Benefit recital for Shepherd House

A Benefit Recital for Shepherd House Food Pantry will be performed by John Thyhsen on trumpet and Randall Douglas Perry on organ, Saturday, Nov. 21 at 3 p.m. in Trinity Lutheran Church at 3rd and Iron streets, Lehighton.

The program will open with Aria con Variazioni (from "The Harmonious Blacksmith") and Organ Concerto No. 3 in G Minor composed by George Frideric Handel. Concerto in D (dedicated to John Thyhsen) composed by Perry will also be performed.

Perry will play two chorale preludes: O Mensch bewein den Sunden Gross and Vater Unser im Himmelreich by Johann Sebastian Bach as well as Nun Danket Alle Gott composed by Sigfrid Karg-Elert. Concerto in D Major by Johann Frideric Fasch will be performed by Thyhsen and Perry, as well as Concerto for Trumpet by Giuseppi Torelli.

Thyhsen is the principal trumpet with the Philly Pops (Peter Nero, director/conductor) for 32 years and the Opera Company of Philadelphia for 25 years. He is also the principal trumpet with the Bach and Handel Chorale and Festival Orchestra. He has earned professor emeritus at Rowan University, Glassboro, N.J.

He founded the Glassboro Jazz Festival and the Glassboro Jazz Program. He is a member of the Festive Brass Quintet and Delaware Valley Brass Quintet. He is a trumpet instructor at the New England Music Camp in Augusta, Maine.

Recordings include: A Hoagy Carmichael Memoir, Hot Spots I and II, Christmas with Friends.

Thyhsen plays the Yamaha C trumpet, Monette Bb trumpet and the Schilke Piccolo trumpets.

Maestro Perry began his career in sacred music at the age of 11 and has served as organist and director of music for eight parishes. He instituted and directed the "Music from Historic St. Mark's Episcopal Church" concert series. At present, Perry is organist and director of music for St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Trexlertown. He owns and operates the Perry Music Studio in Jim Thorpe.

In 1984 Maestro Perry founded the Bach and Handel Chorale. The chorale celebrated its 25th Anniversary on April 25, 2009 with a complete performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor with Festival Orchestra. Perry is the chorale's conductor and artistic director.

The community of Jim Thorpe and the Carbon County Tourist Promotion Agency honored Perry in 1984 for his "outstanding contribution to the development of music appreciation." In 1996 the Mauch Chunk Historical Society presented him with the Karl Bodmer Award for "outstanding work for promoting the arts." He was instrumental in the initial stages of the Laurel Arts Festival and served as church concert coordinator and later as a manager.

Compositions include: Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Mass in D Major, and Concerto in D Major.

Recordings include Christmas in Jim Thorpe.