Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ opens its 2026–27 season with a celebration of American music, the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ, and the community that has sustained this extraordinary civic instrument for generations. Presented during the 250th anniversary year of the United States, the program traces a distinctly American musical journey—from the wit and invention of Charles Ives and George Gershwin to the poetry of Florence Price, the brilliance of Seth Bingham, the grandeur of the first Municipal Organist, William C. Macfarlane, and James Kennerley’s own America Suite. Audience participation in America the Beautiful (written for a 1913 ceremony held right here in Portland) brings the concert’s themes of connection, memory, and shared experience vividly to life.

Program:

Charles Ives (1874–1954) — Variations on “America,” S. 140

George Gershwin (1898–1937) — Three Preludes
I. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
II. Andante con moto e poco rubato
III. Agitato

James Kennerley (b. 1984) — America Suite
I. Dancing Song
II. Deep River
III. West Side Fugue

INTERMISSION

Brenda Portman (b. 1980) — Fanfare, Chorale, and Exultation

Florence Price (1887–1953) — Retrospection: “An Elf on a Moonbeam”

Seth Bingham (1882–1972) — Roulade, from Six Pieces for Organ, Op. 9

William C. Macfarlane (1870–1945) — America the Beautiful: March

Total program length [including 20 mins of talking per half plus 20-minute intermission]: 2 hours