“This group is important for Arts at Old First,” says Pastor Daniel Meeter of the Accord Treble Choir. “We have hosted them for five or six years now, and they love to sing in our Upper Hall. They have a remarkable and unique sound. All women’s voices, in a small ensemble, perfectly tuned, singing challenging pieces ancient, classical, modern, and contemporary, in many languages.” In […]
Charles Leech Gulick was at Old First for such a short period with few mentions in the Brooklyn papers, I thought that I would need to include his story together with another organist, for lack of information. I was wrong – his life after Old First was a rich one. Gulick lived entirely for music – studying, composing and performing – and was well-known nationally […]
Curious who wrote the Polytechnic Institute alma mater? Our fourth organist, William Gardiner Hammond, was a highly successful musician and composer, well-connected and well-known during his lifetime. William Gardiner Hammond, was born Melville, Long Island, August 9, 1874, to parents George Tillinghast Hammond and Mary Elizabeth Shipman. His father was from an old Rhode Island family with Quaker ties, his mother from Long Island City, […]
2018-2019 marks Baroquelyn’s first full season, starting with its premiere event on Sunday, September 23, 2018 at 3 pm. This baroque-themed concert series became an immediate hit during its initial peformance in November 2017. Spearheaded by Old First musical director Aleeza Meir, the concert features top-caliber musicians from around the corner and across the globe. A successful Kickstarter campaign helped to make these concerts a […]
William Gardiner Hammond was a composer as well as organist and choirmaster at Old First (1903-1912). He formed one of the early musical groups to hold concerts in our Carroll Street building, the Hammond Choral Society. Performances such as these were the forerunners of what Arts at Old First has become today. As a young man, William accompanied singer Lillian Nordica, America’s first home-grown diva. She […]
We are pleased to share a message from our Old First organist and Baroquelyn founder and director, Aleeza Meir: I’m very excited to give you the heads up about a big new endeavor I’m starting: As you may know, I’ve recently formed a music ensemble called Baroquelyn. Our first concert in November was a big success, and I’m about to do a second concert this Sunday. […]
After the departure of Old First’s second organist, Cuban patriot and revolutionary Rafael Navarro, Old First employed Henry E. H. Benedict for eight years. Benedict’s story also ended as front page news. This is the fourth part of an ongoing series. The third organist at Old First was Henry E. H. Benedict. Born in Canada in 1859, he was named Henry (or Harry) Emerson Benedict, […]
Baroquelyn’s first concert, in November, was performed in Old First Reformed Church’s Upper Hall and drew a full and enthusiastic house. The next, also at Old First, is coming up on Sunday May 6 at 2:30pm. The upcoming program includes a newly arranged Handel sonata, a Telemann concerto for recorder and viola da gamba, some Handel arias, and to finish with a flourish, Bach’s 5th Brandenburg concerto. […]
Last month we posted (here and here) about the history of our annual Bluegrass Good Friday service – how it evolved and why we love bluegrass on Good Friday. Here is a one of the highlights from that service: Jen Larson’s original song “The Garden of Gethsemane”, composed for this very service back in 2013. Jen lives in Nashville now where she works as an […]
The Stone House Singers, under the direction of Thomas W. Jones, will present a concert at Old First on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m. The concert will include motets by the contemporary composers Morton Lauridsen and and Avro Part, spirituals, music by Brooklyn composers, a bit of Brooklyn attitude from Broadway and more. Old First members Kent Adams, Burkhard Bolger, Linda Larson, and Jennifer […]