RELIGION: September 19, 2012

September 18, 2012 By Francesca Norsen Tate Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Clergy and lay leaders of the Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association held a memorial service to honor the victims of the September 11 terror attacks. Participants from several Heights congregations, including the Danish Seamen’s Church, read a prayer or a saying from their holy scriptures. Joining them were participants in the annual Children of Abraham Peace Walk.

Monsignor James Root, rector of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral (in biretta), chants a prayer in Syriac at the Promenade service. Religious leaders with him (left to right) are Fr. Edward Doran, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church; Imam Abdallah Allam of the Dawood Mosque (standing sideways) in white taqiyah/araqiyeh (head covering); Pastor Julie Sløk of the Danish Seamen’s Church (in background, behind the imam); Rabbi Serge Lippe of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue (holding candle); the Rev. Stephen D. Muncie, rector of Grace Church (wearing clerical collar); the Rev. Al Bunis, assistant pastor at Plymouth Church (wearing business suit); and Nina Chanpreet Kaur of the Manhattan Sikh Association.

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New Latin Jazz Album Features
Marlow’s Piece, “Broken Heart’

The composition of local band-leader and composer Eugene Marlow is featured on the new big-band album Multiverse.

Five-time Grammy nominee drummer Bobby Sanabria recently released his newest big band album: Multiverse. Sanabria is a regular in The Heritage Ensemble band, for which Marlow is founder and director. The album features Marlow’s composition, “Broken Heart.”

Sanabria’s previous big band outing “Big Band Urban Folktales” (Jazzheads 2007) had earned Sanabria a Grammy nomination in the Latin Jazz category. However, controversy later ensued when the National Academy of Arts & Sciences (NARAS) eliminated the Latin Jazz Grammy category (along with 30 other categories) in April 2011. Maestro Sanabria launched a lawsuit to have this popular category reinstated. NARAS ultimately did reinstate the Latin Jazz category (but not the 30 others) earlier this year for the upcoming 2013 Grammy awards.

During this contretemps with NARAS, Sanabria went into the studio to record the Multiverse” album, featuring Marlow’s “Broken Heart, which was originally orchestrated as a duet between pianist Michael Abene and alto saxophonist Bobby Porcelli for Marlow’s inaugural album A Summer Afternoon With You (MEII Enterprises 2005). Marlow re-orchestrated the piece for Sanabria’s big band.

Multiverse has already received outstanding reviews: Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz wrote in August: “The Nuyorican jazz giant is a stylistic sponge, historical repository and bringer of the boom, but he’s a true artist above all else. He understands that music is about self-expression, tradition, innovation, and the place where all three meet.” Likewise, TJ English writes: “’Multiverse’ brings history, inventiveness and the highest levels of musicianship to bear on an essential musical tradition . . . bend your ears, hold onto your hats and pay attention, because the Bobby Sanabria Big Band will dazzle your senses, and then some.” (August 15, 2012)

Travis Rogers writes in JazzTimes: “ ‘Broken Heart’ was composed by the revered Eugene Marlow and reveals . . . a broken heart that has learned to survive and revive. Under Sanabria’s treatment, laments of brokenness and despair are transformed into hymns of thanksgiving and rejoicing. The David DeJesus soprano sax solo is fondly reminiscent of later Coltrane while the punch and drive of the percussion maintain the festival current. The macho guiro provides the heartbeat while the horns reveal the climb from brokenness to beatitude.” (August 23, 2012)

Marlow and The Heritage Ensemble will be performing at the Nuyorican Poets Café on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Friday, September 28, with the set beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Nyorican Poets Café is at 236 East 3rd St, between Avenues B and C. TICKETS: $15; $7 Students with valid school ID. They will also be performing at the Brooklyn Heights Library on October 20.

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Choir from Beirut, Lebanon Has
Brooklyn Cathedral on Its USA Tour

The Choir of St. Romanos the Melodist from the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut. Photo courtesy of St. Nicholas Antiochian Cathedral

The Ecclesiastical Choir of St. Romanos the Melodist from the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut, Lebanon will present as special concert this month, as part of its Fall 2012 Tour of North America.

St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church is hosting this concert, Saturday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m.

Fr. Romanos Joubran, Priest and Dean of the Cathedral of St. George in Beirut and instructor of Byzantine Music, leads the choir, which has produced several professional recordings and performed throughout Lebanon and Europe. This will be the ensemble’s first tour of the United States. The choir can be found on YouTube: search for “Romanos Joubran.”

Making a special guest appearance is the Archdiocesan Byzantine Choir of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

In addition to Brooklyn, the Choir is also touring New York, Boston, Worcester in Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; Cleveland, Detroit and Grand Rapids in Michigan; and Chicago.

Tickets are $20/each, and can be purchased in advance online at www.stnicholascathedral.org or by mailing a check to the Cathedral at 355 State Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217. Children under 18 and college students with a valid college ID are free.

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St. Charles Borromeo Church
Launches Fall Concert Series

St. Charles Borromeo Church, for the first time, will offer a series of 3 Fall Concerts.

