Central Reformed Church

The Barker Music Festival has sought to provide quality musical programs to our community for more than 30 years.  This series of concerts was named in honor of Dr. Cyril Barker, who served as Minister of Music at Central Reformed Church from 1961 until his retirement in 1975.  Primary funding for the Barker Festival is derived from a trust established by the estate of Benjamin and Ethel Buikema, long time members of Central Reformed Church.  Concerts are provided without admission costs, although free-will offerings are collected to aid in supporting this mission.

The Festival will present a series of four concerts during the 2008-2009 program year.  The dates and featured artists are:

November 2, 2008 at 7:30 pm – Christoph Keller.  Mr. Keller is a concert organist from Ludweiler, Germany who joins us as part of his U.S. concert tour for 2008.   He has served as organist at an historic Stumm Organ at the Huguenot Church in Ludweiler, Wamdt, has worked as a freelance artist and regular substitute organist at the Papal Basilica of St. Johann in Saarbrücken, as well as supervising the carillon of the City Hall.

 Besides working as a freelance artist and regular substitute organist at the Papal Basilica of St. Johann in Saarbrucken, Mr. Keller continues to search for discoveries of unknownn organ works of the general organ repertoire. He will be performing the works of Bach, Rheinberger, Schumann, Sowerby, and Jongen.

December 31, 2008 at 9:30 pm – Craig Cramer.   Dr. Cramer is Professor of Organ and Artist in Residence at the University of Notre Dame in Elkhart, Indiana.  He is also organist at St. David of Wales Episcopal Church in Elkhart, Indiana.   Craig Cramer has performed in forty-four of the United States as well as in Canada and his performances are frequently heard on the nationally-syndicated radio program “Pipedreams”.

February 22, 2009 at 4:00 pm – Valparaiso University Chorale under the direction of Dr. Christopher Cock. This premier choral ensemble at VU is among the top Lutheran collegiate choirs in the United States and noted for performing works representing the Lutheran heritage as well as significant contemporary works in original languages and music expressing multi-cultural perspectives.

April 19, 2009 at 7:30 pm – Ensemble Montage.  This collective of eleven professional musicians based in Grand Rapids is dedicated to presenting kaleidoscopic combinations of chamber music which mixes strings with woodwinds and piano…expanding as the program’s repertoire demands.