Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI)
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.
EROI News and Past Events
EROI Festival 2011, Improvisation and Organ Pedagogy
November 10 - 13, 2011 at the Eastman School of Music
EROI Festival 2010, Pedaling through Time:
New Perspectives on Pedal Technique
November 11-14, 2010 at the Eastman School of Music
The 2009 EROI Festival, Mendelssohn and the
Contrapuntal Tradition
October 29 - November 1, 2009 at the Eastman School of Music
October 16-20, 2008 at the Eastman School of Music
March 28, 2007



