Naomi Oliphant expects to be a little emotional when she first tries the keyboard of Georgetown College’s new Steinway Concert Grand Piano about an hour before the free concert she and tenor Daniel Weeks will play on Sunday (Sept. 27). Both the prized instrument and this fall’s five-concert series are named for the late Stephen Tilford, a former undergraduate student of hers at the University of Louisville – and later a beloved professor of piano at Georgetown who died at age 40 in 2006 from colon cancer.
“I was really close to Stephen,” said Oliphant, who had him at U of L for piano ensemble, piano pedagogy and Baroque Keyboard Literature in the mid-Eighties. Weeks and Tilford crossed paths at Florida State University after that when both were working on advanced degrees.

“When I first sit at the piano,” she continued, “I think it will be a bittersweet moment….realizing that the piano is in memory of Stephen who was taken from us at far too young an age, but also recognizing the fact that the presence of the Tilford Piano will mean others will come to know about Stephen in the future.”

By 3 p.m., when Oliphant gives sound to the Steinway Grand (Model D), she hopes the John L. Hill Chapel audience will celebrate how her former pupil and friend is being honored. “That we’ve lost Stephen is very sad…but, look at the positive – something wonderful has come out of it,” she said.

This second event in the Stephen Tilford Memorial Concert Series will include works by Handel, Brahms and Liszt (see complete program below).

The Tilford Piano is also featured in the two concerts that follow: Oct. 11, four pianists – Michael Potapov, Ruth Reid Tompkins, Caleb Richie, and Elizabeth Wolfe; Reid Tompkins and Wolfe were both classmates of Stephen’s, and Potapov ’05 and Richie were his students. Nov. 8 – Mami Hayashida, Assistant Professor of Music (piano) at Georgetown College, and her husband, Daniel Mason, Professor of Violin and Head of the String Department at the University of Kentucky as well as Lexington Philharmonic concertmaster.

The series also celebrates the new Osborne-Tilford Family Organ – a Johannus masterpiece, made in Holland to the specifications of Daniel Tilford, father of Stephen. Concert organist Chris Oelkers opened the series Sept. 20 and organist Glenna Armstrong Metcalfe ‘85, the current organist/choir director at Georgetown’s Faith Baptist Church, will have the finale Nov. 15.

Sunday’s concert will be the 70th-plus time Weeks and Oliphant have performed together in the 10 years they have combined their talents. Here, Oliphant recalled some of their favorite moments in an e-mail:

“I think some of our most memorable have been those we’ve given on the three European tours we’ve undertaken so far. European audiences are so supportive of classical music concerts, and it has been so exciting to perform in beautiful halls, so full of history, that are packed with enthusiastic listeners.”

“We both love to travel, and through out travels we have met some wonderful people and learned so much about music traditions in other countries. After our 2008 performance at the Brno Conservatory in the Czech Republic, we were taken on a very cold and snowy January day to the Brno cemetery to see the graves of famous Czech composers. It meant so much for us to pay homage at the grave of Viteslava Kapralova, the most important 20th century Czech woman composer whose song cycle, “Navzdy” we had performed on our recital program.”

And, here’s what Oliphant would have the audience play particular attention to on Sunday:

“The ‘Three Browning Songs’ by Amy Beach are included on our CD, ‘Women of Firsts’ which was recorded earlier this year. Amy Beach was the first important American female composer of the 20th century. She was writing at a time when it was still not considered “appropriate” for a woman to have a performing career. In fact upon her marriage, her husband made the decision that she would leave the concert stage and she turned instead to composition, producing a large body of repertoire. After his death, she quickly returned reestablished her performing career, and truly overcame the gender issue by achieving an international reputation as a pianist and composer of music heard frequently on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Her music is not at all “feminine”! Using rich harmonies and lush textures consistent with late-Romantic music, she wrote music that was emotionally charged. The technically brilliant piano parts not only supported the human voice, but also more importantly set the mood.”

“Also on our program will be Brahms’ ‘Acht Lieder und Gesange von G. F. Daumer.’ The deeply felt poems surely made Brahms think of Clara Schumann, for whom he had a profound affection.”

Oliphant still has vivid memories of the memorial service in Hill Chapel for Stephen Tilford in ’06: “I don’t think I will ever forget Stephen’s coffin being wheeled down the aisle of your chapel after his service….while we listened to a recording of him performing. What a wonderful last memory for us to have!”

Concert Program

Below is the full Sept. 27 program – with much potential for new memories.

