On April 18 in Manning Memorial Chapel, Acadia University, at 3 p.m., an organ concert by Shawn Potter and friends is planned.
Potter, a native of Belmont, Hants County was a 2006 winner of an Annapolis Valley Organ Centre scholarship. In May, he graduates from Mt. Allison University with a Bachelor of Music degree. He has offered to organize the April 18 concert for the centre as a fundraiser for the scholarship fund from which he benefitted.
Potter, who plays both organ and harpsichord, will bring with him the Mount Allison Early Music Ensemble. Their program, which will run about an hour without intermission, will consist of music by Bach and the French classical tradition (like Couperin and de Grigny).
A freewill offering will be taken. Everyone is invited to meet the musicians at a reception following the concert, says John Mongomerie, one of the organizers.
Potter has previously performed in two Wolfville concerts. In 2006, he performed at a Young Organists Perform recital in Wolfville Baptist Church; then, in January 2009, he organized the Nancy Fraser Tribute concert at Acadia. Both events were sponsored by the Valley Centre. He is presently choir director of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Sackville, N.B. and a fourth-year student of organ and choral conducting.
Graduating from Avonview in Windsor in 2006 at the top of his class, he has been the recipient of many awards for academic and musical achievement, including the 2009 NBCF Youth Achievement Award for service to New Brunswick's choral community. He will represent New Brunswick in the 2010 National Youth Choir when it meets in Saskatoon in May, following which he plans to go camping in the Grand Canyon in June. His most recent engagement was accompanist for the Spring Choral Fest held in Moncton, a three-day workshop highlighted by a performance of Handel's Dettingen Te Deum, conducted by Pierre Perron of Halifax. He was chosen as a member of the Young Artists Program at the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax.
The April 18 concert is sponsored by the Annapolis Valley branch of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, in support of its Organ Scholarship Fund. The Valley branch has 15 active members, with Maureen MacLean of Middleton as president. The organ centre was formed in 2003 by the late Nancy Fraser, who also founded the organ scholarship program. Two of the scholarships awarded in 2009 were given in her memory. The program entices gifted pianists to explore pipe organ skills: each scholarship, valued at $200, consists of a set of organ lessons given by Elizabeth Harwood, a member of the AV Centre. Those seeking scholarships must apply by May 31.
