Music At St. Mary's Concert Series presents 'A St. Mary's Christmas' on Dec. 20

Music At St. Mary’s Concert Series’ final presentation of 2015 will be 3 p.m. Dec. 20 when "A St. Mary's Christmas" will be presented.

St. Mary’s organist John Glaze along with Jennie Harner on flute, Lynn Lowell on piano, and Alex Myers on flute, will present music of the Advent and Christmas seasons.

The pipe organ of St. Mary’s celebrated its 130th birthday this year. It was originally installed as a result of an offer from Marie Rives King at Christmastide of 1884 when she wrote a letter to the Vestry of the church: “I wish to place as Memorial of my brother, Doctor Edward Rives, in St. Mary’s Church, if consistent with the views of the Vestry.

"I desire to make the gift an organ of best workmanship, with power suitable to the size of the church, two banks of keys and stops and pedals sufficient for the most elaborate church music.”

Edward Rives was a native of Virginia and grew up in Cincinnati. He met and married Marie Thompson, daughter of James Henry and Eliza Jane Trimble Thompson (also known as “Mother Thompson”).

The organ, which was built and installed by the Koehnken and Grimm organ builders of Cincinnati, was blessed and used for the first time on Aug. 20, 1885. In 1933, the organ was enlarged and modernized by the M.P. Möller Company of Hagerstown, Maryland.

The major cost of that rebuild came from a legacy in the will of Frank W. Armstrong. The entire history of St. Mary’s Pipe Organ, which includes the 2009 rebuild of the console and modernization up to current technology, can be read on the church’s website: http://stmaryshillsboro.diosohio.org under the heading, “Our Story.”

Music At St. Mary’s Concert Series is presented to the community at no charge, existing on freewill donations only. "A St. Mary's Christmas" will last about an hour and will be followed by a reception.