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The Many Faces of the Organ – Improv, Solos, Ensembles, and Concertos at 2024 Weiwuying Organ Festival
by CHEN Hsiang-yu
Organ lovers, get ready for a treat! The annual Weiwuying Organ Festival is set to take place from March 15 to 17, 2024. Once again, we will be teaming up with the Cultural Affairs Department of Pingtung County Government, and we have invited German organist Christian SCHMITT, a global name in today's music realm, to serve as the artistic director. At these two venues, a total of three concerts with differing features will be put on: SCHMITT and His Friends- One Night in Baroque Classics, A Fantasy of Dance, and A Matinee with Masters- Concerto Classics.
The first concert focuses on chamber music along with a couple of solos. With the accompaniment of the trumpet, flute, and piano, the elegance of Baroque music and the diverse appeal of the organ will be on display. For chamber music, we will hear HANDEL's Water Music Suite, No. 2, W. F. BACH's Flute Sonata in e minor, and LISZT's Les Préludes, Symphonic Poem No. 3. The solos will be J. S. BACH's most famous organ piece, Toccata and Fugue in d minor and J. S. BACH's piano piece Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. Performing alongside SCHMITT will be Grammy-nominee pianist Joseph MOOG, SWR Symphonieorchester Principal Flutist Tatjana RUHLAND, and former National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Principal Trumpeter HOU Chuan-an. If the organ and trumpet are a perfect match with a brilliant timbre, then the organ and flute express a gentle, spiritual sensation, while the piano and organ are a duel of kings! The concert will show how the organ is capable of expressing spectacular power, delicate tenderness, and a number of moods in between!
For the second concert, we will be at the Pingtung Performing Arts Center, site of the unique Flûte Formosa bamboo pipe organ. The pieces and format will also be quite interesting, turning away from the normally dignified, holy image of the organ for its lively, joyful side at the fingers of two Dutch organists. For the first half, Rotterdam Philharmonic organist Aart BERGWERFF will play a series of classic dance pieces, including multiple highly lauded ones by Argentine composer Astor PIAZZOLLA, Russian composer STRAVINSKY's Tango and select pieces from his ballet L'Oiseau du Feu (The Firebird), and Dutch composer Simeon ten HOLT's most renowned piece, Canto Ostinato. Improvisational performance was once a necessary skill for organists, and the organ was an indispensable component in setting the atmosphere of silent films in the early 20th century. So for the second half, the center will be transformed into a movie theater as Hayo BOEREMA of the St. Lawrence Church in Rotterdam will bring us back about a hundred years with live, improvised accompaniment to silent film. You probably never thought listening to a concert could be as casual and fun as going to a movie!
With the grandness of the organ when played in the company of a symphony orchestra, you get the feeling of two ensembles at times competing, at times cooperating, making the experience doubly mesmerizing. For the final concert of the festival, the audience will be treated to a blend of the Romantic and the modern with RHEINBERGER's Organ Concerto No. 1 in F Major, the Asian premiere of contemporary composer Guillaume CONNESSON's Concerto da Requiem, and PIAZZOLLA's Aconcagua, which will show how the organ can take the reins in leading symphony orchestra music regardless of style of music. In addition, FRANCK's Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra and CHAMINADE's Concertino for Flute and Orchestra in D Major will be performed. These outstanding works presented by five superb musicians along with the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Weiwuying General and Artistic Director CHIEN Wen-pin are to create a fascinating night of music to remember.
Program
2024/3/15(Fri)-3/17(Sun)
►2024 Weiwuying Organ Festival
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