On Monday at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs Alcee Chriss 3rd takes his seat at the organ. Mr. Chriss won first prize and the Bach Prize at the 2017 Canadian International Organ Competition.
But that’s not all. He earned the Firmin Swinnen silver medal at the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, first prize and audience prize at the 2016 Fort Wayne National Organ Competition, and first prize and audience prize at the 2014 Miami International Organ Competition.
He also serves as university organist and artist-in-residence at Wesleyan University.
And the organ Mr. Chriss will be playing is not just any old organ. It is Union Chapel’s 1924 Austin electro-pneumatic organ, which was fully restored in 2020 by the Spencer Organ Company of Waltham.
The sound of the instrument was also updated during the restoration. Union Chapel music director Bill Peek had this to say in 2020 about the sound work: “They go through every single note, probably close to a thousand pipes, and they adjust the sound on each pipe. It’s called tonal finishing.”
In other words, Mr. Chriss will be in good hands when he plays the chapel.
The concert on Monday, August 29 is free and begins at 7:30 p.m.
Union Chapel is located at 55 Narragansett avenue in Oak Bluffs.
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