University of St. Thomas' Organ Studio presented its first Bach Concert at First Lutheran Church in Downtown Houston on Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.

"Our students had the opportunity to perform on a beautiful Pasi organ," Dr. Jeong-Suk Bae, adjunct professor of Organ, said. "The Pasi organ at First Lutheran, built in 2014, with its pure mechanical action and color of stops, is designed perfectly for the music of J. S. Bach and his contemporaries. When we visited this organ in the spring semester for organ crawl, we immediately came up with the idea of doing a Bach Concert. I was thrilled to have our organ students presenting a full program with various works by Bach at the beginning of this semester."

Organ students include Borja Asensi Flores, Master of Sacred Music, Organ; Nathan Schafsnitz, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Organ; Cecilia Presa, BA in Music, voice; Cilicia Duron, BA in Music, Organ; Molly Berghout, MSM, Organ and Nicholas Le, MSM, organ.

The program featured a full variety of Bach's Organ works, including the "Little" prelude and fugue in F major; a movement from Trio Sonata; a Concerto; a transcription of vocal work; a joyful G major prelude and fugue, and a grand late work by Bach, "St. Anne" prelude and fugue.

"The students thoroughly enjoyed playing on the Pasi organ during the preparation and outdid their best at the performance," Bae said. "It is always a joy to share the performance with our families and friends, and we also had many people from the UST community, the UST event-goers, who were interested in our program and came to support our students. It was a huge inspiration to meet them, and we were thankful for their presence."

The UST Organ Studio's next performance is the Studio Recital at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, in the UST Chapel of St. Basil.