PERRYSBURG — St. Tim’s Discovers, a music recital series based at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Perrysburg, opens the 2023-24 season on Sunday 3 p.m. with a performance in honor of the series founder, Doug Neckers. The inspiration for this year’s first concert was created by two treasured area musicians, Merwin Siu and Nancy Lendrim, both of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.

Lendrim

Dr. Neckers truly was the essence of a Renaissance man: chemist, inventor, teacher, mentor, musician and engaged advocate for local musical entities. A former board member of the TSO, he had forged a long friendship with Siu, Lendrim and many members of the symphony. Neckers especially was a proponent for chamber music recitals to feature artists in an intimate venue. To this end, Neckers founded the St. Tim’s Discovers Music Series, hosted by his home church, St. Timothy’s. For more than a decade, Siu, Lendrim and many other area artists have presented free concerts to the community, sponsored by St. Timothy’s.

For this series opener, Neckers along with his colleagues of the Zin String Quartet have developed a unique program of string ensemble with Lendrim, principal harpist of the TSO. The quintet has selected a variety repertoire from J.S. Bach to 20th century composers Charles Ives, Claude Debussy and Gian Carlo Menotti. Each selection was considered based upon Neckers musical interests, which included orchestral, piano and choral music, both sacred and secular.

The concert will open and close with Bach selections, “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier” (Dearest Jesus, we are here) and “Wachet auf “(Sleepers, wake). The Zin Quartet will perform two quartets by Ives, “Chorale” and a three-movement work. Various combinations of strings with harpist Lendrim will perform “Dances for Harp and Strings” by Debussy, Menotti’s “Cantilena and Scherzo” and Jacques Ibert’s “Entr’acte for Harp and Violin”.

Doors open at 2:30 p.m. St. Timothy Episcopal church is located at 871 East Boundary. The facility is fully accessible and offers ample parking.

St. Tim’s Discovers series is dedicated to bringing classical music to communities throughout Northwest Ohio. The recitals are offered free of charge; donations are accepted at all events.

There will be three more St. Tim’s Discovers events this season, Bowling Green-based Deux Saisons, voice/guitar duo on Dec. 10, Toledo native Dr. Anthony Pattin, pianist, March 3, and Sara Ebright & Friends, vocal recital June 9.

Information on upcoming events in the series is available at www.saint-timothy.net.