Lunchtime Pipe Organ Series: Edwin Lawrence

Join us every first Wednesday for a unique program of organ music performed on our Historic Estey pipe organ. Each month we showcase a different talented organist visiting from around the Northeast!

Edwin Lawrence enjoys a career as a performer on piano, organ and harpsichord and as a

conductor and composer.  Mr. Lawrence has been actively involved in musical activities in the

Green Mountain State since the 1970s. In 1976, he was one of the composers chosen to

represent Vermont in the Bicentennial Parade of American music in the nation’s capital. Still in

the era of the LP, he recorded “Organ Music from Hildene” at Robert Todd Lincoln’s

Manchester, VT home.

Mr. Lawrence studied piano with Gabriel Chodos, harpsichord with Preethi da Silva, and organ

with William Porter. He is Minister of Music for the First Congregational Church, UCC of

Williamstown MA and an Artist Associate and instructor of Music Theory at Williams College.

For 38 seasons, Lawrence served as Music Director for the Bennington County Choral Society. 

He has been a faculty member at Bennington College and music director for the Oldcastle

Theatre Company in Bennington.  As a producer for Dorian Recordings, he was directly

involved with more than 20 recording projects.  Lawrence is a founding member of the

Consortium of Vermont Composers and has served as a guest conductor of the Vermont

Symphony Orchestra.  In 1990, he received a Citation of Merit from the Vermont Council of the

Arts for his contributions to the vitality of the arts in the Green Mountain State.

The musical program for January 5th, The Morning Star: recent organ music by New England composers

“Lively, sparkling” from Little Partita for Epiphany (“How Brightly Shines the Morning Star”)

      - James Woodman (b. 1957)

Revelations      - Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006)

I Pastorale

II Litany

III Toccata

Pastorale on “The Morning Star”   - Daniel Pinkham

Based on a traditional hymn-tune from the southern part of the U.S.A.

Mist in the Valleys     - Kathy Wonson Eddy (b. 1952)

Triptych      - Ronald Perera (b. 1941)

I. L’Annunziazione

II. L’Adorazione

III. L’Ascensione

Hymn-tune Preludes     - Edwin Lawrence (b. 1947)

Higher Ground - tune by Charles H. Gabriel, 1898

Yarnton – tune by Brian Wren, 1987

Annika’s Dance - tune by Jane Marshall, 1993

Servant Song – tune by Richard Gillard, 1977

Partita on “Austin” – tune by William P. Rowan, 1992