April 2023

Spring has officially arrived. The earth is awakening from its winter rest, and the sounds of birds and life greet us in the morning quiet. As the poet Pack Browning wrote (and Samuel Barber so beautifully set in his Easter Chorale):

The winter land receives the year.
Her smallest creatures rouse and cling
To swelling roots and buds that stir
The restless air to reel and ring!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
The sounds of waking fill our ears.
We listen to the live earth sing
And praise our loving Source and Spring.

The Baltimore Chapter of the AGO continues our awakening from the winter of COVID. We made some strides in the past year, but much remains to be done. Our nominating committee has presented us with a slate of four strong candidates to fill two seats on the Executive Committee: Ted Davis, Jordan Prescott, Chris Schroeder, and Warren Hood. Each of them brings vision and talent and I look forward to working with those elected and finding roles for the others. I encourage you to read their biographies and vision statements, and to cast your ballot. Voting is one of the simplest ways you can support the chapter and help shape its future. The instructions for how you may cast your ballot are in this issue of Pipe & Pedal. The deadline for receipt of ballots is April 24.

While we always need to be looking forward, we would be remiss to not acknowledge the work of our two retiring Executive Committee members: Paul Byssainthe and Daniel Fisher. We are grateful to them for their work and dedication to Baltimore AGO and wish them the best as they transition to other roles.

Finally, I hope that you will join us for our two remaining programs of this season: Eric Plutz’ Concert at Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church on April 23, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. and the Lancaster Organ Crawl with the Hilbus Chapter OHS on May 20, 2023. There is more information about these in this issue.

Peace,

Bert

The April 2023 issue of the Pipe and Pedal is now available.