The 9th Annual Joy of Music Concert will be like none other! Rich organ music, lovely harp melodies, heavenly handbells, and dinosaurs?!
So, what do dinosaurs and organs have in common?
Come find out on March 20th what your favorite prehistoric animals sound like on the organ! Pterodactyls, brontosauri, triceratops, velociraptors, and tyrannosaurs will all take turns being the stars of this concert in Dinosauria!
Not a big fan of Triassic reptiles? There is still something for you. Come and delight in the unusual combination of handbells and harp.
See you March 20th!
MEET OUR MUSICIANS….
Born and raised in Canada, Sr. Mary of Holy Hope, SOLT is a fully professed Sister of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT). Her two main instruments are organ and harp, but she also enjoys playing the viola and fiddling. She received her Doctorate in Chemistry from Dalhousie University in 2005 and her Master’s in Church Music from the University of Kansas in 2020, where she studied organ with Dr. Michael Bauer and improvisation with Dr. Kevin Vogt. While assigned to Kansas City, Sister met Br. David Snow and Kayleigh Aytes. Together, they founded “The Joy of Music,” benefit concert in 2014. She organized and performed in the annual concert for seven years before being reassigned to Phoenix, and is delighted to be back for this 9th annual concert. Sister currently wears two pretty big hats in Phoenix: she serves as the Interim Director of Sacred Music at St. Simon and Jude Cathedral, and Music Teacher at Most Holy Trinity Catholic School, where she teaches music fundamentals, choral singing, piano, classical guitar, and bell choir. In her spare time she is trying out quilting, but she’s only managed to sew two squares in 4 months!
Originally from Raleigh, NC, Rob Hobgood, Jr. received a Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music and Organ Performance from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA. He received a Master of Music degree in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. As a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, he performed with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, as well as with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington at Carnegie Hall in New York. Rob received a DMA in Church Music with concentrations in organ performance and choral conducting at the University of Kansas where he studied with Michael Bauer and James Higdon. He also studied carillon with Elizabeth Berghout and is working towards a professional certification on the instrument.
Rob has studied choral conducting in Oxford, UK, attending lectures and masterclasses with Edward Higgenbottom, Stephen Darlington, James Whitbourn and Daniel Hyde. He has also studied organ in Haarlem, The Netherlands, attending and playing for masterclasses with Olivier Latry, Leo van Doesselar, and Lorenzo Ghielmi. Rob has worked full and part time church jobs in Tennessee, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, and he is currently the organist and choir director at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Topeka, KS.
Kayleigh Aytes, soprano, collaborates as a guest soloist with several Kansas City ensembles and as a member, she has performed with the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers and the Spire Chamber Ensemble. Some of Kayleigh’s operatic credits include work with the Kansas City Puccini Festival, Symphony of the Mountains, and Knoxville Opera. Kayleigh received a B.M. at the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City and a M.M. at the University of Tennessee, where she was a member of the Knoxville Opera Studio.