THE 4th INTERNATIONAL ORGAN CONCERT SERIES @ ST. MARK'S CHURCH 2017
In the fourth year of our concert series, we are happy and pleased not only for the greater interest of the audience, but also for the enthusiasm of musicians who want to perform at the organ of St. Mark's Church. From the young to the old, from local to international artists, today we can speak about thirty international musicians who have performed in this concert series. They speak highly about Eisebarth's organ and the unique atmosphere of St. Mark's Church, but also about the organization of the concert series, thus promoting Croatia and, what is maybe even more important, they are gladly coming back.
This year's fil rouge are transcriptions for the organ, which are going to be present in all of the concerts. Transcriptions are much more than adaptation of favorite music for a new medium: quite common in anglosaxon and francophone countries, they are encouraging the ingenuity of the performer to treat the organ sound, and also push the boundaries of the organ technique – organists are nowadays playing on 3 or 4 keyboards at the same time with ease. Inovations in organ building of the 21st century are influenced by elements external to the organ that are imitating orchestral instruments. Thinking in that manner, through a careful selection of artists and their repertoire, we will be able to follow reflections of the sound of the organ through history but also to it's reaction on other sound media as well as ways in which it changed it's „voice“, earning the title that Mozart gave it, the king of instruments.
The concert series will open with royal sounds that fit the king of instruments perfectly. For the first time in Croatia, we will have a pleasure of hearing Jean-Baptiste Robin, one of four organists at the golden organ of Royal Chapel in Versailles Palace, who is both a composer and organist, just like his famous predecessors includiong Couperin, Marchand and Balbastre. We are especially looking forward to hearing his skillful transcriptions of Debussy's music. After Mr. Robin, our next guest from France will be Olivier Penin, titular organist of the basilica of St. Clotilde in Paris, the mythical place in the organ world, where many of the biggest french organists-composers held positions during the last 150 years, among them César Franck, Charles Tournemire and Jean Langlais. Their tradition will be represented by an integral performance of Franck's Three Chorales, as well as with chosen poetical moments of Tournemire's music. Frédéric Blanc, a great parisian organist and improviser, the last student of Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, is going to give a concert of transcriptions and improvisations, two aspects immanent in organ playing. After French musicians, we will be joined by an Italian organist Eugenio Maria Fagiani, who was the first western musician to perform in Syria since the start of the war. He will bring the sounds of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks. German organist Ulrich Walther will present his own transcriptions of works by M. Reger and J. S. Bach made in the style of M. Reger. Croatian artists featured in this year's concert series will be young organist Katarina Javora, and two amazing singers, soprano Monika Cerovčec and bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac, who will end this year's St. Mark's Organ Concerts with an Abscheidsmusik programme, consisting of a superb repertoire of art songs adapted for the organ. This concert will also be a reminder for all those who left us in different ways, but also those who supported this cycle from it's beginning with their moral and financial support. In that way we are remembering prof. Neven Valent, who passed away 5 years ago.
We are thankful for the continuos support which is this year again provided by the Parish of the St. Mark's Church, Zagreb Tourist Board, Croatian Performers' Rights Collecting Society, City of Zagreb, Ministry of Culture and other sponsors. With this series of 7 concerts we want to remind our fellow citizens, as well as our dear guests of Zagreb about the important fact in Croatian history: that this very church of St. Mark of the Upper Town bears the earliest record of Croatian organists and the organ as an instrument, whose sound echoed these ancient church walls of the oldest parish church in Zagreb as early as 1359. With this in mind, let everyone share a moment rich with history and art in this year's selection of music – welcome to the 4th St. Mark's International Organ Concert Series!
In the fourth year of our concert series, we are happy and pleased not only for the greater interest of the audience, but also for the enthusiasm of musicians who want to perform at the organ of St. Mark's Church. From the young to the old, from local to international artists, today we can speak about thirty international musicians who have performed in this concert series. They speak highly about Eisebarth's organ and the unique atmosphere of St. Mark's Church, but also about the organization of the concert series, thus promoting Croatia and, what is maybe even more important, they are gladly coming back.
This year's fil rouge are transcriptions for the organ, which are going to be present in all of the concerts. Transcriptions are much more than adaptation of favorite music for a new medium: quite common in anglosaxon and francophone countries, they are encouraging the ingenuity of the performer to treat the organ sound, and also push the boundaries of the organ technique – organists are nowadays playing on 3 or 4 keyboards at the same time with ease. Inovations in organ building of the 21st century are influenced by elements external to the organ that are imitating orchestral instruments. Thinking in that manner, through a careful selection of artists and their repertoire, we will be able to follow reflections of the sound of the organ through history but also to it's reaction on other sound media as well as ways in which it changed it's „voice“, earning the title that Mozart gave it, the king of instruments.
The concert series will open with royal sounds that fit the king of instruments perfectly. For the first time in Croatia, we will have a pleasure of hearing Jean-Baptiste Robin, one of four organists at the golden organ of Royal Chapel in Versailles Palace, who is both a composer and organist, just like his famous predecessors includiong Couperin, Marchand and Balbastre. We are especially looking forward to hearing his skillful transcriptions of Debussy's music. After Mr. Robin, our next guest from France will be Olivier Penin, titular organist of the basilica of St. Clotilde in Paris, the mythical place in the organ world, where many of the biggest french organists-composers held positions during the last 150 years, among them César Franck, Charles Tournemire and Jean Langlais. Their tradition will be represented by an integral performance of Franck's Three Chorales, as well as with chosen poetical moments of Tournemire's music. Frédéric Blanc, a great parisian organist and improviser, the last student of Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, is going to give a concert of transcriptions and improvisations, two aspects immanent in organ playing. After French musicians, we will be joined by an Italian organist Eugenio Maria Fagiani, who was the first western musician to perform in Syria since the start of the war. He will bring the sounds of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks. German organist Ulrich Walther will present his own transcriptions of works by M. Reger and J. S. Bach made in the style of M. Reger. Croatian artists featured in this year's concert series will be young organist Katarina Javora, and two amazing singers, soprano Monika Cerovčec and bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac, who will end this year's St. Mark's Organ Concerts with an Abscheidsmusik programme, consisting of a superb repertoire of art songs adapted for the organ. This concert will also be a reminder for all those who left us in different ways, but also those who supported this cycle from it's beginning with their moral and financial support. In that way we are remembering prof. Neven Valent, who passed away 5 years ago.
We are thankful for the continuos support which is this year again provided by the Parish of the St. Mark's Church, Zagreb Tourist Board, Croatian Performers' Rights Collecting Society, City of Zagreb, Ministry of Culture and other sponsors. With this series of 7 concerts we want to remind our fellow citizens, as well as our dear guests of Zagreb about the important fact in Croatian history: that this very church of St. Mark of the Upper Town bears the earliest record of Croatian organists and the organ as an instrument, whose sound echoed these ancient church walls of the oldest parish church in Zagreb as early as 1359. With this in mind, let everyone share a moment rich with history and art in this year's selection of music – welcome to the 4th St. Mark's International Organ Concert Series!
