Bethlehem Lutheran Celebrates Music
Sunday September 30 3:00pm
The members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church invite everyone to an organ concert on Sunday,
September 30 at 3:00PM. Please join us for this free performance in our sanctuary located at 155
Linwood Ave. in Ridgewood, NJ. We will be celebrating the important part music has played at
Bethlehem. This concert is a part of our 100th anniversary celebration.
This musical celebration will feature organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn,
Jean Langlais, Jan Bender, Ron Boud, and Michael Burkhardt. Two piano and organ duets,
arranged by Tedd Smith and Don Hustad, will be performed, in addition to a solo piano
arrangement of the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” There also will be congregational singing
of several traditional hymns, including “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” and “Now Thank We
All Our God.” The concert will be performed by Bethlehem’s current organist, Elena Crudge,
and their former music director, Mark Meyer.
The organ at Bethlehem Lutheran Church was built in 1959 by the Schantz Organ Company
of Orville, Ohio. Pastor Ewald Mueller did much of the work on specifications and voicing.
The Swell division is located in the front of the church, to the right of the chancel area. The
Great, Choir and Pedal divisions are located to the left of the chancel area. The organ has three
manuals, and 54 ranks of pipes. There are 66 stops (draw knob units). Each stop produces a
different quality of sound, like a musical instrument. The list of stops includes a wide range of
both Baroque and Romantic character to allow playing all styles of music.
The organ was renovated in 2003. The renovation eliminated all electro-pneumatic actions from
the console itself, which no longer needs air pressure for its operation. One of the improvements
was a multi level combination unit (preset system) plus solid state switching equipment. Before
the renovation our organ had 7 presets. Each preset allows the organist to set a combination of
sounds to be stored in the organ’s memory. A single musical piece can involve several presets.
Since the renovation, we have 99 levels of memory with 7 presents on each level, giving almost
700 combinations.
Elena Crudge, organist and pianist, is a native of Russia. She graduated from the Moscow State
Music College “Gnesini” and the Voronezh State Institute of Arts with honors. She majored in
piano and qualified as a teacher, accompanist and soloist of the Chamber Ensemble.
After graduation, Moscow Region Music College employed Elena for 10 years as accompanist
for chorus and individual instruments. She performed in public concerts arranged by the college.
Elena has been the organist at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ridgewood since 1994. She is a
member of American Guild of Organists (AGO).
Mark Meyer was the Director of Music at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ridgewood, NJ, from
1979 until 1991. During that time he served as organist and directed Bethlehem’s Chancel,
Youth, Children’s, and Handbell Choirs, as well as assisting with the Christian Education
program at Bethlehem. From 1996 until 2009, Mark Meyer was Administrative Assistant for
The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada while the headquarters was located at Boston
University. Since 2005 he has been Music Director at historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in
Newburyport, MA.
His undergraduate studies were at Concordia College, Bronxville, NY and at Concordia
University, Chicago. He received a Master of Church Music degree from Concordia, Chicago.
Admission is free, however a free will offering will be welcome. Refreshments will be served
following the performance.
The members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Ridgewood want you to know that God has a plan
for you and he loves you. Our faith is in Christ. Our guide is in the Bible. Our love is for all.
Come celebrate with us. We offer 2 Sunday services: Contemporary Praise Service at 8:45am
and Traditional Worship at 11am, with Sunday School and Bible Class at 10am. Please join us
at 155 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood.