Five Fridays Lenten Concert Series
For the 19th year in a row, the First Congregational Church of Madison, 26 Meetinghouse Lane (on the Green) is sponsoring lunchtime organ concerts at the church during five Fridays in Lent. The public is invited to come into the sanctuary or listen outside on the Green as the music is broadcast through our steeple speakers and enjoy a half-hour recital of music performed on the historic 1929 M.P. Möller organ by local organists. This series is sponsored in part by the New London County Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. The recitalists this year are:
• March 21st: Angela Salcedo , Organ Lecturer at UCONN and Director of Music Ministries at the First Church of Christ, Congregational in Glastonbury
• March 28th: Joshua Ehlebracht , Director of Music at St. Paul’s on the Green, Norwalk
• April 4th: Walden Moore , retired Director of Music at Trinity Church, New Haven
• April 11th: Ezequiel Menéndez , professor of Organ at College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA and retired Director of Music and Organist at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Hartford
• April 18th: Nathan Bayreuther , Director of Music Ministry at First Congregational Church of Madison
Built by the M. P. Möller company of Hagerstown, Maryland and installed at the First Congregational Church of Madison, Connecticut during the winter of 1929-1930, its completion was lauded in both local and national press as a triumph for the congregation and community. Since then, it has become one of the most renowned organs in Connecticut having remained unaltered as a symphonic organ – built to closely resemble a symphonic orchestra, the style of the day – in its original configuration for almost a century. Restored in 2019, it is played nearly every day and is kept in prime condition for services and recitals, drawing admiration from musicians and listeners across the region.
In December, 2019, the Organ Historical Society voted to bestow the prestigious Historic Pipe Organ Award to the instrument and the church. This award recognizes specific, unaltered pipe organs as having historical, cultural, and musical significance. It acknowledges the organ’s enduring legacy as an exceptional and worthy instrument.
More about the instrument with video clips may be found at https://www.fccmadison.org/organ.