ALL RISE: A LONG BEACH SPIRITUAL LANDMARK RINGS TO THE SOUNDS OF RENOWNED MUSICIANS

By Laila Freeman

Photos submitted by the Journalism Arts Initiative (JAI) 

Maybe it could be called a wedding made in Heaven.

The two partners are the First Congregational Church of Long Beach and the internationally celebrated Baroque ensemble Musica Angelica. Both have been around a long time… 

Built in 1888, the first public building in Long Beach was Cerritos Hall at the corner of Third Street and Cedar Avenue. It was converted into the First Congregational Church (FCCLB)  that same year, partly through the efforts of Margaret Bixby, whose father was an abolitionist Congregational minister in Maine. The current historic building dates to 1914, and while the church has evolved, the FCCLB is still on the same corner.

Unlike the FCCLB, Musica Angelica has been peripatetic, performing throughout the Greater Los Angeles area, as well as touring around the world. Founded in 1993 by two members of the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, it has over the decades kept faith with its mission: to perform and record great compositions of the Baroque era on the instruments originally used to perform them and played by virtuoso musicians from many lands.

The Start Of A Collaboration

The group’s headquarters have been in Long Beach since 2016, and most concerts are performed twice – on Saturday night in Long Beach and on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles’ First Congregational Church. However, at the end of its 2023-2024 season, the ensemble was looking to find a new Long Beach venue with the special acoustics needed to showcase live music played without amplification.

A one-time performance at FCCLB convinced Musica Angelica Executive Director Matthew Faulkner, “The first time we played there, I realized that we were in the right place for our music. It acoustically fit us really well.”

That was the start of the collaboration. The October 18th concert at FCCLB kicks off the second full season of concerts in the sanctuary, which is dominated by an impressive pipe organ that will figure in an evening of historical significance next spring.

This upcoming season is the final one for Music Director Martin Haselböck, who has been with Musica Angelica since 2005. Haselböck flies here to conduct concerts from his home in Vienna, where he is better known as music director of Orchester Wiener Akademie and as a master organist who performs on the great pipe organs of the world. On March 25, 2026, he will come to Long Beach for his first recital on the 70-rank “Mighty Möller” pipe organ in the FCCLB sanctuary.

Through The Centuries On Third And Cedar

FCCLB’s congregation was chartered in 1888 and began meeting in Cerritos Hall, Long Beach’s first public building. When Cerritos Hall was moved to another location in 1902, a larger church building took its place on Third and Cedar. In 1914, another larger building was erected there after a split and then reunion of the church’s congregation. 

The construction didn’t stop there. In 1984, earthquake retrofit assembling began. In an interview, the Rev. Petra Malleis-Sternberg explained that this consisted of drilling through brick walls and replacing the holes with steel.

Another building was added 25 years ago. Connecting them is a courtyard that the Rev. Malleis-Sternberg calls, “a lovely outdoor spot in the middle of downtown.” Among its other uses, this space is where receptions are held at Musica Angelica concerts. 

The architectural intrigue of FCCLB includes what the Rev. Malleis-Sternberg refers to as “quirky” rooms on the building’s upper floors where the steps to the tower ascend. A lounge area where people could once smoke cigars has been converted to a storage room. 

The stained-glass windows feature beautiful images in bright colors. The Rev. Malleis-Sternberg said she is often mesmerized by the neon green. 

Even if you aren’t a member, you can experience the church’s structural mystique. FCCLB offers history tours several times a year on Sundays after church services. Call the church office at (562) 436-2256 for upcoming dates. Also, Long Beach Heritage downtown walking tours sometimes include FCCLB.

An Organ Of Power And Majesty At The Heart Of A Church

Organist Dr. Marc Dickey began playing FCCLB’s pipe organ in 1992. Although it was the largest he had ever encountered, within six months, he “really owned the instrument,” he said in an interview.

In the church’s basement, a soundproofed room houses the large, noisy blower that provides the grand sounds he ignites at his keyboard. “The blower has an electric motor and fan that pressurizes air and sends it up to the various wind chests in which the organ pipes sit,” he explained. “The air travels through plastic ductwork, called windlines, and is fed into the chests. When the organist depresses a key, it opens a valve to the corresponding pipe, allowing air to flow in and sound to sing out.”

