Glory of Christmas

7:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

We will also be live streaming the concert on the FPC website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.

Join us for the 15th annual Glory of Christmas Concert. Under the direction of Sam Carlton, this beloved holiday tradition will feature a magnificent string orchestra, a choir of over 40 voices, and acclaimed guest soloists Dr. Jennifer Voigt, soprano, and Mr. Neil Sherouse, baritone. Together, we will journey from darkness to light bringing to life the timeless music of the Christmas season, filling the sanctuary with the beauty, joy, and hope of Christmas. Don’t miss this inspiring evening as we gather to kick off the Christmas season welcoming the light of Christ into our hearts and homes!

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Jerrick Cavagnaro, Guest Organist

7:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Cavagnaro is the Associate Director of Music at Trinity Church Boston and is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. In 2022, he received second prize in the National Competition in Organ Accompaniment sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the American Guild of Organists and was a semifinalist in the Boston Bach International Organ Competition.

Big Band, Swing Dance, SEU

7:00 pm | Loudon Hall
Free

The Southeastern University Big Band and Swing ensembles will be performing. The group is directed by Jason Thomas Aylward, FPC member.

FSU University Singers

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Founded in 1948 by Dr. Wiley Housewright, the University Singers is the premier undergraduate touring choir at Florida State University. This auditioned choir consists of students who are majoring in music and other degree programs. 

Tom Ingui, Organ

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

A program featuring the best of the organ repitore from the French and German masters. 

Worship Night

7:00 pm | Loudon Hall
Free

Led by Jennifer Voigt, FPC Modern Worship Arts Director, Worship Night features the Vine Band and Worship Studies majors from SEU. This is a praise event which invites the community to join in worship with our congregation.

Lakeland Choral Society

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
$10

The Lakeland Choral Society is a large community auditioned chorus that rehearses weekly and performs at least three times each year. Members enjoy sharing their love of music with each other and the community.

Contact Sam Carlton if the ticket cost is prohibitive.

Harrison School

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

The Chorus Department at the Harrison School for the Arts provides vocal music students the opportunity to develop their talent in a nurturing and supportive environment. 

Bach Festival of Central Florida

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Continuing a choral tradition of nearly fifty years, the 25 voices of the Bach Festival of Central Florida, directed by Larry Sledge, present a Concert of Thanksgiving and Praise. Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, J. S. Bach’s Cantata No. 29, “We Thank Thee, God,” and Pachelbel’s “Now Thank We All Our God” will be performed with guest soloists and orchestra. There is no admission charge but freewill donations are encouraged to help defray program expenses.

Tom Ingui, 30th Anniversary Organ Recital

2:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

While our organ re-dedication festival was been postponed due to hurricane Milton, our organist Tom Ingui will still give an organ recital to honor the 30th anniversary of our pipe organ’s installation. The program will feature a wide variety of music including Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, Holst’s Jupiter from the Planets, Bach’s famous toccata in D minor, and Mendelssohn’s first organ sonata, a piece which was played at the original dedication recital in 1994. 

Festival Singers of Florida

7:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Providing community performances of the highest quality, the Festival Singers of Florida is dedicated to engaging and inspiring through impassioned singing while expanding the awareness and appreciation of the choral arts. They will begin their fall performance tour at FPC.

FPC staff members Sam Carlton, Classic Worship Arts Director, and Emily Hammell, Children’s Choir Coordinator, are both members of Festival Singers. 

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Sam Carlton, Baritone: Deep River

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Deep River is an educational concert highlighting the history of the negro spiritual. From the Mississippi to the Jordan River, water symbolizes both the trials of life and the promise of deliverance. It reflects the struggle for liberation, the cleansing of burdens, and the journey of a new life through Christ. 

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Nathan Reynolds, Trombone Recital

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Professor Nathaniel Reynolds is an Assistant Professor of Music at Southeastern University. Professor Reynolds holds a Master of Music in Trombone Performance from the University of Maryland, where he served as a graduate assistant to the athletic bands. He received a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Central Arkansas. Professor Reynolds most recently performed as a freelance trombonist and music educator in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. He has had the privilege of performing with some of the area’s most outstanding musicians at world-renowned facilities such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Washington National Cathedral, and the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Accompanied by Tom Ingui on piano and organ, the program will feature music for the trombone throughout history. 

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Worship Night

6:30 pm | Loudon Hall
Free

You are invited to a night of worship in Loudon Hall featuring the Vine Band and Worship Studies majors from Southeastern University School of Music! As we are used to gathering together on Wednesday nights, what better way to spend that time than worshiping? Join the voices of your family here at FPC in praising God together!

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Tom Ingui: the Classical Style

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Tom Ingui will present a piano and organ recital with music by Mozart and Beethoven. Elegance, symmetry, graceful lyricism, and clarity of form—the Classical period marked a turning point in music history with its charming wit and decisive dramatic design. Masters of this style, few other composers are as universally loved as Mozart and Beethoven: the program will include Beethoven’s “Moonlight” piano sonata, an organ transcription of the “Eroica” symphony’s opening movement, and Mozart’s Fantasy for automatic clock organ.

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Harrison School for the Arts Chorus

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

The Chorus Department at Harrison School for the Arts has performed throughout the country at State, Regional, and National ACDA Conventions and many of their students have received awards from the National Association of Teachers of Singing at the State and National levels. Directed by T. Jordan McCarthy and accompanied by Tom Ingui on the mighty Austin pipe organ, this program will feature a wide variety of sacred choral works from America, Germany, Russia, Spain, Brazil, and Estonia including J.S. Bach’s complete Easter Cantata BWV 4 and Arvo Paart’s Beatitudes.

