Enjoy organ music at final Oak Ridge Coffee Concert on April 2
Organist Josh Sumter always wows! Hear him perform on the 1984 M.P. Möller Pipe Organ (console renovations 2007 by Milnar) at 3 p.m. April 2 at First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge, 1350 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
It is the final coffee concert of the 2022-23 season presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association (ORCMA).
Sumter will play organ works by Denis Bédard, Jeanne Demessieux, Alexandre Guilmant, Johannes Matthias Michel, and Ronald Watson.
Sumter, a Knoxville native, graduated from Maryville College with a Bachelor of Arts in music and from the University of Tennessee with a Master of Music in Organ Performance. Josh often does freelance work accompanying and collaborating with various choirs in East Tennessee, including multiple high school choirs (Karns, Bearden, Carter and South-Doyle), the former Tennessee Chamber Chorus, the Knoxville Choral Society, the Appalachian Men’s Ensemble, the Appalachian Equality Chorus (formerly the Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus), and the choirs of East Tennessee State University.
In addition, Josh has performed with organizations including the UT Symphonic Band and the Oak Ridge Symphony. He also served as accompanist at UT for both the Women’s Chorale and the Concert Choir until accepting a full-time appointment at First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge, where he serves as the organist and choirmaster. Here he accompanies and directs the Adult Parish Choir, Children’s Treble Choir, the Carillons Handbell Ensemble, and the Epworth Early Music Ensemble.
Not one to stay still for very long, Josh is also the Sub-Dean (incumbent Dean) of the Knoxville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and recently formed the semiprofessional Knoxville Sacred Chorale, whose debut performance was in October of 2022.
The concert is free. Refreshments will be served at a reception afterward. For more information, check the ORCMA website or email susanshor@yahoo.com.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Enjoy organ works at final Oak Ridge Coffee Concert April 2