The organ’s mystique doesn’t stop there. From the basement to visible pipes above the choir loft, there is something to marvel at, such as the special button connected to the Zimbelstern, a carousel containing four bells that rotates with the help of both an electric motor and stationary rod. When the button signals to the Zimbelstern, the bells go round and the rod strikes each bell in sequence, creating a ringing vibration. 

“All pipe organs are intentionally redundant,” Dickey said, “and that redundancy allows for a lot of variations in how you can make things sound. Leading the congregation in hymns, playing for soloists, playing for the choir and just playing my own music for the prelude, offertory and postlude — all the different roles occur within a 75-minute service every Sunday.”

In addition to the church services, the organ is used in a wide range of performances open to the public, including solo recitals by world-renowned organists, such as the concert by Martin Haselböck on March 25. Other concerts include choral and orchestral musicians. The organ is also used in weddings and has accompanied showings of silent films, Long Beach Landmark Theatre Company productions and other community events. The listing of upcoming organ events can be found in the FCCLB’s calendar.

Free Long Beach Library Community Programs By World-Class Musicians

When you are at a concert of Baroque chamber music, you don’t expect a member of the audience to rush the stage.

Norma Ramirez loves it when that happens.

The director of patron relations for Musica Angelica works with Matthew Faulkner and Director of Operations Ashley Salinas to put on the ensemble’s free community programs at Long Beach libraries.

“When our musicians are playing, some children just walk up and stand next to the musicians and instruments,” she said in a phone interview. “Babies sitting on mom’s lap get up so they can see what’s going on, and they begin cooing and making sounds to the music. I think that’s the best.”

Ramirez said the free community concerts are the brainchild of Faulkner, who began contacting librarians at neighborhood libraries two years ago to see if there was interest in an hourlong live concert with Musica Angelica’s internationally recognized musicians, followed by a question and answer session with the performers.

“We started at the Billie Jean King Main Library and then branched out from there,” Ramirez said.

The community events have been successful from the start. “Unfortunately, sometimes concerts aren’t affordable for the public, or sometimes families with younger children may not want to bring their baby or 2-year-old because they’re afraid that they will cause a disturbance.”

Ramirez and Salinas prepare coloring pages for children based on the instruments, such as the harpsichord, viola or violin, that are being played.

“You’ll find a very eclectic audience,” she said. In addition to the babies, children coloring and children spread out on the floor in front of the performers, there are Musica Angelica patrons and students who sometimes ask the musicians complex questions about the music.

“We have had a lot of music students from the Long Beach Unified School District and from the Long Beach Youth Orchestra and university students who are learning about this music,” Ramirez said. “For them, this is an opportunity to be one on one with our professionals.

“And we’ve had some folks with disabilities who find it challenging to come out in the evening, so they come to our program because it’s in the daytime.” She’s working on the logistics of getting patients from the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach to the performances.

The first program of the year is Oct. 18 at the Dana Neighborhood Library, 3860 Atlantic Ave. “That’s the same day as our Italian Baroque concert in the evening at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach. It’s a great opportunity because we’re flying out our associate music director, Gonzalo Ruiz, and concertmaster, Cynthia Roberts, from New York. They will play with Alexa Haynes-Pilon, our principal cellist, and they’re putting together a snapshot of Italian Baroque music.”

The other library concerts this season are Nov. 8, Billie Jean King Main Library, 200 W. Broadway; and Feb. 28, 2026, Bret Harte Neighborhood Library, 1595 W. Willow St. All concerts are at noon and free.

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Laila Freeman recently received a master of fine arts in creative writing at Chapman University. This

feature is produced by the Journalism Arts Initiative, which is underwritten by donations from arts

organizations and others interested in supporting excellence in arts journalism.

UPCOMING SHOWS

Musica Angelica’s Season in the First Congregational Church, 241 Cedar Ave., Long Beach. Oct. 18, Quattrocento “Four Centuries of Italian Music,” 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 20, A Baroque Christmas in Germany, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 31, Valentine to the Viola da Gamba, 7:30 pm.; March 28, St. Matthew Passion, 6 p.m. For ticket information, go to www.musicaangelica.org/ or call 562-276-0865 for information.