Join us in the FPCS sanctuary for a concert with the Allentown Band and featuring organist Dr. Michael Krentz. All are welcome! Tickets for the event are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students. Tickets for the event can be purchased in advance by contacting the church office at 570-421-7751 or stbgpres@ptd.net. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Church Office hours: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday
A little about Allentown Band:
A prominent feature of nineteenth-century musical Americana was the concert band, and the Allentown Band, America’s oldest, has kept that tradition alive since its founding in 1828. Drawn from within a fifty-mile radius of the Lehigh Valley, the band’s musicians, as different as their backgrounds may be, share one common goal: to create and preserve concert band music at a level of excellence rarely heard from a community band. The Band has been under the direction of Ronald Demkee since 1977.
A little about Dr. Krentz:
Michael Krentz, a Deacon in the ELCA, serves as Director of Music/Organist at Christ Lutheran Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He received Bachelor, Master, and Doctor of Music degrees from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Krentz is currently convener of the Worship Team of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, ELCA, and has served in the leadership of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, including as chairperson of ALCM’s 1997 national conference, president of Region 1, and national Secretary/Treasurer.
A little about Ronald Demkee:
Demkee earned his Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Music Education at West Chester (Pennsylvania) University. In 1991 Muhlenberg College awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Music. He conducted the Freedom High School (Bethlehem, Pa) Patriot Band, Orchestra and numerous other instrumental ensembles, where he was also Chairman of the Fine Arts Department, from the time the school opened in 1967 until 1997. After teaching in the public schools for thirty-two years, Demkee continued to teach in the music departments of both Muhlenberg and Moravian Colleges for another eighteen years, culminating with fifty years of teaching from the elementary to collegiate levels