First Sundays on the Fisk presents "Strings & Pipes" with Dr. Jack Mitchener & Mr. Robert McDuffie

Overview

Jack Mitchener is Professor of Organ, University Organist, Chairman of the Keyboard Department and Director of the Townsend-McAfee Institute of Church Music in the Townsend School of Music at Mercer University. In addition, he is the Organist at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta. He previously served as Organist and Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. Philip (Episcopal) in Atlanta, Artist-in-Residence at Peachtree United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Organist/Choirmaster at Christ Episcopal Church in Macon and Organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, NC. He also is a former organ professor at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Salem College, and the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.

Jack Mitchener has been praised for playing that is technically brilliant, yet expressive and poetic. According to The American Organist, "Mitchener brings music to life with his supple rhythmic control, clear phrasing, energy, and sensitivity." In response to his recording on the historic Salem Tannenberg organ, Dulcet Tones, a reviewer for the International Record Review of London asserted: "Superb…an impressive and rather moving listening experience.” He was invited to participate as a performer for the 2016 Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative in Rochester, NY and garnered this review: “Mitchener’s masterful playing and sensitivity to both congregation and instrument was the high point of the conference,” The Diapason.

He has concertized extensively throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia, and many of his performances have been heard on American Public Media's “Pipe Dreams.” He has performed in notable venues such as the Church of St. Sulpice and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris; St. Thomas Church, New York City; the Church of St. Augustine in Vienna; the Church of St. James (Jacobikirche) in Lubeck, Germany; and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. He also has collaborated with Nick Eanet (Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), the Mendelssohn and Ying String Quartets, lutenist Paul O'Dette, and composer John Corigliano. While still an undergraduate student, he was the national winner of the Music Teachers National Association Organ Competition. Later he was a laureate in the Dublin International Organ Competition. He has recorded for the Raven and Albany labels.

He has performed the complete organ works of J. S. Bach in a series of fifteen recitals and also has given recitals, lectures, and master classes for national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Music Teachers National Association, the Historical Keyboard Society in North America, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians, and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. He was a featured performer and clinician at the 2018 Alleluia Church Music Conference at Baylor University and the 2019 Sewanee Church Music Conference. He has been a guest performer and teacher at numerous universities throughout the USA as well as institutions in Hong Kong and Japan. He also has premiered works by Emma Lou Diemer, Dan Locklair, and Margaret Vardell Sandresky.

His major teachers include Marie-Claire Alain, David Craighead, David Higgs, John Mueller, and Russell Saunders (organ); Gerre Hancock (improvisation); Louise Leach, Kimberly Kabala, and Clifton Matthews (piano); and Arthur Haas and Huguette Dreyfus (harpsichord). He took three degrees (DMA, master’s in organ and master’s in harpsichord) as well as two Performer’s Certificates in organ and harpsichord from The Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. During his studies at the Conservatoire National de Rueil-Malmaison, France, he was unanimously awarded the Médaille d'or (Gold Medal), Prix d'Excellence, and Prix de Virtuosité. His high school diploma and bachelor's degree are from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

For the American Guild of Organists, Jack Mitchener currently serves as dean of the Atlanta chapter. A former dean of the Winston-Salem chapter, he also was a member of the National Committee on Professional Education. He has served as an adjudicator for numerous competitions including the Biarritz International Competition in France and the AGO national competition in July 2018 in Kansas City. He is a former President of the Board of Trustees of the Moravian Music Foundation and is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. He is represented by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists of Detroit, Michigan (www.concertartists.com).

Emmy Award-winning violinist Robert McDuffie enjoys a dynamic and multifaceted career. While appearing as soloist with renowned orchestras on five continents, he has also shared the stage with eclectic musicians such as R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and Rolling Stones pianist Chuck Leavell. Philip Glass dedicated his Violin Concerto No. 2, The American Four Seasons to Mr. McDuffie and he has performed it more than 100 times around the world. Mike Mills composed Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and Orchestra for him. This year, he received an Emmy award for A Night of Georgia Music with Mike Mills, Chuck Leavell, rock band and the McDuffie Center for Strings ensemble, which is currently airing on PBS stations across America. Mr. McDuffie is the founder of both the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in his native city of Macon, Georgia.

He recently completed a U.S. tour performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, including a critically acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall. He has also appeared as soloist with most of the premier orchestras of the world, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics; the Chicago, San Francisco, National, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Montreal, and Toronto Symphonies; the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Minnesota Orchestras; the London and Czech Philharmonics; Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, North German Radio Orchestra, Düsseldorf Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Hamburg Symphony, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and all of the major orchestras of Australia.

Mr. McDuffie has a wide-ranging discography and his recent release, Icons, with pianist Elizabeth Pridgen, features sonatas of Philip Glass and John Corigliano as well as John Adams' Road Movies. His acclaimed Telarc, Orange Mountain, and EMI recordings include the violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Bruch, Adams, Glass, Mills, Barber, Rózsa, Bernstein, William Schuman, and Viennese violin favorites. He has been profiled on NBC’s Today, CBS’s Sunday Morning, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

He has been awarded several honors in Italy: the Premio Simpatia by the Mayor of Rome; the Medaglia Ufficiale della Camera dei Deputati and the Medaglia Speciale del Natale di Roma recognizing the Rome Chamber Music Festival’s 20th anniversary; and the Premio delle Muse in Florence. Mr. McDuffie served for ten years on the board of directors of the Harlem School of the Arts in New York City where he was chairman of the artistic and education committee. He plays a 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin, known as the “Ladenburg.” This instrument is owned by a limited partnership formed by Mr. McDuffie.