Album Notes

Composer Gerald Near is one of the foremost living composers of church music. This 2-disc recording presents, for the first time, his complete set of Twenty-Eight Chorales on Hymn Tunes for Organ, along with his Organ Sonata and other works. Organist Steven Egler presents these works on the 56-rank Casavant organ in Central Michigan University's Staples Family Concert Hall. He is joined on some selections by Frances Shelly on flute. The multimedia portion of this Enhanced CD includes photographs of the pipes from the organ in the concert hall.


Steven Egler, Biography

Steven Egler, Professor of Organ at Central Michigan University, holds the bachelor of music, master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees in organ performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied organ with Robert Glasgow and harpsichord with Edward Parmentier. Additional study has been with Lillian McCord, Catharine Crozier, Charles W. Ore, Quentin Faulkner and George Ritchie. He has appeared as a soloist, accompanist and member of the Shelly-Egler Flute and Organ Duo for more than 30 years. His performances have been featured several times on Pipedreams and he has performed for several regional and national conventions of The American Guild of Organists and National Flute Association. A church musician for 40 years, he has held rector of music and organist at the First Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Steven is joined on many of his works by Frances Shelly, Professor of Flute at Wichita Sate University. Shelly has received her undergraduate and graduate degrees form University of Michigan and was a Fullbright Scholar at the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin, Germany. She is currently a member of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, the Lieurance Woodwind Quintet and the Shelly-Egler Flute and Organ Duo. Dr. Shelly has performed world premieres a the conventions of the National Flute Association and The American Guild of Organists. She was awarded an Artist-Fellowship to Back Aria Festival and Institute in Stony Brook, New York.