The debut concert, on Saturday September 29 at 7 p.m., features a piano recital of transcriptions and arrangements for piano played by the parish’s Music Director Sergio Sandí. The program will include works by Bach, Gluck, Liszt, Piazzolla, Copland, etc.
The next program in the series, on Saturday, November 3, will be voice recital by lyric tenor Ulises Solano, the cantor at St. Charles, featuring classical and popular music.

In time for the Christmas holiday, the third concert, with brass quintet, will include classical baroque works and seasonal music. A reception follows this Saturday, December 15 concert.

Tickets for each concert will be $10.

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St. John’s Episcopal Church in Park Slope begins a new season of its CONCERTS ON THE SLOPE series, with Artistic Director Benjamin Larsen.

The Sunday, September 23 concert features an Afternoon of Madrigals, Solos, and Duets for Violin and Clarinet, with Hayne Kim on violin and Paolo Marchettini on clarinet.

The 3 p.m. concert includes Mozart’s Duo Sonata in G Major, K.423; Paganini’s Caprice No. 16 for Violin; Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo; clarinetist Paolo Marchettini’s own work: Fantasie sur la complainte (for Violin Solo); Prayer (for Clarinet Solo); and Madrigals: Dolce Euridice, Dolce Contento,\In the Sky, The Bells, Mad are the Bees.

St. John’s Episcopal Church is at 139 St. John’s Place, just west of 7th Avenue. A free-will offering will be accepted.

Hayne Kim, she made her Carnegie Hall debut at age 16 with a solo performance as a selected participant of the American Fine Arts Festival. Her love of performing has put her on numerous stages both at home and abroad. Her most recent engagement took her to Viterbo, Italy where she appeared as a soloist with the Tuscia Operafestival Orchestra under the baton of Stefano Vignati. As a chamber musician and member of the New York City-based Opus Nine Ensemble, Ms. Kim has performed in several different configurations of that group throughout the city.

Paulo Marchettini is a composer and clarinetist originally from Rome, Italy. He studied Composition with Ivan Vandor, choral music and choral conducting with Claudio Dall’Albero, history and aesthetics of music with Claudio Annibaldi and clarinet with Gaetano Russo at Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia. He specialized in Composition at Accademia di Santa Cecilia with Azio Corghi and with Richard Danielpour at Manhattan School of Music.

Marchettini was awarded a prize for his violin concerto at the 2005 prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. His string quartet Septem vitia capitalia won the 2011 Manhattan prize.

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Oktoberfest Tradition Continues
At Zion German Lutheran Church

Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church invites everyone to Oktoberfest!

This annual celebration of German culture featuring great food, live music, dancing, a charity raffle takes place on Saturday, October 6, 2011, 3:30 – 8 p.m. ET – rain or shine. Doors open 3:30pm; Dinner of bratwurst, sauerkraut, red cabbage, potato salad, beer and soda, dessert with tea and coffee is served starting at 4 p.m.

The church is at 125 Henry St., just south of Clark St., in Brooklyn Heights.

Advance Reservations (deadline: October 1): Adults: $20; students and seniors $15; children (age 12 and under) $12. At The Door: Adults $24; seniors $18; children $14. (Seniors: 62+; Students must show valid ID)

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MILESTONES IN FAITH: Cornerstone Church Celebrates1-Year Presence Serving Bay Ridge

Pastor Nathan Tubbs welcomes State Senator Marty Golden at the first anniversary celebration at Cornerstone Church. Photo by Francesca Norsen Tate

Cornerstone Church marked its first anniversary as a faith community last Sunday, September 16. The congregation, which meets every Sunday at the Hotel Gregory on 4th Avenue near 83rd St. in Bay Ridge, also welcomed one of its earliest supporters, State Senator Martin Golden, who was present for part of the service.

Cornerstone Church is part of the larger National Baptist Convention Pastor Nathan Tubbs, who preached a sermon about discipleship based on New Testament scripture and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is also the drummer in the congregation’s praise band. His ongoing mission is not just to be another church in the community, but to be “of the community.”

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MILESTONES IN FAITH: St. Finbar’s Church Marks Patronal Feast Days

St. Finbar Roman Catholic Church in Bensonhurst’s Bath Beach neighborhood will celebrate two saints this week, the Feast of St. Michael (whose feast day is September 29); and the Feast of St. Finbar, for which the parish is named, and whose patronal day falls on September 25.

St. Finbar (also spelled St. Finbarr) was a 7th-century Irish saint. His birth name was Lochan; and his surname, meaning Barr the White, was later given to him. He was Bishop of Cork for 17 years. The church in Bath Beach was founded in 1880 in the Town of New Utrecht before New Utrecht was incorporated into the City of Brooklyn. The parish served Irish immigrants and neighbors; the demographic now is largely Italian-and Spanish-speaking.

A Spanish-language Novena honoring St. Michael will be prayed at St. Finbar Church from September 20-28 (nine days in duration, at 7 p.m. each day. A 3:30 p.m. Mass on the closing day will be celebrated at St. Finbar Church (Benson Avenue at Bay 20th St.); and a reception follows at the Monsignor Scanlon Center nearby on Bath Ave. and Bay 20th St.)

The Feast of St. Finbar will be celebrated at a 12:30 p.m. Mass on Sunday, September 23, and post-liturgy reception throughout the community.

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