Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast

​Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #81! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Carlotta Ferrari (b. 1975) who is an Italian composer writing for organ and variety of other instruments. She served as chair of music composition at Hebei Normal University in Shijiazhuang, China, and is currently professor of music composition at the European School of Economics in Florence, Italy. Educated at the Conservatory in Milan, she has composed in many genres, developing a personal language that is concerned with the blend of past and present. Her compositions have been performed frequently around the world. Her compositions have appeared on Waterwheel World Water Day Symposium and WPRB radio Princeton NJ, and have been performed in venues such as Harvard University, New York University, Steinway Haus in Hamburg and München, National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, St. Gallen Cathedral, St.George’s Hanover Square in London, Manhattan Central Synagogue in NYC

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #80! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an organist and singer from Canada, Thomas Leslie. He is the Executive Director of the Canadian International Organ Competition, a member of the Board of Directors of Casavant Frères, and holds a Colleague Diploma from the Royal Canadian College of Organists. ​Thomas is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurer and McGill Universities, where he studied both voice and organ. He recently completed an executive MBA program at the Université Paris-Dauphine, one of France’s most prestigious research and higher education institutions. Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Thomas has a beautiful tenor voice and maintains an active career as a singer performing throughout Canada and the United States. ​ Recent performance highlights include Handel’s Messiah and the Magic Flute with the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Mozart’s Credomesse and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the St. Lambert Choral Society, M

SOP Podcast 79 - Tore Bjorn Larsen On Choosing To Be An Organist - Composer, Creating With Pencil On Paper, And Connecting Organists In Organ Festivals http://www.organduo.lt/podcast

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #78! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Jean-Paul IMBERT, organist from France. Born in Clermont-Ferrand in 1942, he studied piano and organ : at the early age of 15 he was appointed organist of the church of Sainte Jeanne d’Arc. In Paris he studied with Pierre Cochereau and Jean Guillou whose assistant he was from 1971 to 1993 in Saint-Eustache. In 1993, he was appointed as organist on the Kleuker instrument of Notre-Dame des Neiges in Alpe d’Huez and was responsible for organising concerts with organists from all over the world. Since 1988, he has organised workshops there with students from different countries and schools. These workshops were developed into training courses with musicians such as Cornel Pana, who teaches Pan flute, and conductor and violonist Christian Ciuca for courses in high standards of choral singing ; operatic performers such as Jean Louis Serre and Marie-Therese Keller. Since 1999 he has taught every year at Bad-Rip

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #77! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Diego Innocenzi who is the resident organist of the Victoria Hall as well as of the temples of Saint-Gervais in Geneva and Vandœuvres. He also teaches the organ at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. Born in Argentina in 1971, Diego Innocenzi began his musical studies in Buenos Aires where he graduated in piano and was the organist of the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Cathedral of San Isidro, his hometown. He continued his studies at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève in Lionel Rogg’s class where he won a first prize for virtuosity in 1999 and later with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris. Afterwards, he entered the choral direction class led by Michel Corboz at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, where he obtained his choirmaster diploma in 2003. For many years, Diego Innocenzi has been conducting research on the historical interpretation of sacred music and organ repertoire of the nineteenth and twentieth

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #76! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an Italian concert organist Marco Lo Muscio. Marco is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation: organist, pianist, composer. Marco cooperates for recordings and concerts with renowned artists as Kevin Bowyer, David Jackson (Van Der Graaf Generaor), John and Steve Hackett (Genesis). He graduated in piano with full honours “Cum Laude” at "Licinio Refice" academy of music guided by Maestro Tonino Maiorani, and later studied for three years with the great pianist Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998) attaining the Diploma of Advanced Studies with full honours at the academy "Bartolomeo Cristofori". He also graduated in Pedagogy "Cum Laude", guided by prof. Giulio Sforza, in the University of "Rome Tre" (degree thesis on Keith Jarrett and Glenn Gould), and in organ with prof. James Edward Goettsche (Main Organist of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican). Marco is the first musician who has brought transcriptions of

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #75! Today's guest is an American organist Dr. Jesse Eschbach who is a world-reknown expert on the French organ culture in general and Aristide Cavaille-Coll's organs in particular. Dr. Eschbach is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he was a student of Robert Glasgow. He completed his formal education during a five-year residency in Paris as a student of Marie-Claire Alain, specializing in early French music inher conservatory class at Rueil-Malmaison where he was awarded both a Prix d’Excellence and a Prix de Virtuosité. As one of the very last students of the legendary Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier, he studied the complete organ works of her husband, Maurice Duruflé, as well as much of the French symphonic repertoire. Since 1986, Eschbach has served on the faculty at the University of North Texas as the full-time Professor of Organ, instructing performance majors at all levels. His students have dominated the annual San Antonio competition sinc

