Bach's Keyboard Voices: Jan Kraybill, organ, and Marian Thomas, harpsichord

The free (donations accepted) Brown Bag Concerts, sponsored by Westport Center for the Arts, connect musicians with local audiences in an intimate space. They are held monthly from 12:10 to 1 p.m. at the Westport Presbyterian Church, 201 Westport Road, Kansas City.
Marian Thomas founded the Westport Center for the Arts’ Brown Bag Concert Series, and directed it for 21 years.  She built and decorated her two-keyboard French harpsichord, which is patterned after a 1750’s Paul Taskin instrument, from a Frank Hubbard kit. Using the knowledge she gained from working at the Hubbard Harpsichord Workshop in Massachusetts, she maintains and tunes harpsichords in the Kansas City area. Thomas has a piano and harpsichord studio at her home. She earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Oberlin College, and the Master of Music in Applied Organ degree from Boston University’s School for the Arts. She was Organist/Choir Director at Saint Paul School of Theology for fifteen years, where she also taught courses on Hymnody and The Arts in Ministry. Thomas taught music for the Purple Dragon Preschool for thirty-two years, and after serving fifteen years as Music Director/Organist at Westport Presbyterian Church, retired in 2009. She was a member of the music committee which recommended the acquisition of the Martin Pasi Opus 24 organ to replace the Wicks organ ruined by the fire of December 2011. Thomas was a founding board member of the Westport Center for the Arts and believes that “when the community creates art, the arts create community.”
Dr. Jan Kraybill is a concert artist, musical leader, speaker, and enthusiastic advocate for the power of music to change lives for the better.  She has performed as a soloist, collaborative musician, and hymn festival designer/leader in Australia, Europe, North America, Russia, South Korea, and Tahiti.  In Kansas City, she is Organ Conservator at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Organist-in-Residence at Community of Christ headquarters, and organist at Village on Antioch Presbyterian Church.  Her most recent solo recording, The Orchestral Organ (Reference Recordings), received three GRAMMY® nominations this year. Visit www.jankraybill.com for more information.