At Saint Olaf, we are blessed to have a magnificent 67-rank pipe organ. This fall, it will be showcased in a series of recitals on Wednesday afternoons, immediately following the noon Mass. Come hear the organ thunder with might and whisper gently as talented organists showcase a variety of repertoire.
Wednesday Organ Recitals run from September 21 through May 17, and will be approx. 30-40 minutes long. Freewill donation.
PROGRAM:
Dieterich Buxtehude (1634-1707)
Magnificat
Primi Toni, BuxWV 203
Johann Nepomuk David (1895-1977)
Kleine Partita „O Welt, ich muß dich
laßen“
Georg Muffat (1653-1704)
from Apparatus Musico-Organisticus (1690)
Ciacona
Toccata
Septima
Award-winning
organist Dean Billmeyer is in his forty-first year as University Organist and
Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota. In this capacity, he has
taught classes in Counterpoint, Thoroughbass, and Keyboard Skills, as well as
Organ and Harpsichord. Dr. Billmeyer has appeared as a recitalist and clinician
throughout the United States and Western Europe – his performances have
consistently been acclaimed by juries and critics in the U.S. and abroad for
their technical prowess and interpretive insight. His numerous awards include
prizes in the Dublin International Organ Festival Competitions in 1980 and
1988. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, the AGO has twice awarded
him for the highest scores nationally on the Guild Certification Examinations.
Billmeyer’s
Double CD recording entitled “Straube Plays Bach” is the only commercially
available recording of nine major Preludes and Fugues and G Minor Fantasia and
Fugue on early 20th century German tubular-pneumatic action organs
using the idiosyncratic, hyper-Romantic 1913 edition of Karl Straube, the
famous organist and cantor of the Leipzig St. Thomas Church. The recording,
released by Rondeau Production of Leipzig in 2018, was nominated for the “Preis
der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” as one of the best classical recordings in
Germany in that year. The CDs also received a positive review in the Munich
“Abendzeitung” in February 2019.
Dean
Billmeyer’s teachers include the late David Craighead (Eastman School of
Music), the late Robert Anderson (Southern Methodist University), and Michael
Radulescu (Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna). He has
appeared regularly as organist, harpsichordist, and pianist over the last
twenty-two seasons with both the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra. He currently serves as Organist-in-Residence at St. John the
Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul.
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