PEACH WEEKENDER

Church concert to celebrate new organ

The Delphi Trio — Michelle Kwon, top, Liana Berube, and Jeffrey LaDeur — will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor.

Zoar Lutheran Church in Perrysburg has installed most of its new digital hybrid organ and is presenting a series of dedicatory recitals. The first one is set for 7 p.m. Sunday at the church, 314 E. Indiana Ave.

Kate Philabaum will perform on the Rodgers/​Ruffati organ. The instrument comprises three manuals and, by the end of August, will include five ranks of pipes produced in Padua, Italy.

Joining Philabaum will be Melissa Miller, violin; Julie Buzzelli, harp; Maggie Bittner and Dave Brown, trombone; Glenn Richter, recorder; Vince Krolak, trumpet; Hank Lehrer, alto sax, and Maddie Dirrim, soprano.

The programs are being selected to display the versatility of this new combination of organ technologies. The concert is free.

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Perrysburg is a busy music scene this week, with HarpFEST at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church. A concert culminating a week of harp music camp is to take place at 7 p.m. Friday in the church, 871 E. Boundary St.

The free public performance will include folk songs, light classics, and other works arranged for harp ensemble. Co-sponsors are the church, the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the American Harp Society, Toledo Symphony, and the Virginia Harp Society plus Lyon and Healy Harps.

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Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor will be host to a MiniFest Friday and Sunday, wrapping up the annual Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, an annual June highlight throughout the Detroit area. Performances will be in the historic house venue at 415 N. Fourth Ave.

Performing at 8 p.m. Friday will be the Delphi Trio — violinist Liana Berube, cellist Michelle Kwon, and pianist Jeffrey LaDeur — and the Calidore String Quartet. Also on hand will be festival director James Tocco, the distinguished pianist.

On Friday's program, the Delphi group will perform Haydn’s Trio in C Major plus present the world premiere of a work by Iranian composer Sahba Aminikia. The Calidore Quartet, a San Francisco-based ensemble, will play Beethoven’s Quartet No. 1 in F Minor. On the 2 p.m. Sunday program will be the Telegraph String Quartet, performing Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 (“Dissonance”); violinist Eric Pritchard playing the Strauss Violin Sonata in E flat Major with Tocco, and the Donald Sinta Saxophone Quartet charging into works by Suby Raman and David Biedenbender.

Tickets for either concert are $15-$30 at 764-769-2999 or www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com.

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Toledo’s two largest performing arts groups, the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Opera, both have announced changes in leadership for their boards of directors.

At the symphony, longtime chairman Richard Anderson will pass his gavel to Randy Oostra effective July 1. William Buckley, treasurer, will pass his virtual abacus to Rick Yocum on the same date.

Anderson and Buckley have steered the symphony through some treacherous financial shoals in the past two decades, building its endowment and helping guarantee the future of fine classical music performance and education in northwest Ohio.

The symphony runs a busy, year-round program on a $6.2 million budget. “Our vision to be the best regional orchestra in America is the TSO’s road map for moving forward,” said Anderson, who received loud applause and gifts during a reception following the annual meeting on June 16 at Inverness Country Club.

At the Toledo Opera, the board has expanded to include three new trustees and welcomed new president Alex Heard, who is stepping into the position previously held by Sandra Sauder. The transfer occurred during the group’s annual meeting June 18.

Tribute was paid to Sauder and to longtime board members Ann Sanford and Serena Williams. Sanford, a former board president, was named an honorary director.

The opera is in a healthy rebound from near fiscal meltdown during the 2010-2011 season. Major evidence comes with the expanded 2014-2015 season, which includes three productions, and continued fund-raising success, represented in the presentation of a $20,000 donation to the opera by KeyBank.

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More good news about the area’s classical music scene comes from the Toledo Symphony League, which announced winners in its recent Young Artist Competition.

Three up-and-coming performers — oboist Spencer Douglas, pianist Nicole Cloutier, and marimbist Ryan Thomas — each won $500 and a place in the spotlight at a Toledo Symphony performance during the coming season.

Talented runner-ups are trombonist Brandon Bryan, pianist Forrest Flesher, violinist Stuart Carlson, and cellist Charles Bowers. There were 17 contenders at this year’s competition. Next year’s contest will take place in May; watch News of Music for an announcement and application information in February.

Send News of Music items to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks before event.