- Central Moravian Church will host a memorial festival for musicians Donald Spieth and Richard Schantz
- The free concert will take place on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 4 p.m.
- Spieth and Schantz were a prominent part of the music scene at the school
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — It will be an evening of remembrance and praise.
The historic Central Moravian Church will honor Donald Spieth and Richard Schantz during its Estelle Borhek Johnston Memorial Festival Concert on Sunday, Oct. 8.
A 'treasured legacy'
Spieth, who passed away on Sept. 1, was a Moravian University educator and conductor of the school's orchestra.
He came to Bethlehem in 1967 as a National Teaching Fellow at Moravian — then Moravian College — and founded the orchestra that same year.
A memorial service for Spieth was held on Sept. 16 at the Central Moravian Church.
“Maestro Spieth was an educator in the truest sense of the word, known to colleagues and students for his choice of repertory, his expressivity, efficiency and patience with differing levels of ability,” Moravian University President Bryon Grigsby said in a previous statement.
Moravian, and our students, have been extremely fortunate to have a man of his talent and generous spirit as a member of the music department.”
Schantz passed away in April 2020.
He joined the Moravian faculty in 1956, after former Moravian College President Raymond S. Haupert asked him to create a music department for the men's and women's colleges, which had merged in 1954.
1n 1957, he combined two of the school's glee clubs into the Moravian College Vespers, which led candlelit Christmas concerts at both the school and church.
Both musicians were a prominent part of the music scene in the Lehigh Valley.
Spieth, as music director of the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, oversaw concerts in New York City — at both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and in 2005, Schantz formed the Tuesday Singers, a group of locals who would perform a mix of classical music and traditional Welsh and Moravian hymns.
“This concert has been designed as a celebratory musical tribute to these two great musicians whose gifts enriched worship services and concerts at Central Moravian for many years and left a treasured legacy for so many musicians,” said Rebecca Lepore, organist and minister of music at Central Moravian Church.
“We want this program to represent a musical and scriptural response to the gift of living that God gives us here on earth, and then the gift of eternal life that is promised to us after this life.”
“This concert has been designed as a celebratory musical tribute to these two great musicians whose gifts enriched worship services and concerts at Central Moravian."Rebecca Lepore, organist and minister of music at the Central Moravian Church
A night of Bach, Parry
The free concert will feature some of Spieth and Schantz's favorite instrument and choral pieces by Bach, Mozart, Vaughan Williams, Hubert Parry, Edward Elgar and Mack Wilberg.
It will be led by Lepore, and include the church choir, strings, harps, and the Mainstreet Brass.
The event is part of the Estelle Borhek Johnston Memorial Concert, which was established in memory of its namesake, wife of Bethlehem's first mayor, Archibald Johnston.
Doors open at 3:30 p.m. For info,click here.
