The first event of 2018 in the ongoing Calimesa Community Concert Series is set for Saturday, March 3, featuring University of Redlands master’s degree candidate Philip J. Hoch in a concert of sacred and classical organ compositions.
The 4 p.m. concert at Calimesa Seventh-day Adventist Church is free and open to the public, with a freewill offering to be received, announces concert series founder-coordinator Dr. Bob Soderblom.
Included on the concert program are musical works of J. S. Bach, Jehan Alain, and Maurice Duruflé. “I also plan to play hymn arrangements of Dan Miller and George Shearing,” adds Hoch, whose boyhood and music education were largely centered around his Yucaipa family home.
The church organ on which Hoch will perform is a Rodgers Trillium model 967 – a 3-manual, 5-division, all-digital organ with midi. The instrument has 72 physical stops with 55 additional Voice Palette stops, plus a vast menu of additional midi sounds that were added by organists Hector Olivera and Robert Tall.
The organ was purchased from Robert Tall and Associates of Los Angeles, and Mr. Tall, who had the same model in his home, affectionately called this organ “Big Mama” because of its grand sound and versatility.
Hoch is currently a graduate assistant at the University of Redlands as well as a master’s degree candidate. His Master of Music organ performance recital was at the school’s Memorial Chapel on Jan. 30, and he has also recently performed by invitation for serious musical audiences around the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley. He plans to continue his music education to the doctoral level, he says.
The church is at 391 Myrtlewood Drive Calimesa. Those in attendance will be welcome at a reception following the concert, with light refreshments and an opportunity to visit with the organist.