Music professors Annette Richards and David Yearsley are organizing the upcoming Atkinson Forum in American Studies, "American Baroque in the 21st Century: Old Meets New at the King of Instruments."

The concert festival and symposium exploring music for the baroque organ in America will be held Sept. 21-22 in Anabel Taylor Chapel, Sage Chapel and Barnes Hall, with four concerts and two panel discussions.

Richards and Yearsley will open the Atkinson Forum with a program of words and music, "Variations on America," Sept. 21 at 3:30 p.m., including works by G.F. Handel, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Ned Rorem and Charles Ives. Their lecture-recital begins in Anabel Taylor Chapel and will move to Sage Chapel at intermission.

The concerts will feature two top American organists on the international concert circuit, Kimberly Marshall and Robert Bates, both renowned for their innovative programming, sensitive interpretation and technical command of the instrument.

Marshall will present a concert Sept. 21 at 8 p.m., "A New World Emerges," including selections by Margaret Sandresky, Libby Larsen and J.S. Bach, performed on the new baroque organ in Anabel Taylor Chapel.

Bates will begin his program, "Old Meets New at the American Organ," Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. in Anabel Taylor Chapel, playing music of the French Renaissance and Bach; and will then move to Sage Chapel to present 20th century works on the Aeolian-Skinner organ, with its 69 stops and 3,858 speaking pipes.

Saturday's midday recital, "21st-Century Baroque," given by Randall Harlow and guests from the Eastman School of Music at 12:30 p.m. in Anabel Taylor Chapel, will feature new music written specially for the Anabel Taylor organ and its sister instrument in Rochester, N.Y., by composers from Cornell (Taylan Cihan and Charles Cacioppo) and the Eastman School (Steven Rice and John Liberatore); and a presentation by the Cornell Avant-Garde Ensemble.

The panel sessions, Sept. 22 in Barnes Hall, are "The Historically Informed Organ in America" at 9:30 a.m. and "New Music for the Old Organ" at 2 p.m. Both sessions will be moderated by Michael Barone, host and senior executive producer of the weekly public radio program "Pipedreams."

Other guest panelists include Robert Bates, University of Houston; Kimberly Marshall, Arizona State University; Martin Herchenröder, University of Siegen, Germany; and David Higgs, Eastman School of Music.

Sponsored by David R. and Patricia D. Atkinson, the Atkinson Forum in American Studies is held twice a year and brings individuals and groups to campus to enrich the curriculum of the American Studies Program and the cultural life of the university.

All events are free and open to the public. Information: http://music.cornell.edu/Atkinson.