Saint Emery Parish to Host Fundraising Concert Sunday, June 14, at 3 p.m.

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Saint Emery Parish invites the public to a fundraising concert featuring soprano Rose Kovach, the Saint Emery Festival Choir, and Parish Music Director Anthony Procaccini performing on the parish's historic Wurlitzer organ.

The donation per ticket is $10, and children under the age of 12 are free. Advance purchase is suggested since there is a limited number of tickets available.

Soprano Rose Kovach (pictured at the left) graduated from Seton Hill University with a degree in vocal performance and sacred music. In August of 2014 she was conferred a Masters in Elementary Education from the University of Bridgeport. Ms. Kovach lived and taught in Hungary for four years. She will begin teaching in Beijing, China in the summer of 2015.

Ms. Kovach will sing sacred and secular music in a total of six languages, including English (Handel and Copland), German (Brahms), French (Faure), Italian (Mozart), and Hungarian during the fundraiser. Ferenc Erkel's "Ba'nk ba'n," a 19-century politically-charged opera, is considered Hungary's national opera and is not heard often outside that country. The ethnic history of Saint Emery Church is Hungarian, so the use of this music for this concert is both quite unique and appropriate.

The Saint Emery Festival Choir consists of volunteers from the parish and frequent "friends" from outside the parish.

Music Director Anthony Procaccini (pictured to the right in the above photo along with 2015 Guest Artist Frank Mastrone), is a graduate of Andrew Warde High School and graduated summa cum laude in Music from the University of Bridgeport. He has served as organist and music director at parishes in Fairfield County and NYC.
                                                          

A certified Italian-English interpreter and avid linguist (Italian, Spanish and Hungarian) and Frank Sinatra historian, he plays organ, piano, string bass and bass guitar, and performs Jazz, classical music and opera.

The Saint Emery Wurlitzer organ dates to the 1920s or 1930s, and was transported from Chicago to its present location. It has 7 ranks, and approximately 511 pipes. It is one of only three known to exist in the state of Connecticut, all of which are not on their original location.

When the currently inoperable Tremolo Box and Tuba stop are repaired, the parish hopes to offer organ concerts to the public, perhaps as early as 2016. Organist Frank Martignetti, director of Choral Studies at the University of Bridgeport, has offered to perform to benefit the parish.

To purchase tickets, call Barbara Chuga at 203-268-4535.