The Powers and Hall saxophone/organ duo was founded in 2001 at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.  Powers and Hall have performed throughout the U.S. and abroad appearing at such diverse locales as Queen’s College Oxford, Oklahoma City University, the Huntington Church Music Festival in Ontario, and Grenada.  The duo is featured on the compact disc In Perfect Peace; A Brooklyn Pastorale, which features an historic 1880 Odell pipe organ.  Powers and Hall are interested in original compositions for saxophone and organ, transcriptions, and arrangements of organ works for saxophone and organ.  Upcoming projects include several saxophone/organ recordings, which will include an historic 1877 Jardine organ.

Mr. Powers’ primary teachers have included Eugene Rousseau, Otis Murphy, and Thomas Walsh.  Dr. Hall earned the MA degree in English literature at the University of Chicago and a doctorate in music from the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University.  His teachers have included Marilyn Keiser and David Schrader.   He has concertized extensively as an organ soloist in the US and abroad, and is the author of Calvin Hampton: a Musician without Borders, soon to be released by Wayne Leupold Editions. He is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and Dean of the Brooklyn Chapter.

Bill Powers, left, with Jonathan Hall

PROGRAM:

Johan Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):  Prelude and Fugue in G major BWV 541 (organ)

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937): Adagio from Symphony No. 4 (duet)

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749): Récit de nazard (duet)

Herman Berlinski (1910-2001): The Burning Bush (1957) (organ)

INTERMISSION

 Denis Bédard (b. 1950): Sonata (1994) (duet)

i. invention

ii. barcarolle

iii. humoresque

Alexander MacFadyen (1879-1936): Country Dance

Calvin Hampton (1938-1984): Suite I (organ)

i.  Fanfares

ii. Antiphon

iii. Toccata

Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967), arr. Alec Wyton (1921-2007): Lotus Blossom (organ)