Aug. 1, 2011
NEW YORK CITY — The American Guild of Organists (AGO) and the Eastman School of Music are partnering to produce the 16th biennial AGO National Conference on Organ Pedagogy, November 10–13, 2011, in Rochester, N.Y. The conference, designed in cooperation between the AGO Committee on Continuing Professional Education and the 10th annual Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) Festival, will present the topic of organ improvisation through a variety of compositional techniques and styles. Complete information, including online registration, is available at www.esm.rochester.edu/eroi. Early registration discounts are available through August 15.
"The goal of the AGO's pedagogy conferences is to address various topics and issues pertaining to organ instruction in North America," declared David Heller, director of the AGO Committee on Continuing Professional Education. "The City of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music, with its multiplicity of instruments and performing venues, will provide a superb setting in which to address the topic of improvisation from many different angles, providing information and resources that will be useful to all instructors of the organ at all levels of instruction."
The four-day conference will present master classes featuring students at a variety of levels, panel discussions addressing the teaching of improvisation, and sessions that will provide attendees with resource material in the pedagogy of improvisation. The keynote address, Why Is Improvisation So Difficult?, will be given by Eastman faculty member William Porter.
A distinguished faculty of internationally renowned organists and teachers working in the discipline of organ improvisation will include Jeffrey Brillhart (Yale University), Tony Caramia (Eastman), Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin (Royal College of Music, London), Hans Davidsson (Eastman), Michael Dodds (University of North Carolina School of the Arts), Gerre Hancock (Butler School of Music, University of Texas), David Higgs (Eastman), Denise Lanning (Denver Chapter, AGO), Rudolf Lutz (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis), William Marvin (Eastman), Bruce Neswick (Indiana University), David Peckham (Horseheads United Methodist Church, Horseheads, N.Y.), McNeil Robinson (Manhattan School of Music), Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra (author of Bach and the Art of Improvisation), John R. Shannon (Sweet Briar College), and Daniel Zager (Eastman).
For further information, please contact please contact EROI Festival Coordinator Annie Laver at 585-274-1564 or e-mail anne.laver@rochester.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.
