Charles Barland to Hold Organ Recital

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Charles Barland, DMA, university organist and professor of music at the University of Dubuque, will perform an organ recital at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, January 19, 2025, in John and Alice Butler Hall, Heritage Center.

Barland's organ recital will include a repertoire of works by Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Jeremy Bankson, Franklin Ashdown, and Percy Fletcher. The recital will demonstrate the many varieties of sound and color that are possible on the magnificent John and Alice Butler Pipe Organ.

Dedicated May 2021, the pipe organ was gifted by UD Trustee John Butler (DHL'17) and his spouse, Alice (DHL'17), to expand students' musical horizons and enhance campus events for generations. Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Lake City, Iowa, built and installed the pipe organ - the 97th new organ built by the firm.

Barland served as the director of UD's Choir from 2002 to 2018. He currently serves as university organist and professor of music. Barland is a two-time winter of the University of Dubuque Faculty of the Year Award and was awarded the John Knox Coit Prize, the highest award given to faculty by UD for excellence in teaching and advising.

As an organist, Barland has performed throughout the United States and in Germany, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England including performances in Armagh, Glasgow, London, Munich, Boston, Orlando, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Los Angeles, and Honolulu.

In 2025, Barland will premiere a work for band and organ with the UD's Concert Band, participate as a judge of a national organ performance competition, and present a solo recital at the national convention of the Organ Historical Society.

In addition to his duties at UD, Barland is director of music for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, organist and choir director at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, and a member of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra Board, serving on the artistic advisory and education committees. An active member of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and the Organ Historical Society, he is the immediate past dean of the River Valley Chapter of the AGO as well as a past officer of the Topeka and Dubuque Chapters of the AGO.

The event is free and open to the public. No ticket is required.