Music is Life
Below is my 2022 ISU Faculty Report that I wrote in my position as Charles and Mary Sukup Endowed Artist in Organ at Iowa State University. Please click on the following link to download the report (7.3MB) or click on the image below to view the report.
Dr. Miriam Zach and Dr. Stephen Smith with the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (CIAGO) and Dr. Michael Elsbernd, Choir Director and Organist at St. John’s Lutheran Church, will assemble a working positive organ during an Orgelkids Event on Sunday, 1 May 2022, 2:30pm – 4:30pm at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 600 6th Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50309.
As part of the event, participants will also have the opportunity to learn about the organs used at St. John’s Lutheran Church. This event is free to attend, but registration is required. To register for the event, please email joshua@dmsymphony.org
Click on the image below for a PDF of the Orgel Kids flyer with all the information for the event.
On Saturday, 23 April 2022 I will perform in the Martha Ellen Tye Hall with ten of my organ students an organ studio recital titled “Going Dutch/Benelux” with 10 of my organ students. Below is the program (click on the page image). The poster above was designed by Devin Palmer with ideas by me from fond memories of being in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (Benelux).
Program
You are invited to our 26th International Festival of Women Composers this Saturday, February 26, 2022 at Iowa State University that Miriam Zach organized as Festival Founder/Creative Director.
This year’s annual international festival includes 500 years of music by 10 women composers from 4 countries, and 10 outstanding ISU Music Department violin, viola, voice, piano, and organ faculty and former and current ISU Music students of opera and organ.
The background of the poster above comes from the Maryamin mosaic (Syria, 4th century AD), which is one of our most important sources of the history of keyboard instruments. The left side of the image shows an organist playing with both hands, which suggests polyphony and harmony in the medieval era, almost 800 years before these were known in western musical thought and practice. The Maryamin mosaic is important as it links Eastern and Western musical thought. In the middle left of the image there is an aulos (double flute = ancient Greek instrument), and in the center a jal tarang (singing bowls of water) popular in India.
Here is the program (click on this link or on the image below):
You are invited to “Nine Lessons and Carols” service at St. John’s by the Campus 2338 Lincoln Way, Ames, Iowa on Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 10am. We journeyed through Advent and Christmas in six languages and eight countries including Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United States.
See the program as a PDF below:
Students in Dr. Miriam Zach’s organ studio will present Scandinavian music on Saturday, November 13, 2021, at 1:30pm in Iowa State University’s Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall in the Music Building.
The recital is sponsored by the ISU Department of Music and Theatre, Sukup Manufacturing Co. of Sheffield, Iowa, and the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
A note of provenance: The painting used as the background of the poster above is Chez Moi (1887) by Norwegian visual artist Harriet Backer (1845-1932) who was the sister of musician Agathe Backer-Grondahl (1847-1907), one of the composers whose music will be performed on November 13th.
Below is a link to the program PDF…
The Organ Historical Society international “Kaleidoscope of Colors” Festival invited Miriam Zach, organist, to record with the Iowa State University Brombaugh pipe organ to represent the Midwest and U.S. tracker pipe organ revival. The virtual tour will include music by 10 international women composers.
For more information go to the Organ Historical Society’s Kaleidoscope of Colors page .
On 21 May 2021 at 5:00pm EDT I will join the virtual Alumni Sing Reception at Princeton University. As part of this celebration there will be breakout rooms to chat with other alumni, and the new virtual choir video will premiere. Finally outgoing Princeton University Chapel Choir Director Penna Rose will say a few words, and share a video compilation of excerpts from messages people around the world have sent to Penna.
On the Zoom screenshot above I’m in the second row, fifth singer from the left…
On 19 May 2021 at 4:00pm EDT I will be part of celebrating Penna Rose’s twenty-nine years as Director of Chapel Music with the Office of Religious Life. As part of this event I will participate in sharing memories, toasting Penna, and sending her off with my best wishes for her next chapter.
On 3 May 2021 I served as a panelist on the National AGO webinar about Gender Equity. Here is a link to the AGO website for its Task Force for Gender Equity listing its mission, articles about women, websites by and about femaile organists, and online professional organizations that support and advocate for gender equity.