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #74! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an Italian concert organist Enrico Presti. He has attained diploma in Organ with Prof. Wladimir Matesic in Bologna and degree in Computer Science with mention in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Bologna. Enrico attended master classes with Marju Riisikamp, Olivier Latry, Peter Planyavsky and Hans-Ola Ericsson. He performed several concerts in Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland (Musée Suisse de l’Orgue), Faroese Islands (Summartónar festival, event coordinated by Italian Institute of Culture in Copenhagen), Finland, Baltic States, United Kingdom (Oxford Queen’s College), France, Sweden, Austria, Russia (St. Petersburg), Czech Republic, Romania, Denmark and Germany. From 1996 to 1999 he was managing director of the international concert series Organi Antichi, un patrimonio da ascoltare in Bologna; from 2002 to 2007 he was artistic director of the international concert series Musica Coelestis (Ferrara)

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #73! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Dr. Jeannine Jordan who is a champion of the organ and its music. She has traveled throughout the US and the world promoting and sharing organ music through her innovative concerts. As a professional organist she enjoys a varied career. Besides concertizing and recording, Jeannine has held university teaching positions and has served in a variety of positions in church music ministry. She is also the President and founder of Pro-Motion Music — a company celebrating the world of the organ. Dr. Jordan was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance and Music History from the University of Oregon where early American organists was the subject of her dissertation. This study led to further research and collaboration with media artist, her husband David Jordan to create From Sea to Shining Sea. David Jordan, a skilled pianist with a Master of Music degree in composition from Ball State Univer

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #72! Today's guest an Italian concert organist Domenico Severin who is the Titular Organist of the Grand Orgue at the St. Etienne Cathedral in Meaux, France. He holds diploma in Organ and Organ Composition from the B. Marcello Conservatory in Venice, Italy (Prof. Sergio de Pieri), and in Musical Analysis from the Boulogne-Billancourt C.N.R., France (Prof. Naji Hakim).Attendance at various organ master-classes (Michael Radulescu, Harald Vogel, Gerd Zacher, Michel Chapuis, Marie-Claire Alain, Pierre Cogen, Daniel Roth, Arturo Sacchetti, Luigi Ferdinanto Tagliavini, Lionel Rogg and Guy Bovet) has given him a wide view of organ repertoire, performance technique and interpretation. He performed in a multitude of Organ Festivals worldwide, including the International organ Festival Città di Treviso; the International Organ Festival in Schio, Italy; St. Paul Cathedral in London; Notre-Dame Cathedral and Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris; the Cathedral of Luxembourg, the I

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #71! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast ​Today's guest is world-renown French concert organist, pianist, improviser and composer Thierry Mechler. ​He was born in 1962. He started piano and organ lessons in his home town of Mulhouse and then went on to Strasbourg where he studied piano with Helene Boschi and organ with Daniel Roth at the “Conservatoire National de Région”. In 1981, he won first prize with highest congratulations at the “Concours International de Paris”. In 1984, he went to Paris to study with Marie-Claire Alain, where he won, in succession a gold medal and a first prize of excellence with congratulations from the jury. In 1986, he won a laureate in improvisation and a first prize for virtuosity with congratulations from the jury in the concert class from Marie-Claire Alain in Paris. He also studied the Art of improvisation with Jacques Taddei, and won the medal of honour at the contest for composition in Mulhouse. In 1991 he was accepted in the S.A

SOP Podcast #70 - John Boody on Pushing the Boundaries of Historically Oriented Organ Building http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #70! ​Today's guest is John Boody from Taylor and Boody Organ Builders. He is originally from Wakefield, Massachusetts, graduated from University of Maine with a B.A. in Music. He apprenticed with Fritz Noack from 1966 to 1968, then served in the US Army from 1968 to 1970 during which he spent thirteen months in Vietnam. ​In 1970, he apprenticed with Fritz Noack again and then with John Brombaugh in Germantown, Ohio from 1971 to 1977. In 1977, John Brombaugh moved his shop to Eugene, Oregon and John Boody and George Taylor founded Taylor & Boody Organbuilders. He moved to Staunton in 1979 where he lives with his wife, Janet. Aside from organbuilding, he enjoys cross country skiing, biking, gardening, and singing with the choir at Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton. John and Janet have two children and three grandchildren. In this co

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #69! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Peter van Tour who is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Leuven, Belgium. As a scholar in musicology, Peter has specialized in the counterpoint pedagogy and historic improvisation and composition. He studied Music Pedagogy (5 years) at Brabant Conservatory in Tilburg, Master in Musicology at the University of Utrecht and Master in Music Theory (MA) at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Peter's PhD dissertation "Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples" (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala, 2015) highlights the practical teaching strategies at the Neapolitan conservatories during the late eighteenth century. In 1995, Peter co-founded the Gotland School of Music Composition, where he has been teaching Music Theory until 2014.In this conversation Peter shares his insights about his research on how improvisation, composition, partiment

​Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #68! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Phil Parkey who is the President and Tonal Director of Parkey OrganBuilders in Duluth Georgia (metro Atlanta), a position he has held since 1995. Phil is a trained organist with a BS degree from the University of North Carolina in Business Management and Administration with concentrations in accounting and economics. ​He has studied organ building with key personnel from Flentrop, Moller, and Aeolian-Skinner and has completed study tours of organ building in England, Germany, and France. Locally he has worked with the Atlanta Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, serving as Board Member At-Large, Sub-Dean, and Dean. He is a past president of the Atlanta Metropolitan Choral Arts Society. Phil's present duties include marketing, design, and tonal finishing, but he also works closely with his staff regarding mechanical and structural design of Parkey instruments. His work has carried him through the ce

