May 25, 2005
NEW YORK CITY—The American Guild of Organists (AGO) and the University of Notre Dame have partnered to produce the 13th AGO NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ORGAN PEDAGOGY at the University of Notre Dame, September 11–14. Organists, scholars, performers, students, and teachers will gather for four days of performances, lectures, materclasses, and discussions focusing on the music of Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707). The conference is designed to match instrument and repertoire with experts from around the world.
Conference presenters will include Kerala Snyder, distinguished author of Dieterich Buxtehude: Organist in Lübeck (Schirmer Books, 1987), who will present a keynote lecture each morning. Performers will include John Brock (University of Tennessee), James David Christie (Oberlin Conservatory), Craig Cramer (University of Notre Dame), Matthew Dirst (University of Houston), William Porter (Eastman School of Music and Yale University), Christa Rakich (New England Conservatory), David Yearsley (Cornell University), and Wolfgang Zerer (Musikhochschule, Hamburg, Germany). Lecturers will include John Brock, Leon Couch (Texas A & M University), Michael Dodds (Southern Methodist University), organbuilder Paul Fritts (Tacoma, Wash.), Ibo Ortgies (GoArt Organ Academy, Göteborg, Sweden), and Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra (Eastern Michigan University). Students will have an opportunity to participate in four masterclasses to be held during the conference.
The AGO Pedagogy Conference will be part of a year-long series of events celebrating Notre Dame’s new Fritts organ (II/35) in the Reyes Organ and Choral Hall, and the opening of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Reyes Hall is noted for its superb acoustics, similar to the North German churches in which the music of Buxtehude was first heard.
"The conference will unite teaching, scholarship, and performance, and the overriding goal will be to integrate these three disciplines always with an eye toward a more enlightened performance style among students and professionals," declared Craig Cramer, professor of organ at the University of Notre Dame. "The conference lectures will concentrate on keyboard techniques, improvisation, theoretical issues, performance, practice topics, and the historical situation of music in 17th-century North Germany.
The AGO Conference on Organ Pedagogy is sponsored by the University of Notre Dame Department of Music, College of Arts and Letters, the Boehnen Fund in the Arts, the Henkels Guest Lecture Fund, the Graduate School, and the O’Malley Endowment for Performances in Sacred Music. Complete conference information will be published in the July issue of The American Organist Magazine. Conference registration is available online at www.agohq.org/pedagogy. For further information, please contact Craig Cramer at 574-631-7836 or e-mail ccramer@nd.edu.
The AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS is the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields. Founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization, it sets and maintains high musical standards and promotes the understanding and appreciation of all aspects of organ and choral music. The mission of the AGO is to enrich lives through organ and choral music. The Guild currently serves approximately 19,000 members in more than 300 local chapters throughout the United States and abroad. The American Organist Magazine, the official journal of the AGO and the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, reaches an audience of more than 20,000 readers each month.
This information is submitted by F. Anthony Thurman, Director of Development and Communications at the National Headquarters of the American Guild of Organists and The American Organist Magazine. For further information, please contact Dr. Thurman by TEL (212) 870-2310, FAX (212) 870-2163 or E-MAIL fathurman@agohq.org.
