EROI Festival 2012
September 27 - 30
Eastman School of Music

“Bach and the Organ”
Peter Williams, keynote speaker

Presented in conjunction with the biennial meeting of the American Bach Society

Made possible with support from the Westfield Center and the American Bach Society.

This year’s festival, a collaboration between the American Bach Society, Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative, and the Westfield Center, will explore many aspects of Johann Sebastian Bach’s connection to the organ. The program includes exciting new scholarship by internationally recognized Bach scholars on topics ranging from the organ’s role in eighteenth century vocal instrumental music, manuscript studies, and the instrument in eighteenth century context and society, among others. Performances will feature solo organ works and cantatas by Bach and his circle on the Craighead-Saunders Organ and Hook & Hastings Organ Opus 1573 at Christ Church, the Italian Baroque Organ at the Memorial Art Gallery, the Fritts Organ at Sacred Heart Cathedral, and the pedal clavichord. Join us for what promises to be a synergetic meeting of scholars, performers, and instrument builders.

Registration for the Conference is now FULL.
Registration is Closed.

Individual tickets to many public concerts are still available. Click here for more information.

Please consider joining us next year for a conference devoted to the legacy of Anton Heiller, September 26 - 29, and the Westfield Organ Competition and Academy.
Details coming soon.

With the aim of making Rochester a global center for organ performance, research, building, and preservation, the Eastman School of Music has begun to assemble a collection of new and historic organs unparalleled in North America. An incomparable teaching resource, this collection will offer access to organs of diverse styles and traditions to talented young musicians from around the world. Tourists, scholars, and music lovers will be drawn to Rochester to hear the varied sounds of these extraordinary instruments.

The realization of EROI will include the placement of two European-style organs in downtown Rochester. A historic Italian Baroque organ was installed in the University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery in 2005. The Craighead-Saunders organ, closely modeled after a Lithuanian organ built by Casparini in 1776, was constructed and installed in Christ Church (Episcopal) in 2008, in cooperation with the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester. The renovation of the historic E.M. Skinner organ, housed in the Eastman School's Kilbourn Hall, the restoration and installation of an 1893 Hook and Hastings, and the restoration and replacement of the School’s fourteen practice organs, will complete the initial phase of this 10-year plan.

Eastman's Organ Department

When the Eastman School of Music opened its doors in 1921, it housed the largest and most lavish organ collection in the nation, befitting the interests of its founder, George Eastman. Mr. Eastman provided the School with opulent facilities and stellar faculty, creating an expansive vision for organ art and education in the 21st century. Over the years, the Eastman School has built on this vision by offering one of the most distinguished organ programs in the world. In keeping with this tradition of excellence, the Eastman School of Music has embarked on a long-range plan, the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI), that will extend George Eastman’s vision into the 21st century.