TGIF, Oct 30, 5:30pm
This Friday’s concert features David Solem on piano, Lisa Groden on violin, Sally Guenther on cello, and our Chancel Choir, performing music by Mendelssohn and Schubert. Doors to the sanctuary open at 5:15pm and the concert begins at 5:30pm. The concert is free with donations accepted.
Program
Piano Trio in c minor, opus 66, Felix Mendelssohn (1808-1847)
Mass in G Major, Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Soloists: Cheryl McCulla, Nina Brown, Tim Willson, Travis Bregier, Nancy Maret and Michael Roybal
The Artists
Lisa Grodin
Lisa Grodin, violin, enjoys an active career as a violinist, violist, and educator. She performs regularly with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, where she is also the director of education, and with Voices of Music, American Bach Soloists, and El Mundo. Her lifelong passion for dance has inspired numerous educational events in collaboration with dancer-scholars such as Catherine Turocy, Jennifer Meller, Carlos Venturo, and Claudia Bauer.
Sally Guenther
Sally Guenther, violincello, received her Bachelor’s degree at Indiana University where she studied with Janos Starker, and a Master’s degree at The Juilliard School of Music, studying with Harvey Shapiro. She also attended the Taos School of Music, Music Academy of the West and International Congress of Strings. After engagements with several US orchestras, including with the Cincinnati, Fort Worth and Syracuse symphonies (as principal cellist), and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, she became solo cellist of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway, a position she held for twenty years. Guenther was also active in Norway as a pedagogue teaching at the Grieg Academy of Music, and was a founding member of the contemporary chamber ensemble, BIT 20, an internationally recognized group which records and travels extensively in Europe and Asia. Guenther moved fulltime to New Mexico in 2006 and devotes herself to chamber music, travelling widely in the Southwest area and participating in chamber music festivals in Santa Fe, Taos, Abiquiu, Los Alamos, and Breckenridge, Colorado. In addition she has played with the New Mexico Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica and Santa Fe Symphony orchestras. Guenther is also devoted to teaching, travelling and maintaining a private studio.
David Solem
David Solem, piano, holds a M. Music and B. Music from Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied organ with Peggy Haas Howell and Donald Sutherland, piano with Lillian Freundlich, and harpsichord with Shirley Matthews. David has over 45 years of experience as a liturgical musician and has taught on the faculties of Loyola University Chicago and Towson State University. Here in northern New Mexico, he is active as a liturgical musician, pianist, organist, and harpsichordist. David holds the positions of principal keyboard with Santa Fe Pro Musica and of assistant organist with First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe. He has appeared as soloist with Santa Fe Pro Musica, Santa Fe Womens Ensemble, Santa Fe Symphony, The Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Canticum Novum, the New Mexico Philharmonic, Market Music sponsored by Severall Friends, the chamber music series at San Miguel Chapel, and with the Chatter series both in Albuquerque and here in Santa Fe. David is a frequent contributor to the TGIF series here at Frist Presbyterian Church.
Chancel Choir
Sopranos: Nancy Maret, Becky Crutchfield, Nina Brown, Elizabeth Roghair, Ann Bradley, Jill McCormick
Altos: Margaret Dean, Joy Ice, Sue Kingston, Barbara Roush, Cheryl McCulla
Tenors: Chris Haynes, Michael Roybal, Chantal Quincy, Maggie Odell
Basses: Travis Bregier, John Pasch, Tim Willson, Joseph Roig, David Foushee
(Published in 2026)