Last Saturday, Feb. 28, the Kotzschmar Memorial Scholarship Auditions were held at Woodfords Church. Seventeen students of piano, voice, violin and Flugelhorn took part in these auditions.

Judging took place from 9:00 am t0 3:oo pm. I took snap shots of the students and some of their friends and family as they signed in, warmed up and waited for their turn to “wow” the judges.

The judges heard some remarkably talented musicians.

Scholarship awards will be presented at the Bach Birthday Bash concert at Merrill Auditorium on April 14.

Feb. 8 was an exciting day for the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ.  Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles brought their kids and grand kids to the Kids, Kartoons and Kotzschmar concert.

Rob Richards, House Organist at Disney’s historic El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood treated everyone to Disney movie tunes.

Jeff Pert, a local cartoonist, was on stage drawing characters to illustrate Jeff’s music.  We also saw an old Walt Disney cartoon from his “Alice” series.

After the concert, over 200 children and adults stayed to draw cartoons, explore the organ console and take a walking tour through the pipe organ’s main wind chest.

On Friday, January 16, 60 – 70 membersf the Portland Rotary met in the Merril Auditorium Rehearsal Hall. Following lunch and a brief business meeting they took front row seats in the auditorium. City Organist, Ray Cornils, gave a short introduction to the Kotzschmar Organ before inviting people to tour the instrument.

Rob Richards  is so looking forward to his trip to Portland to play the KO! He just loves the family audiences and the energy of the kids.

Thanks for reading our blog to stay abreast of the latest news from the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ.