THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 3, 1995 TAG: 9511030044
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
WHILE SEATED at the keyboard of the mighty church organ, his slender hands and long legs act in concert.
The music swells and surges, filling the church with dollops of dramatic sound.
Charles-Marie Widor's famed Toccata inundates every inch of the church. This classical organ warhorse builds to dramatic intensity, grows quiet and then rises again to a stirring climax, all underlain by rippling waves of keyboard runs.
The piece is difficult but the organist meets the challenge.
The keyboardist is not some Virgil Fox player, nor does he possess the experience of a Dr. James W. Kosnik, associate music professor on the Old Dominion University faculty and music director at St. Andrews Church in Norfolk's Ghent section.
Rather, the skilled hands belong to one of Kosnik's students. In fact, he's only a teen.
``Good job, Christopher, you did that well,'' Kosnik yells to Christopher Allen Clark, a South Norfolk teen and the 15-year-old son of Irene and Wesley Clark, both high school teachers.
``The Widor piece is something that would be in the repertoire of someone in their 20s,'' Kosnik explained. ``Technically it's three times harder than Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. There are no stops in the Widor piece; it's very difficult. I'm glad he's playing it and not me.''
As he did last year, Clark will once again be one of the featured players at the Church of St. Andrew Flower Festival 1995.
He will perform the Widor piece along with ``Lift High the Crossing'' by John Leavitt, ``I Danced in the Morning'' by Wilbur Held, ``Fugue in G Minor'' by Johann Sebastian Bach, ``Postlude on Two Spiritual'' by Charles Callahan and ``Prayer to Our Lady'' by L. Boellmann.
Chris can handle the program, he's that good.
``Dr. Kosnik and I chose this program to be varied,'' Chris said while unconsciously fingering the organ's keys. ``It's a wide range, from the 17th century to the 20th. We chose it to fully express my musical ability. From fast to slow.''
``I consider him my star pupil,'' Kosnik said. ``Last year he gave a fabulous concert as a 14-year-old. I'm delighted with his poise. He's a solid, meticulous performer, very remarkable for his age. Right now I want to prepare him for national competition. Teachers dream of having half a dozen pupils like Chris.''
Geraldine T. Boone, Chris' long-time piano teacher and director of the Chesapeake Civic Chorus, recommended him to study with Kosnik. She mentioned a time she ran into Kosnik at ODU, where she teaches at the Governor's Magnet School for the Arts.
``When I saw him in the halls at ODU,'' Boone said, ``he said to me, `Please send me more students like him.' And I can understand his feelings. Chris is a talented young man with God-given skill.''
Boone said Chris has been her pupil since he was a toddler who jumped on the piano stool after his older brother Brian finished his lessons.
``When I heard him play, I wanted to try it myself,'' Chris said.
``By the time he was about 3 1/2, he was playing first lessons in Bach,'' Boone added. ``He was reading music at a very early age.''
Boone said Chris is a top player and role model to other teens in the National Association of Negro Musicians, of which Boone is a national board member.
``All the other student members know him, they always ask about him and look forward to attending his recitals,'' Boone said with obvious pride. ``He does a lot of things with other young people. They seem to look up to him. And when I have my students give their annual recitals, Chris always performs last. No one wants to follow him.''
Take the fact, for instance, that Chris was invited to perform at the Miss Norfolk State University Pageant held Oct. 15 at Chrysler Hall. He was to perform the famed and difficult ``Warsaw Concerto.''
Chris didn't know it at all but learned the entire piece by heart in three weeks.
``That was very phenomenal,'' Boone said. ``I know it took me six months to learn. It's a very technical piece and quite physically demanding.''
When Chris performed it last month at Chrysler Hall, he had the entire audience - from college freshmen to school administrators - enthralled.
``The audience was absolutely spellbound,'' said Dr. Clarence W. Murray Jr., director of theater and associate professor of English at NSU. ``There was a hush in the audience, and every now and then they broke out into spontaneous applause.''
Murray said the audience was like an Apollo Theater crowd: if you're not very good, they let you know; if you're good, they love you. And they loved Chris. So did Murray.
``It lifted me up out of my seat,'' he said. ``I have been in theater for 30 years, and a talent like his only comes around once in while. Some of the slower passages were filled with such emotion I almost wanted to cry. And then he took me up with musical wings so I could soar.''
That much praise and attention would swell anybody's head. Not so with Chris.
``My playing is just something that came up, I guess,'' he said. ``I love music, it gives me the ability to express myself. Now that it's grown, I'm trying to make the best out of it.''
The Norfolk Academy sophomore also loves keyboards of the cyber variety and wants to study computer science at a school like Stanford University. He is also a math wiz, having won several regional competitions. He's a top honor student who studies advanced French and loves science fiction. In fact, he's been busy for the past 15 months completing an original novel, ``Brambletonia,'' a tale about time travel.
The self-effacing teen also loves college basketball and enjoys the music of Boys II Men and other rhythm and blues vocal groups. He eventually wants to branch out to jazz and even gospel music genres, but until then, he's intent on perfecting his music for Sunday's concert.
``I feel privileged to play,'' he said. ``Once I understand a piece of music, it comes.'' MEMO: RECITAL FACTS
Who: Christopher A. Clark, organist.
What: At the Church of St. Andrew (Episcopal) annual Flower Festival
celebration's ``Organ Recital and Evensong.''
Where: 1004 Graydon Ave., in Norfolk's Ghent section.
When: 4:30 p.m., Sunday
Cost: No charge. Call 622-5530 for more information about the
festival and Sunday's recital. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Mort Fryman, The Virginian-Pilot
Christopher Clark plans a varied program
by CNB