A Celebration of Schmaltz (with a little Schumann too)

If you're a fan of live organ music, here's a chance to hear a real pro. The Charlottesville-Albemarle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presents a program entitled “A Celebration of Schmaltz (with a little Schumann too)” at 7:30pm on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at First Presbyterian Church, 500 Park Street, Charlottesville, VA. The event, part of the Chapter’s 35th anniversary celebration, is free and open to the public and will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Robert Schumann and the 30th anniversary of the death of organ virtuoso Virgil Fox.

Visiting Organist Brink Bush from Providence, Rhode Island, will perform the music of J. S. Bach, Schumann, and Wilhelm Middelschulte in the context of virtuoso organist Virgil Fox. Mr. Bush edited "The Innermost Secrets" by T. Ernest Nichols, a book about Fox’s legendary technique.

Mr. Bush is the Organist & Director of Music for the Cathedral of St. John, Providence RI. He is one of the leading interpreters of German Romantic organ music in the world today. He has performed throughout the United States and abroad. He performed at Trinity Church Wall St. for the "Virgil Fox Legacy Twenty-fifth Anniversary Concert Weekend" in October 2005. In 2005 he also edited "The Innermost Secrets" by T. Ernest Nichols, a book about Virgil Fox’s legendary technique.

Brink Bush studied organ at Peabody Institute, the Juilliard School, and the Eastman School of Music with David Craighead, Robert Elmore, Russell Saunders and Rosalyn Tureck. His first compact disc, Volume 1 of the Complete Works of Wilhelm Middelschulte, was released in October of 1999. He is also the primary contributor to the new Complete Organ Works of Middelschulte published in 2007 by Baerenreiter.

At 6pm on Sunday, November 7, Mr. Bush will appear as my guest on WTJU’s The King of Instruments which airs every Sunday evening from 6 - 7pm on 91.1FM and streams live at wtju.net.

The King of Instruments presents Scary Music for Halloween

Tune in Halloween Evening, Sunday 31 October from 6 to 7 pm, for the Annual Scary Music Organ Show which will include Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565, among other SCARY musical offerings.

This music is the perfect accompaniment to your Halloween...billowing from your haunted house to greet your trick or treaters! So tune in and turn up the volume LOUD!

Morbidly interesting (?) side note: the legendary actor Vincent Price died on Oct. 25, 1993, so I thought it was a creepily cosmic convergence that the death of an actor so renowned for his career in horror films would accompany the debut of the very first Annual Scary Music show a scant 6 days later on Halloween Sunday, Oct. 31, 1993.

Organ Concert Old Cabell Hall Thursday 29 April 2010

Have you ever heard the pipe organ in Old Cabell Hall on the grounds of the University?

Are you one of the many fans of organ music who can’t get enough of Widor’s famous Toccata?

Here’s your chance to accomplish both feats in one sitting.

On Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 8pm, the McIntire Department of Music will present organist alumna Ginny Chilton and soprano faculty member Lily Hsieh in a program of music from late 19th- and early 20th-century France.

The featured organ work will be Charles Marie Widor’s Symphony No. 5, concluding with its famous Toccata. Vocal works to be accompanied by Ms. Chilton at the organ will include the “Pie Jesu” from the Fauré Requiem, a little-known Ave Maria by Widor himself, Gounod’s Ave Maria based on Bach’s C-major Prelude, Franck’s La Processione, and other pieces.


ABOUT THE ORGAN

Old Cabell Hall on the Central Grounds of the University Virginia boasts one of the earliest organs by famed American builder E. M. Skinner, and one of the few of his organs that survive in original condition and in its original site. The three keyboard (or manuals) instrument was installed in 1906, less than a decade after the construction of Cabell Hall, and was given a thorough renovation by the Thompson-Allen firm of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1983.

Watch this blog for more information about the organ and the man whose name is attached to the McIntire Department of Music, Paul Goodloe McIntire; 2010 marks the 150th anniversary of his birth.

The complete program of the upcoming recital is:

MUSIC FROM LATE-ROMANTIC FRANCE

Featuring the  E.M. SKINNER ORGAN (1906)

Thursday, 29 April 2010

8:00 p.m.

Old Cabell Hall Auditorium


Pastorale 1868
  César Franck (1822-1890)

Ave Maria
  J. S. Bach/Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Ave Maria, Op. 24
  Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937)

Alleluia (Exultate, jubilate)
  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Agnus Dei
  Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Pie Jesu (Requiem, 1877)
  Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

En prière 1890
  Gabriel Fauré

La procession 1888
  César Franck

Villanelle
  Eva dell’Aqua (1856-1930)

Symphonie No. 5 in F Minor 1887
Charles-Marie Widor

Special Programming -- The King of Instruments

Sunday, Dec. 27 beginning at 6 PM, Deborah Murry hosts a special edition of "The King of Instruments." Aired exclusively on WTJU, 91.1fm (and streamed online at wtju.net), the program showcases a variety of Christmastide choral favorites that are sure to bring warmth to the holiday. Will this favorite carol be on the program?



You'll just have to tune in to "Evensong for Christmas," on "The King of Instruments."

Special Programming -- The King of Instruments

Sunday, December 20 at 6PM, host Michael Latso presents a very special one-hour edition of "The King of Instruments." The program can be heard on WTJU, 91.1FM in Charlottesville, VA, and online at wtju.net.

Michael will feature one of the most famous and popular virtuosos of the organ, Virgil Fox in a holiday-themed program. Fox made several recordings of Christmas carols, all of his own arrangement (of course). This will be an exciting hour of organ music with plenty of fireworks! (Below is a small sample)



As Michael says,

Some of the arrangements come from a stupendous recording made in 1965 and released as Command Classics CC11032SD at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in NYC, the founding church of the Paulist Fathers, which was the first men's religious order established in the United States. The organ has been redone since then and its history can be found here: http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/StPaulApos.html. Among its features is a great reed stop "en chamade," or vertically projecting from atop the organ case; it's called the "Paulisten Posaune," or Paulist Trumpet, and is put to grand effect Fox. Listeners will be amazed as I am every year I listen anew.