Dove of Peace Lutheran Church for 20 years now has had the distinction in Tucson classical music circles of hosting the first concert of the new year.
They’ll herald in 2025 with the flute-piano duo of Alexander Lipay and Fanya Lin at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 1, at the church, 665 W. Roller Coaster Road.
The pair will perform works by Schubert, Brahms and Franck.
Lipay and Lin are familiar names and faces in Tucson’s classical music scene. Lin, who teaches piano at the University of Arizona School of Music, is a regular guest with a number of ensembles including St. Andrew’s Bach Society, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, Sierra Vista Symphony and Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. Last summer she was part of Toru Tagawa’s Tucson Repertory Orchestra when it toured Japan. She also has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Savannah Philharmonic and The Jackson Symphony.
Her 2023 Navona Records release “Rhapsodic” with the Lublin Philharmonic includes Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.”
Lipay, longtime principal flute for Tucson Symphony Orchestra and a regular with St. Andrew’s Bach Society and True Concord Voices & Orchestra, is a six-time Grammy Award winner for engineering recordings for the Seattle Symphony and a three-time Emmy Award winner. He has performed as a soloist with Seattle, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Hermitage Orchestra and at a number of international festivals including the International Music Festival “Moulin d’Ande” in France, Sunriver Music Festival in Oregon and Switzerland’s Galway Flute Festival.
Lipay also set the Guinness World Record from 2016-2021 for doing the most standing ab wheel rolls (27) in one minute.
Wednesday’s concert kicks off the church’s 21st season of free classical music concerts. The church doesn’t charge admission but passes the plate for donations to benefit a local non-profit including Wednesday’s recipient, Interfaith Community Services.
