), a Suite by one of the first major African-American female composers, Florence Price, as well as Scott Joplin’s iconic Maple Leaf Rag in a new transcription by James Kennerley. Also on the program is the highly evocative Adagio by Samuel Barber and Charles Ive’s outrageously virtuosic Variations on America.

Kennerley will also play a march by one of Portland’s first Municipal Organists, Will Macfarlane, the melody of which was rumored to be the favorite setting of “America the beautiful” by the author, New England native Katherine Lee Bates. The program traces the story of America
through a variety of lenses.

And, if you are unable to attend the live performance on August 21st, we are recording the concert and making it available
for viewing August 25 – September 24 on-demand online.