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #67! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Dr. James Kibbie who is Chair of the Organ Department and University Organist at the University of Michigan. He also maintains a full schedule of concert, recording, and festival engagements throughout North America and Europe, including appearances at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, Royal Festival Hall in London, Dvořak Hall in Prague, and Lincoln Center in New York. During his month-long concert tour of the Soviet Union in 1991, Pravda hailed him as “a marvelous organist, a brilliant interpreter.” A frequent jury member of international organ competitions, he has himself been awarded the Grand Prix d'Interprétation at the prestigious International Organ Competition of Chartres, France, and is also the only American to have won the International Organ Competition of the Prague Spring Festival in the former Czechoslovakia. James Kibbie's performances have been broadcast on radio and television in the USA,

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #66! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is organist and harpsichordist Gavin Black who is the Director of the Princeton Early Keyboard Center. Gavin is best known for his recordings of seventeenth-century keyboard music on the PGM label. He studied organ and harpsichord with Paul Jordan and Eugene Roan, and conducting with Jahja Ling and Otto-Werner Mueller, and attended Princeton University and Westminster Choir College. He served as Associate University Organist at Princeton from 1977 to1979, while a student there, and was Organist and Senior Choir Director at Hillsborough Reformed Church, Millstone, New Jersey, from 1988 until 1994. He has been a teacher of organ, harpsichord, clavichord and continuo-playing since 1979, teaching from time to time at Westminster Choir College and at the Westminster Conservatory of Music. He currently writes a monthly column on organ and harpsichord teaching for The Diapason. ​ As a performer, Gavin Black has focused o

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #57! http://www.organduo.lt ​Today’s guest is Peter Sykes who is one of the most distinguished and versatile keyboard artists performing today. (Photo by Susan Wilson) His playing has variously been called “compelling and moving,” “magnificent and revelatory,” and “bold, imaginative, and amazingly accurate.” In demand as a teacher and mentor of aspiring professional performers, he is Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Historical Performance Department at Boston University. Since 1985 he has also served as Director of Music at First Church in Cambridge, Congregational. He has been adjudicator for competitions sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and the Bach International Harpsichord Festival in Montreal as well as the Broadwood Harpsichord Competition in London and the Miami International Organ Competition. A member of the board of the Cambridge Society for Early Music, he is a founding board member a

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #64! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast ​Today's guest is Robert McCormick who is the Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Mark's Church, Philadelphia. Prior to this apointment he was the Director of Music at St. Paul's Parish, Washington DC. Just recently Robert signed the contract with Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC. A summa cum laude graduate in organ performance from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J., McCormick has received numerous awards. He is a frequent concert artist in such prestigious venues as the Great Organists Series at St. John’s Cathedral in Albuquerque, N.M., the New York City Pipe Organ Encounters and the Atlanta Summer Organ Festival, among others. ​Known for his ability in organ improvisation, McCormick was a semi-finalist in the St. Alban’s International Organ Festival Improvisation Competition. ​In this conversation Robert shares his insights about the art of organ improvisation. ​Enjoy and share your comments below. ​ And do

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #65! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast ​ Today's guest is ​Nico Declerck, an organist from Belgium and founder of orgelradio project - 24/7 internet radio broadcasts of organ music. Since January 4, 2016 orgelradio has reached more than 74.000 listeners in 137 countries. Nico studied the organ in Belgium (Antwerp) with Stanislas Deriemaeker and Joris Verdin. He followed masterclasses with Marie-Claire Alain, Bernard Foccroulle, Daniel Roth, Harald Vogel, Jos Van Immerseel en studied one year with Guy Bovet in Switzerland. He played the organ and harmonium in several orchestras with conductors as Heinrich Schiff, Philip Herreweghe, Silvio Varviso, Eliahu Inbal and Neville Marriner. He recorded a harmonium cd on his big V.Mustelharmonium with celesta. This cd is completely sold out. From 2001 to 2005 he was stage manager at the Bayreuther Festspiele (D) where he could work with conductors like Pierre Boulez, Christian Thielemann and Andrew Davis and with directors l

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #63! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is James D. Hicks from the USA who is most known for his Nordic Journey project the aim of which is to promote rarely heard and undiscovered organ music from the Nordic countries. ​Just a little over a week ago I met James in Vilnius where he for the first time in Lithuania performed music from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland as well Faroe and Åland islands on the largest pipe organ in Lithuania - Vilnius University St. John's church. His recital extremely well received by the listeners - many of them told they loved it to our security guard. Prior to that, James performed a recital of Finish music on the world-famous Walcker organ at the cathedral in Riga, Latvia. Although James spent just a weekend in Lithuania, it was enough to inspire him get to know more about the Baltic culture and perhaps to perform and record a CD of the Baltic organ music in the not too distant future. James lives and works out of Ber