On Aug. 21, Madison organist Bruce A. Bengtson will perform a selection of organ literature designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the 1883 Hook & Hastings OPUS 1144 organ at Holy Community Episcopal Church.
The concert will begin at 6 p.m. at the church, 320 Broad St., Lake Geneva.
Advance tickets are available for $25, which includes a dinner voucher for the same day to Tuscan Grill, and free-will offerings will also be accepted. All proceeds will go to the organ restoration fund at Holy Communion. The church’s 135-year-old organ needs repairs to its great windchest, pipework, slide tuners and regulating rings, tie-rods and leather bushings. The church has raised about half of the amount needed to complete the recommended repairs.
Bengtson retired after 40 years as director of music at Luther Memorial Church in Madison. Beginning organ study in Salem, Ore., at the age of 11, Bengtson went on to earn degrees in organ performance at Southern Methodist University and Valparaiso University. He placed first in three national organ competitions during his college years.
Besides concerts in the United States, Bengtson has been featured in concerts in Mexico, Canada and Europe. The Lahti Organ Festival in Finland, Gävle Organ Week in Sweden, and the cathedrals of Paris, Salzburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Uppsala are among the European concert sites. He has played recitals for the National Convention of the Organ Historical Society and for National Conferences of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He has served as organist and clinician at national conferences of Chorister’s Guild and the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada and is active in the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians.
Advance tickets can be purchased by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to Holy Communion Episcopal Church, 320 Broad St., Lake Geneva, WI 53147; or stopping by the church between 9 a.m. and noon Tuesdays and Thursdays or 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursdays at the Broad Street Farmer’s Market. Questions may be directed to the church at 262-248-3522.
