For Once, a Pleasant Noise on the Circle
As the Circle Citizen ambled around the Monument during lunch today, she noticed a sidewalk sign advertising a free organ recital inside Christ Church Cathedral. “Free” being one of her favorite words, she stopped inside the chapel—by far the oldest building on the Circle. And it embarrassed her a little that she had never visited this spectacular landmark.
The first chords of Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BMV 548” were already droning from the balcony organ as she took a seat on the dark mahogany pews and admired the stained glass windows of the diminutive church. It occurred to the Circle Citizen that this serene place could not feel much further from the hustle and bustle of downtown, even as she sat right at the center of it.
At the keys was Jonathan Rudy, a graduate student at the IU School of Music. Rudy took second place in the American Guild of Organists competition in June, so the man has the classical repertoire down. But you could tell that playing in a church—especially one founded in 1837—felt special to him. “I love playing all these recitals,” he says. “But my true calling is church music.”
As the swell of organ reverberated throughout the tiny “cathedral,” it was easy to see why the instrument had captured his heart. To happen upon such an ethereal moment amidst the noisy construction of downtown felt like a minor miracle itself.