Daniel Weeks (TENOR)
Naomi Oliphant (PIANO)

• Two London Arias G.F.Handel (1685-1750)
  • Alzo al volo from Radamisto (1720)
  • Pastorello d’un povero armento from Rodelinda (1725)
• Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 57 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
  Von waldbekränzter Höhe • Wenn du nur zuweilen lächelst • Es träumte mir
  Ach, wende diesen Blick • In meiner • Nächte Sehnen
  Strahlt zuweilen auch ein mildes Licht • Die Schnur, die Perl and Perle
  Unbewegte laue Luft
• Three Browning Songs Amy Beach (1867-1944)
  The Year’s at the Spring • Ah Love but A Day • I Send My Heart Up to Thee
• INTERMISSION
• Pace non trovo from Tre sonetti di Patrarca Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
• To Julia, Op. 8 Roger Quilter (1877-1953)
  Prelude
  The Bracelet • The Maiden Blush • To Daisies • The Night Piece • Julia’s Hair
  Interlude
  Cherry Ripe
• Homenaje a Lope de Vega, Op.90 Joaquín Turina (1882-1949)
  Cuando tan hermosa os miro • Si con mis deseos • Al val de Fuente Ovejuna

Weeks and Oliphant on CD

Their first CD together entitled Women of Firsts: A Recording of Art Songs by Lili Boulanger, Amy Beach, Grażyma Bacewicz and Vítězslava Kaprálová was released on the Centaur Records label in December 2008. The CD showcases Art Songs of women composers who were the first in their respective countries to achieve national and international recognition for their compositions.

Georgetown College Art professor J. Daniel Graham used his grant-writing ability to arrange for an exclusive, free pre-screening of the Season 5 premiere of PBS’s Emmy-nominated series “Art: 21 – Art in the Twenty-First Century” at 6 p.m., Sept. 29 in our Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery.

“Compassion” is the theme of this first episode and features three international artists with strong points of view. (Visit www.pbs.org/art21 for bios and more on the series.)

“Compassion is a concept everyone can relate to and invest in. It is an ever-evolving dialog of our social responsibility to our neighbor no matter how far or close that neighbor is from us,” said Graham, an Assistant Professor of Art who specializes in sculpture and printmaking.  “I believe that Georgetown College is a place where this dialog comes to an interesting intersection, combining our investment in Liberal Arts and Christian values.”

The public is invited to this event and to a short program by this semester’s Performance and Installation Special Topics class that follows.

Refreshments will be served and the College’s three galleries will be open for viewing afterwards. Also, our Starbucks ® in the Mulberry Café – just around the corner from Cochenour Gallery and the Jacobs Gallery on the first floor of the Ensor Learning Resource Center – is open until 9 p.m.

If you miss this exciting opportunity to screen the season premiere of “Art: 21,” KET2 will first air it at 10 p.m., Oct. 7; KET1 will show it at 10 p.m., Oct. 8.

A little more information about Art 21 the Series

“Art:21–Art in the Twenty-First Century” is the only series on television to focus exclusively on contemporary visual art and artists in the United States, and it uses the medium of television to provide an experience of the visual arts that goes far beyond a gallery visit. Fascinating and intimate footage allows the viewer to observe the artists at work, watch their process as they transform inspiration into art, and hear their thoughts as they grapple with the physical and visual challenges of achieving their artistic visions. To date, 72 artists in the series demonstrate the breadth of artistic practice in the United States today. Each one-hour program is loosely organized around a theme helps audiences analyze, compare and juxtapose the artists profiled.

Episode Compassion (to air nationally October 7) features the work of William Kentridge, Doris Salcedo, and Carrie Mae Weems. See it first at Georgetown College on Tuesday, September 29, 2009!

By Crystal Little, Georgetown News-Graphic

He wasn’t a college president, a coach or a department chair.

But his was and is a name almost everyone at Georgetown College and around Georgetown knew and knows.

On Friday (Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m.), he will be honored with a tiger statue, dedicated in his name and memory, next to the student center and campus bookstore at GC.

Richard Kim Summers, the associate director of Auxiliary Services at GC, served on the board of the Georgetown and Scott County Tourism Commission for nearly 10 years, managed the Spirit Shop at Toyota Stadium, and was an honorary Lambda Chi and a veteran of the Vietnam War.

He was the type of man who inspired others with his tireless positive attitude, said John Simpson, director of the tourism commission.

He was a very special person, both personally and to the tourism commission, Simpson said. He had such a positive attitude I never heard Kim say anything the least bit negative about anything or anyone, even when he was very ill.

Summers died from cancer March 29, 2009 at age 65. His wife, Sheila Summers, is the assistant director of campus mail for GC.

During an impromptu unveiling of the statue Wednesday, Sheila Summers was near tears as she stood near the memorial statue.

