Press Release: Arts Marathon Will Celebrate Reopening of Park Slope’s Historic Old First Reformed Church

ARTS MARATHON WILL CELEBRATE REOPENING OF PARK SLOPE’S HISTORIC OLD FIRST REFORMED CHURCH

Brooklyn Bluegrass Bash at the Bell House, Sunday September 23, 2012. Bilger Family performs

Bluegrass stars Michael Daves and Friends, acclaimed author Rick Moody, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and the Amy Winehouse Teen Jazz Ensemble are among the groups appearing at “A Celebration of Arts at Old First”

Sunday, May 19, 2019 – 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

MEDIA CONTACT: Alix Friedman Public Relations – Alix Friedman, AlixCFriedman@gmail.com, 646 468 4269

On Sunday, May 19, 2019, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Park Slope’s historic Old First Reformed Church will burst with the joy and exhilaration of music when the church presents “A Celebration of Arts at Old First.” The event will feature music of all kinds performed by some of Brooklyn’s most exciting adult and youth ensembles and solo performers.

Rick Moody with Darcy Steinke, Rev Daniel Meeter, and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo at Old First, 2012

Kicking off the festivities will be author and longtime Brooklynite Rick Moody, whose 2012 collection of essays On Celestial Music: And Other Adventures in Listening explores his passion for the art form. New York City Councilmember Brad Lander and Rabbi Andy Bachman, a community leader and longtime friend to Old First, will offer remarks.

The celebration will be the first public event to take place in Old First’s sanctuary since the ceiling collapsed in 2011. It marks the completion of Phase One of what will be a 10-year, $9.6 million restoration of the 1891 church, which serves the Park Slope community as a house of prayer, a homeless shelter, a day-care facility, a performance space, and a meeting place for countless community organizations.

Among the groups on the bill ― all staples of the Brooklyn arts scene ― are the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, which has performed at Bargemusic, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette and other venues; the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music’s Amy Winehouse Teen Jazz Ensemble; and a string quartet from the classical arm of the Brooklyn Youth Orchestra, which has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Roulette and elsewhere.

Michael Daves leads musicians at the First Annual Brooklyn Bluegrass Bash at the Bell House, September 2012.

Also in the lineup: bluegrass favorites Michael Daves and Friends and The Bilger Family Band. The New York Times has called Daves, a Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer, “a leading light of the New York bluegrass scene.” He and his band have performed at The Knitting Factory, The Bell House, Rockwood Music Hall and other venues, and at bluegrass festivals around the country. New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger leads The Bilger Family Band, a labor of love that got its start at Old First. Bilger is joined by his wife, Jennifer Nelson, and their three children. The family are longtime members of Old First.

There will also be performances by choral groups, instrumentalists and singers, including jazz vocalist, guitarist and former Old First member Dawn Thomson, whom Jazz Times called a “revelatory wildcard” when describing her performance on drummer Matt Wilson’s award-winning album Honey and Salt; the Brooklyn Community Chorus; the St. Francis Xavier Choir; organist Dr. Michael Kaminsky, Music Director of St. Francis Xavier Church; countertenor Jeffrey Mandelbaum, a founding member of the chamber music ensemble Baroquelyn who has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Spoleto Festival USA and elsewhere, with Joshua Stauffer on the theorbo (a type of lute); tenor Charles Williamson, a soloist at The Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church who has performed with the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, the Harlem Opera, the Amore Opera and other vocal ensembles; and student cantor Emma Maier of Park Slope’s Congregation Beth Elohim, who will sing Leonard Bernstein’s much-loved “Build My House” from Peter Pan (1950).

Countertenor Jeffrey Mandelbaum, Baroquelyn inaugural concert, Nov 2017. Photo by Jessi Carter

Said Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter, pastor of Old First: “We are extremely excited to welcome our neighbors and these talented artists into our ‘reborn’ sanctuary. The arts have long played an important role at Old First and are a critical part of our mission to serve the Park Slope community. Whether it’s our annual bluegrass festival, our Christmastime Messiah sing-along, our children’s choir, or one of the many cultural events we host that feature local authors, artists and musicians, rarely a week goes by without the joyful presence of the arts within our walls.”

Said New York City Councilmember Brad Lander: “Congratulations to Old First on the re-opening of its historic sanctuary almost eight years after ceiling damage made the soaring space unsafe. The church is not only an architectural pillar of Park Slope. It is also a welcoming place for neighborhood gatherings, a homeless shelter, a performance space and much more. We’re so glad the congregation and the community can once again enjoy the exquisite sanctuary, the heart of the building.”

Old First is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among the church’s many significant historic features are Tiffany stained glass windows, exquisite woodwork, and a vaulted, coffered ceiling with elaborate stenciling. Equally noteworthy are a massive brass chandelier with electric and gas fixtures by Oxley, Giddings and Enos and a Roosevelt/M. P. Möller pipe organ.

When the restoration being celebrated on May 19 has been completed, Old First’s striking Neo-Gothic exterior and magnificent Arts and Crafts interior, considered one of the finest examples of the style in the country, will appear as they did when the church opened in 1891.

About Old First Reformed Church Founded in 1654 by Peter Stuyvesant, Old First Reformed Church, along with Flatlands and Flatbush Reformed churches, is the oldest congregation in Brooklyn. The current church building, completed in 1891, is a landmark of Park Slope and serves the neighborhood as a house of prayer, a homeless shelter, a day-care facility, a performance space, and a meeting place for countless community organizations.

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Old First’s vaulted ceiling, restored by Milan Church Restoration in 2018. Photo by Vera Nieuwenhuis

Old First sanctuary. Photo by Vera Nieuwenhuis

Old First’s steeple is one of the highest points in Park Slope. Photo credit unknown.