Recital links to organ’s history

When Kevin M. Clemens plays an organ recital at noon Oct. 10, he will perform works composed by a man who played the same instrument 100 years ago.

On the program are pieces by Gordon Balch Nevin, who may have composed them when he was the organist at First Lutheran Church, 415 Vine St., Johnstown. Other works are by Nevin’s contemporaries.

Clemens’ performance is part of the Tuesday Noon Recital Series, which has been part of the city’s cultural fabric for 35 years. A light lunch will follow the program. There is no charge; donations cover the cost.

More: Favorites returning to noon recitals

Clemens, an Altoona native, is organist of Christ’s Lutheran Church in Murrysville. He holds a degree in music education from Penn State and a master of church music degree from Kent State University. He studied organ with Robert A. Frank, June Miller, Jeffrey Pannebaker and Michael Farris (Thiel College).

In August 2021 he moved from Baltimore to Pittsburgh after retiring with 35 years’ service with the Archdiocese of Baltimore, where he served the parish of St. Ursula (Parkville) and St. John the Evangelist (Several Park). Clemens was dean of the Akron (Ohio) and Baltimore chapters of the American Guild of Organists. An active member of the Organ Historical Society, he has documented the historic pipe organs of Western and Central Pennsylvania and played recitals in the 1991 (Baltimore) and 2011 (Washington, D.C.) conventions.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: First Lutheran Church noon recital by Kevin Clemens on organ