For me, what’s important about this is that Georgetonians for years to come will be able to sense and capture (Summers) love, spirit and incredible devotion to the college, said GC band director Pete LaRue, who has been at GC for 17 years and knew Summers both personally and professionally.

If he knew about this, Sheila Summer said, he would be overwhelmed.

The statue is a fitting tribute to a man who was a large part of the academic community and Georgetown and Scott County at large, Simpson said.

By Eric W. Fruge ‘75

It’s disheartening to watch. Fortunately it’s not an everyday occurrence, but the frequency is discouraging and the losses are profound. We’re talking about rare items from the College’s history that appear on eBay. They often fill in valuable blanks in our institutional history.

Take these following examples:

The first is an 1832 parchment diploma, from the first cache of the school’s graduates. It was found by an antique dealer in a box at a garage sale in Florida and put up on eBay. It bears the signatures of the College’s first sitting president and faculty. Thankfully, we were alerted and were able to successfully bid on it.

The second is a scrapbook cataloguing the journey of the freshman class of 1916 through its graduation in 1920. It’s filled with photos and irreplaceable mementos from a by-gone era. Put on eBay by another antiques dealer, again we survived a costly bidding scramble to secure it.

However, other items have been lost: A copy of the 1830 inaugural address of the college’s first president, Joel Smith Bacon, records of histories and speeches delivered in the nineteenth century, scores of memorabilia, and who knows what other items of which we’re unaware.

If you have inherited or possess items from the College’s past, please don’t sell or give them to an antique dealer. Call the College first. We’re ready to discuss fair market value if you wish to sell them.

If you possess something but do not wish to donate or sell it to the College, would you consider allowing our staff to photograph and make a digital record of it? Please help us preserve your alma mater’s history!

If you would have a Georgetown College “treasure” you’d like to tell me about, please call (502) 863-7987. Or e-mail me at Eric_Fruge@georgetowncollege.edu.

The mailing address is:

Eric W. Fruge
Institutional Advancement
Georgetown College
400 E. College Street
Georgetown, KY 40324

By Tori Bachman-Johnson ‘12

This fall’s Stephen Tilford Memorial Concert Series marks the fulfillment of the dreams of two generations of Music professors at Georgetown College – Daniel Tilford and the late Stephen Tilford. The five free events will showcase the two recent, magnificent acquisitions – a Steinway Concert Grand Piano and a Johannus Organ – that bear the Tilford name.

The first is Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in John L. Hill Chapel featuring concert organist Chris Oelkers – soon-to-be known as film actor Brad Pitt’s musician “body double” (more on that below). Thanks for this kick-off concert go to the Rivierstad Company of Louisville and Dan Benjamin ’80, who is a close friend of the Tilfords.

Naomi Oliphant, who is part of the second concert (Sept. 27) and a former teacher of Stephen’s at the University of Louisville, perhaps described it best when she said, “The name Tilford has been synonymous with Georgetown ever since I’ve lived in the state, so for at least the past 25 years.”

In fact, the Tilford connection began many years before that. Stephen’s father, Dr. Daniel “Danny” Tilford, graduated from Georgetown in ’59 and met his wife, Shirley, while attending the school. He spent 40 years teaching on the Music faculty of the College, and two of his children (Bradley, ‘84 and Jane Ellen, ‘94) are alumni.

Though Stephen didn’t attend his father’s alma mater (“I was the piano teacher – he was too good to be taught by me,” Daniel Tilford explained with a smile), he succeeded his father as piano professor in 1999. Sadly, in February 2005, Stephen was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. After undergoing chemotherapy, he was pronounced cancer free in November of the same year, but by April 2006, the cancer had reoccurred. On September 10, 2006, Stephen’s battle with cancer ended.

Stephen’s biggest dream, according to his father, was to have a Steinway sitting on the Chapel stage. In 2004, Stephen was in contact with a Louisville company that could supply such a wondrous instrument. His father thought the dream was far-fetched. But after Stephen’s passing, while going through his son’s files, Danny found documents from Stephen’s contact with the company. “I thought, ‘Let’s go with this’,” said Danny, who then along with the College established the Stephen Tilford Memorial Concert Grand Piano Fund to fulfill that dream.

“It was just amazing how the money came in,” he said. By September 2007, approximately half the necessary funds had been donated, and on March 13, 2009, the Memorial Concert Grand was delivered to the Chapel. The effort was truly collaborative; over 400 people expressed their love and respect for Stephen by making donations that paid for the piano.

“It gives you an idea of the feeling people had for [Stephen] that they were able to purchase such a beautiful instrument,” Dr. Oliphant said.