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Jason Aylward, Trumpet Recital

Accompanied by Tom Ingui

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

This recital will feature music by Debussy, Haydn, Arutiunian, and more.

A dynamic and diverse musician and performer, Jason Thomas Aylward is dedicated to providing an engaging performance that reaches across musical genres using a wide range of performance media. Jason is currently the professor of trumpet and Director of Bands and Orchestra and trumpet professor at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.

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Tom Ingui: Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2

Tom Ingui presents a piano recital featuring Bach’s groundbreaking collection of 24 preludes and fugues

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Bach’s most celebrated collection of keyboard music, The Well-Tempered Clavier, is divided into two books each with a set of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. This recital program will feature the complete second book, written about 20 years after the first, and the performance will last a little over two hours total. Within this collection there is a staggering variety in styles and textures and yet Bach’s consistent style shines through—it is truly a compositional tour de force.

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Shudong Braamse, Soprano

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Dr. Shudong Braamse has appeared on stages in Canada, Italy, Austria, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Latvia, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. She has been serving SEU since 2002. Currently she is an artist teaching at the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Acqui Terme, Italy and at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. 

Concert Program

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Tom Ingui: A Christmas Recital

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Some of the best music was written for the Christmas season, so you won’t want to miss this! Join Tom Ingui for an organ recital filled with sugar plum fairies, sleigh rides, and sacred Christmas music. This program will feature an organ transcription of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and some of the best sacred Advent and Christmas works by Handel, Bach, and more.

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Glory of Christmas

7:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

First Presbyterian Church is proud to present our 14th annual Glory of Christmas concert, featuring the Chancel Choir and FPC Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Sam Carlton. Guest artists for the concert include, harpist Dolly Roberts, our church organist, Thomas Ingui, percussionist Dr. Tyson Voigt, our Modern Worship Arts Director and soprano, Dr. Jennifer Voigt, and the women’s ensemble from Harrison School for the Arts under the direction of T. Jordan McCarthy. The Glory of Christmas is an annual concert sponsored by the church with support from the Glenn W. & Hazelle Paxson Morrison Foundation. The event is free and open to the public as a gift to the surrounding community.

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Hulin and Ingui, Piano Duet

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Can the mighty Steinway grand piano rival an entire symphony orchestra? Charles Hulin, professor of piano at SEU, and Tom Ingui, organist at FPC Lakeland team up to answer that question with a variety of symphonic gems arranged for piano duet. The program will include favorites like Beethoven’s 5th symphony, Mozart’s G minor symphony, and Debussy Prelude to an Afternoon of a Fawn.

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SEU Jazz Band

7:00 pm | Loudon Hall
Free

The Southeastern University Jazz Ensemble is SEU’s premiere instrumental performing ensemble, regularly filling halls and dance floors with a variety of tunes honoring jazz’s history, and exploring pop music throughout American history.  The SEU Jazz Ensemble is directed by Jason Thomas Aylward. 

Dancing is included!

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Peculiar Pipes: Tom Ingui’s Halloween Recital

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Prepare yourselves for an evening of organ music sure to scare your socks off. Featuring classics like Bach’s Toccata in D minor, Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique, and Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite as well as lesser known but equally frightening pieces by Dupré, Vierne, Reger, Rheinberger, Mozart, and more.

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Bach Festival of Central Florida

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Now in its 48th year, the Bach Festival of Central Florida will present the first concert of its 2023/’24 season here at First Presbyterian Church, Lakeland, on Sunday afternoon, October 22, 2023, at 3:00 pm. Under the direction of Dr. Larry Sledge, former Director of Choral Activities at Florida Southern College as well as the Lakeland Choral Society, the Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra will present J. S. Bach’s “Magnificat,” G. F. Handel’s “O praise the Lord with one consent (Psalm 135)” and “Zadok the Priest,” together with “In Virtute Tua” by Polish Baroque composer Grzegorz Gorczycki. Also included in the concert will be several works for organ by J. S. Bach performed by our own organist, Thomas Ingui. The concert will be free and open to the public. A free-will offering will be received to support the work of the Bach Festival.

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The Festival Singers of Florida

“The Lord is My Refuge”

7:00 pm | Sanctuary
$10

The Festival Singers of Florida is a highly select, auditioned choral ensemble consisting of individuals from throughout Florida and from as far away as Texas and Tennessee. Their mission is to present choral music at the highest level of excellence and to provide an artistic outlet, promoting musical growth for outstanding singers in the region. They are dedicated to expanding the awareness and appreciation of ensemble singing and the choral arts by providing community performances of the highest quality.

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Tyson Voigt, Percussion

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Experience some of the greatest marimba, drum, and theatrical music of all time at this recital performed by Dr. Tyson Voigt, member of FPC and Chair of the School of Music at Southeastern University. Dr. Voigt has performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many other wonderful venues throughout the US and abroad. This recital features a wide variety of music by composers from all over the world: Jacob Druckman (American Pulitzer-Prize winner), Alejandro Viñao (Argentina/London), Myles Wright (Australia), Thierry De Mey (Belgium), Nicolas Martynciow (France), and Dame Evelyn Glennie (Scotland).

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Tom Ingui: The Essential Bach

3:00 pm | Sanctuary
Free

Featuring J.S. Bach’s keyboard and organ music as well as transcriptions from his works for choir and orchestra, this recital will give a sampling of the best of his wide variety of musical styles. The program will include excerpts from the Partitas, English suites, Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, Art of Fugue, Musical Offering, Mass in B Minor, and Orchestral Suites, as well as the Italian concerto and a variety of his organ works. Influencing all composers who came after him, Bach’s musical contribution is unrivaled and this program will only scratch the surface!

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