Pulling Out All the Stops with the Seraph Brass

Get in the holiday spirit at Union Presbyterian Seminary where the Seraph Brass will captivate an audience with newly commissioned works, as well as well-known classics. The group will perform in Union’s Watts Chapel on November 27, 2018, at 7 p.m. Parking is available at 3401 Brook Road, Richmond, Virginia, as well as other locations on and around campus.

This is the second of a series of concerts, “Pulling Out All the Stops,” that the seminary is holding to raise awareness about the need for a new pipe organ for its historic chapel. Through the generosity of sponsors, the concert is free and open to the public. Donations to support the Organ Fund will be appreciated.

Seraph has toured throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. It has performed multiple concerts at the Lieksa Brass Week in Finland, and it was the featured ensemble at the International Women’s Brass Conference. Other performance highlights include the Forum Cultural Guanajuato in León, Mexico, Dame Myra Hess Concerts in Chicago, Ilinois; Gettysburg Concert Association in Pennsylvania; and the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. Seraph has toured extensively as Allied Concert Services artists. Members of Seraph have performed with Adele on her 2016 U.S. tour. Winner of a Silver Medal Global Music Award, Seraph released its debut album, “Asteria,” on Summit Records.

The Watts Chapel organ, built in 1879, was donated to Union in 1961. A pipe organ breathes life into worship. Union’s current pipe organ fails to do this. It has become unreliable and struggles to find the strength to lead the seminary’s congregational singing. It neither has enough pedals nor musical color to be used in worship. It has sat silent for more than 10 years.

“The seminary has never had an organ built specifically for Watts Chapel,” said Union’s President Brian Blount. “The current organ was built for a church and donated to Union after it was more than 80 years old. A crew of volunteers from the seminary drove to Bedford, took the organ apart, loaded it onto a U-Haul trailer, brought it to Richmond, lugged it up the stairs at Watts, and over three months rebuilt it. It would be a blessing for a seminary that is 206-years-old to have a new pipe organ for the very first time.”

Doug Brown, who has been Union’s director of music and adjunct instructor of church music since 2006, said “The primary objective of purchasing a new pipe organ for Watts Chapel is to show our students that a modern, well-designed pipe organ remains a powerfully vital instrument of the church. Some of Union’s students have never had an opportunity to experience a pipe organ at its best.”

Union’s concert will feature 10 Seraph Brass musicians: Mary Elizabeth Bowden, Jean Laurenz, Amy McCabe, and Raquel Rodriquez on trumpet; Rachel Velvikis and Chandra Cervantes on horn; Hana Beloglavec and Donna Parkes on trombone; Gretchen Renshaw James on euphonium and tuba; and Samantha Lake on tuba. Seraph Brass members hold positions in the Richmond Symphony, University of Richmond, University of North Texas, Louisville Orchestra, Hendrix College, Artosphere Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony, World and European Brass Association, and Louisiana State University.

PARKING INFORMATION:  The city block of Union Presbyterian Seminary’s campus provides 432 spaces for parking. Our primary parking lot can be found at Watts Hall, 3401 Brook Rd. Additional parking can be found at the Early Center, 1106 Westwood Ave; Richmond Hall, 1101 Melrose Avenue; as well as on the street on Brook Road, Westwood Avenue, and Melrose Avenue.

To make an online contribution, go to:  www.upsem.edu/wattsorganfund