Likewise, Danny Tilford saw his own dream accomplished when, on October 28, 2007, a Johannus organ – made to his specifications in Holland – was installed in the Chapel. Named the Osborne-Tilford Family Organ (because the money for the organ was bequeathed by Mrs. Mildred Osborne and an anonymous alumnus), the instrument is comprised of two parts – a CavaillÈ Coll and a Van Rhijn Baroque organ.

The Steinway Grand Piano (a Model D) is, according to many musicians, one of the finest of the finest instrument, a gold standard and the choice of concert artists and educational institutions alike. The remarkable part of the story, however, is not the grand instrument, but the man behind it, and the people it has brought together. With only one exception, all the performers knew Stephen Tilford personally, and their eagerness to take part in the concert series is a testament to his impact on the lives of so many.

But it’s the new Johannus organ in the spotlight for the first concert (Sept. 20). Concert organist Oelkers will play six pieces, including Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E Minor.

Meanwhile, tuck away this Hollywood tidbit about Oelkers: he is Brad Pitt’s musician “body double” in the upcoming motion picture “The Tree of Life.” If you haven’t heard of the film, you’re not alone – director Terrence Malick is notoriously secretive about his projects. The film will be released on Christmas Day of this year, and also stars Sean Penn, along with (rumor has it) dinosaurs shot in IMAX.

Oelkers is well-known for his extemporary skills and for his improvisations on familiar hymns. A past finalist in the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and daughter.

Dan Benjamin, who studied organ under Dr. Daniel Tilford, coordinated Oelkers’ performance in the series. Benjamin was pivotal in the selection, purchase, and installation of the Osborne-Tilford Family Organ, as a dealer for the Rivierstad Organ Consultants company. Danny Tilford described Benjamin as “like a member of the family,” and he, wife Shirley and son Stephen all played at Benjamin’s wedding. Benjamin’s wife, Janie, was a student of Danny’s as well.

On Sept. 27 at 3 p.m., the series continues with Naomi Oliphant, piano, and Daniel Weeks, tenor. Professors in the U of L School of Music, they have performed in recitals together since 1999 and released a CD in 2008.

Oliphant fondly recalled Stephen Tilford, the former U of L piano student. “[He was] one of the students who from the very beginning became a favorite of the faculty,” she said. “He was a hard-worker, a role model, and he had a sense of humor…He was a student you felt particularly close to.”

Weeks attended Florida State University, where he met Stephen and the two became friends.

On Oct. 11, four pianists – Michael Potapov, Ruth Reid Tompkins, Caleb Richie, and Elizabeth Wolfe – will perform the third concert of the series. Wolfe and Reid Tompkins were both classmates of Stephen’s, and Potapov ’05 and Richie were his students.

Potapov, who currently serves on the board of the Lexington Ballet, described studying under Stephen. “I enjoyed Stephen a lot. I was trying to finish out my piano education and he was pushing me to work more,” Potapov said. “I think he wanted me to achieve greater things than I wanted for myself…He was wonderful to think through the music with, and I certainly learned a lot from him.”

“I’m glad that this series will be happening and I hope it can become an annual thing,” he added.

Dr. Mami Hayashida, Assistant Professor of Music (piano) at Georgetown College, and her husband, Daniel Mason, Professor of Violin and Head of the String Department at the University of Kentucky, take the stage Nov. 8. Mason is also concertmaster of the Lexington Philharmonic.

The series finale is Nov. 15 with organist Glenna Armstrong Metcalfe ‘85, the current organist/choir director at Georgetown’s Faith Baptist Church. She also teaches music at Anne Mason Elementary School in Scott County.

All concerts will take place on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. in Hill Chapel. The entire series is being underwritten by James and Ruth Sharpe of Middlesboro, KY.

“I think he’d be tickled to know that this is happening,” said Dr. Oliphant of the concert series.

However, in the midst of the excitement surrounding the upcoming concert series and the installment of the new piano, one sentiment was echoed over and over again by Stephen’s friends and family – “I just wish he could be here to play it.”

The Program for Chris Oelkers

September 20, 2009
3 pm in John L. Hill Chapel

• Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548……..Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Nova Cyclopeias Harmonica………Georg Muffat (1653-1704)
  (Aria • Ad malleorum ictus allusion)
• Improvisation on Lasst Uns Erfreuen
  (Theme and variations)
• Intermission
• Grand Choeur Dialogue………….Eugene Gigout (1844-1925)
• Improvisation on Blessed Assurance
• The Lord Will Make a Way……….Henry Sexton
  (Transcribed & edited by Raymond Henry)
• Litanies………………Jehan Alain (1911-1940)