Submitted by Rogene Gillmor
(September 5, 2023) — On September 24, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. at the Higganum campus of the United Congregational Church of Haddam and Higganum, 23 Parsonage Road, Organist Eugenia Sullivan will perform as the 15th artist in the Gladys Burr Peck Memorial Organ Concert Series.
Eugenia Sullivan earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from The Juilliard School in New York City. She has given recitals in numerous churches including St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Grace Episcopal Church and Columbia University in New York City as well as concerts around New England. For two decades she was Director of Music for a 2000+ family parish at St. Mary Church in Simsbury. She has served in leading roles with the American Guild of Organists (AGO) including as Dean of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the AGO. She is currently the Music Director and Organist at the First Church of Christ-Congregational in New Britain.
Sullivan will perform compositions by French, German, British and American composers, including de Grigny, J.S. Bach, Handel, and Ives. (Charles Ives was born in Danbury, attended Yale, and has been called America’s first original composer.)
Sullivan will perform on the Higganum Church’s 1904 Austin Organ, having two manuals and eight stops. This is the 109th Austin Organ (of almost 3000 Austin Organs built since 1893.) and was donated by Mrs. Hezekiah Scovil in memory of her husband, co-founder of the historic D. and H. Scovil works, manufacturer of farm tools, including the famous “Higganum Hoe,” and rifle barrels for the U.S. Government during the Mexican War and the Civil War.
Gladys Burr Peck was a member of the Higganum Congregational Church for 78 years, and Sunday School Teacher and Superintendent for more than 30 years as well as church clerk for 60 years. Following her death in 2006, her husband, Leslie Raymond Peck, and her daughter, Dr. Lindamae Peck, established the Gladys Burr Peck Memorial Organ Concert to acknowledge her long support of the church and to provide a special event for her hometown. Gladys was the seventh generation of Burrs in Higganum.
There will be a reception following the concert. A free-will donation to the Memorial Concert Series will be appreciated.
Photo provided by Eugenia Sullivan
