The eighth annual Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI)Festival will pay tribute to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy on the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The event, which includes the performance of Mendelssohn’s vocal music and complete works for organ in a series of concerts that are open to the public, will be held Thursday, Oct. 29, through Sunday, Nov. 1. The concerts will be presented on the Craighead-Saunders organ in Christ Church, a new instrument modeled after an organ built by Adam Gottlob Casparini in 1776 for the Holy Ghost Church in Vilnius, Lithuania. The organ offers listeners the opportunity to experience Mendelssohn’s music on an instrument similar to the ones he knew and played in Germany.
More than 100 musicians, scholars, and organ builders from around the world will attend the festival’s conference sessions, which feature presentations on “Mendelssohn and the Contrapuntal Tradition” by the country’s leading Mendelssohn scholars, including R. Larry Todd, Arts and Science Professor of Music at Duke University, and William A. Little, Professor Emeritus of German and Music at the University of Virginia.
Public concert highlights include performances by guest artists Delbert Disselhorst, who taught organ at the University of Iowa for more than 35 years and has been featured in international festivals and concert series, and Jacques van Oortmerssen, winner of the 1976 Prix d’Excellence and professor of organ at the Amsterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands, who is known internationally as both a soloist and pedagogue.
In addition, Eastman School of Music faculty members David Higgs, Hans Davidsson, and William Porter will recreate Mendelssohn’s 1840 concert in Leipzig of Bach’s works, which revived interest in the 18th century composer.
Individual tickets for the concerts are $15 and are available for purchase through the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office by calling 585-454-2100. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time at Christ Church.
The EROI Festival, launched in 2002, is a celebration of the long-range EROI project designed to nurture and extend the Eastman School of Music’s distinguished tradition of the study and teaching of organ by making Rochester a global center for organ research and performance.
More information on the 2009 EROI Festival can be found online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/eroi/festival-2009.php .
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Calendar Listings:
Thursday, Oct. 29
8:30 p.m.
EROI Festival Organ Concert: Recreation of Mendelssohn’s 1840 Bach Concert in Leipzig. With Eastman School of Music faculty David Higgs, William Porter, and Hans Davidsson.
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Admission: $15, discounts with University of Rochester ID, available for purchase through the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office by calling 585-454-2100. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time at Christ Church.
Friday, Oct. 30
1:30 p.m.
EROI Festival Organ Concert with David Baskeyfield, Thatcher Lyman, Jonathan Wessler
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Free
Friday, Oct. 30
8:30 p.m.
EROI Festival Organ Concert with Delbert Disselhorst and the Eastman Chorale, William Weinert, director
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Admission: $15, discounts with University of Rochester ID, available for purchase through the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office by calling 585-454-2100. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time at Christ Church.
Saturday, Oct. 31
1:30 p.m.
EROI Festival Organ Concert with Eastman School faculty Hans Davidsson, David Higgs, William Porter
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Admission: $15, discounts with University of Rochester ID, available for purchase through the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office by calling 585-454-2100. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time at Christ Church.
Saturday, Oct. 31
8:30 p.m.
EROI Festival Organ Concert with Jacques van Oortmerssen and the Christ Church Schola Cantorum, Stephen Kennedy, director
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Admission: $15, discounts with University of Rochester ID, available for purchase through the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office by calling 585-454-2100. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time at Christ Church.
Sunday, Nov. 1
8:30 p.m.
EROI Festival Organ Concert with Eastman faculty member William Porter playing a concert of improvisations
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Free; followed by Compline with the Christ Church Schola Cantorum