The free Friday organ concerts at the Parish Church of St. Helena is returning on March 15 with four dates through April. All are at noon.

Here are details from a release:

Tired of the same old lunch? Looking for something different—something springy, something uplifting?

On four Fridays this spring, world-class musicians will offer recitals on the magnificent pipe organ in historic St. Helena's Church at 505 Church Street in downtown Beaufort. These free concerts will feature sacred and secular music. The guest virtuosos are Dr. Gail Archer, Marek Kudlicki, Dr. Julia Harlow, and Alexander Anderson. Each of these performers is well-known in university and church circles both here and abroad. The series kicks off March 15 with Dr. Gail Archer. Come spend an exhilarating hour with these incredible musicians and welcome spring. Not your boring ol'lunch for sure. For more information, contact Pat Gould, Director of Music for the Parish Church of St. Helena, at 522-1712.

March 15
Dr. Gail Archer
New York, NY

March 22
Marek Kudlicki
Poland

April 12
Dr. Julia Harlow
Charleston, SC

April 26
Alexander Anderson
Chapel Hill, NC

About the Musicians:

Gail Archer
Friday, March 15

Gail Archer is an international concert organist, recording artist, choral conductor, and lecturer who draws attention to composer anniversaries or musical themes with her annual recital series in New York City: An American Idyll, Liszt, Bach, Mendelssohn, and Messiaen. In spring 2013, the five-concert series is The Muses Voice: A Celebration of International Women Composers. Ms. Archer was the first American woman to play the complete works of Olivier Messiaen for the centennial of the composer's birth in 2008; Time-Out New York recognized the Messiaen cycle as "Best of 2008" in classical music and opera. Her recordings include Franz Liszt, A Hungarian Rhapsody; Bach, The Transcendent Genius; An American Idyll; A Mystic in the Making on Meyer-Media; and The Orpheus of Amsterdam, Sweelinck and His Pupils on CALA Records, London. Ms. Archer is college organist at Vassar College and director of the music program at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she conducts the Barnard-Columbia Chorus. She serves as director of the artist and young organ artist recitals at historic Central Synagogue, New York City.

Marek Kudlicki
Friday, March 22

Marek Kudlicki is one of the few organists who earn his living almost exclusively from appearing in concerts. He tours the world constantly and has performed on every continent achieving great acclaim. He was born in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland. He studied organ (under Prof. Joachim Grubich) and conducting (under Prof. Krzysztof Missona) at the Academy of Music in Cracow. He completed his diploma with distinction. It is noteworthy that he began his musical career while still a student, by giving concerts and recitals in many cities of Poland.
Marek Kudlicki won the First Prize (and the Special Prize of the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art) in the Organ Competition in Poland in 1973. For many years he has been actively engaged in artistic activities as is evidenced by the many concerts he has given in almost all of the European countries and many times in the U.S.A. and Canada (48 North American tours), and in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.
He has often appeared at international festivals as performer and judge for organ competitions. His numerous performances have been presented in conjunction with well known concert series in various music centers (Stockholm, London, Vienna, Sydney, Wellington, New York, Minneapolis, Bogota, Buenos Aires), and at renowned concert halls (Cracow Philharmonic, Cracow; Sala Luis-Angel Arango, Bogota; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul; Roy Thompson Hall, Toronto; Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong; National Concert Hall, Taipei).
He has recorded extensively for the state radio stations in Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Iceland, Radio Hilversum, Radio New Zealand, Radio Suisse Romande, National Public Radio U.S.A., South African Broadcasting Corporation, and for several TV and record companies.
In his many years in the profession, he has often complemented his appearances as an organ soloist with his activities as a conductor.

Dr. Julia Harlow
Friday, April 12

Dr. Julia Harlow is director of music and organist at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston and teaches organ and harpsichord at the College of Charleston. She also taught music history, ear training, keyboard harmony, and music appreciation. Originally from Iowa City, Iowa, she lived in the Pacific Northwest before coming to the Lowcountry 16 years ago. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance and Pedagogy and Master of Music in Early Keyboard Performance degrees at the University of Oregon (Eugene), and the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the University of Iowa. Her teachers have been Delbert Disselhorst (organ), Guy Bovet and John Hamilton (organ and harpsichord), and Joan Benson (clavichord). She has performed in master classes and concerts in Germany, Holland, and Canada for Gustav Leonhardt, Colin Tilney, and Harald Vogel. In addition to performing as a harpsichordist, she also tunes and maintains several instruments in the Charleston area. She has extensive performance experience of early music, Celtic, Balkan, and Middle Eastern folk music and has often performed as harpsichordist or organist at the College of Charleston, in Piccolo Spoleto, with the Charleston Symphony, and Chamber Music Charleston. In June, 2010 she formed the ensemble "La Belle Musique" which performs music of the 17th and 18th centuries, notably that of women composers.

Alexander Anderson
Friday, April 26

Born in Motherwell, Scotland, Alexander Anderson was educated at Glasgow University and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, studying organ with Herrick Bunney and piano with Raymond O'Connell. British Council and Caird Scholarships enabled him to undertake a period of intensive study in Rome and Siena with Fernando Germani. On his return to Scotland, he became Herrick Bunney's assistant at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and in 1964 was second prizewinner at the St. Albans International Organ Competition. In 1969 a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship took him to the United States where he succeeded Catherine Crozier as organist and director of chapel music at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1989 to become director of music at Haileybury College in Hertfordshire. There he was instrumental in the installation of a new organ in the college chapel from the German builders, Johannes Klais of Bonn, which has been acclaimed one of the finest in the country.
As a recitalist, he has performed extensively in the U.S.A. and in Europe and has recorded for the BBC, Decca (with the choir of Paisley Abbey), and Crystal. His musical tastes are wide-ranging, but he makes no secret of his lifelong devotion to the music of Bach and Mozart. Conducting has played an important part in his career; performances at Haileybury included Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, Verdi's Requiem, an annual concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and tours with choir and chamber orchestras to many European countries and to Florida. Always enthusiastic in encouraging young musicians, he regularly featured students as concerto and oratorio soloists in his programs.
Upon his retirement from Haileybury, Alex returned to the United States with his family and lives in Chapel Hill with his wife, Jenny, who is director of music at United Church of Chapel Hill.