Do you know any advanced organists entering a high school grade this fall? Please encourage them to apply today for the 2019 Pipe Organ Encounter (Advanced) in Houston! Sponsored by the Houston (Tex.) Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the POEA will feature world-class organs, internationally recognized faculty from around the nation, and of course many unique Texas traditions! On Monday, June 24, we’ll take a behind-the-scenes tour of NASA’s Space Center Houston – this isn’t the regular public tour, folks! Tuesday afternoon will feature a class on music marketing and technology led by S. Andrew Lloyd (University of Texas at San Antonio) followed by a hymn playing and liturgical improvisation class and silent film performed by … [Read more...]
Calling All Advanced Organists Entering a High School Grade This Fall…
Marilyn Mason: 1925-2019
The organ world has grown smaller with the passing of legendary organist, scholar, teacher, and performer, Marilyn Mason, yesterday in Florida. Dr. Mason was the foremost champion for commissioning new music for the organ and the benefactor of the AGO/Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition. Marilyn Mason's performing career took her around the globe. She was the first female organist ever to perform at Westminster Abbey, the first female organist to play in Latin America, and the first American organist to perform in Egypt. She was named the International Performer of the Year by the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists in 1988 and was honored at the AGO Endowment Fund Gala in 2009. She was the subject of an AGO … [Read more...]
March 2019 TAO Feature Article
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, North Carolina Fisk Opus 147 View an enlarged cover View the Stop List by Gregory Bover In the early spring of 2014, C.B. Fisk received a request for a proposal from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, asking us to imagine an organ for the new Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, then in the middle stages of design. The planned building was enormous: 43,000 square feet of floor space with seating for 2,000 people under a barrel-vault ceiling nearly 80 feet high. Although we have built more organs in North Carolina than in any other state except Massachusetts, this would be our first new instrument in a Catholic church in 50 years. Our enthusiastic response included two … [Read more...]
New on Vox Humana: The Surviving Organs of David Tannenberg
Philip T.D. Cooper discusses the nine surviving instruments by David Tannenberg, one of America's first organ builders. Read on Vox Humana … [Read more...]
National Endowment for the Arts
AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS AWARDED $20,000 GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS NEA Funding Will Support Educational Programs in 2019 NEW YORK CITY — The American Guild of Organists (AGO) has been awarded a $20,000 Art Works grant by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support educational programs and career development for organists and choral conductors in 2019. The Guild has received regular support from the NEA since 2005 totaling $200,000. “It is an honor for the Guild to be recognized again by the NEA, the most prestigious independent federal agency in the United States responsible for funding and promoting artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation,” stated AGO Executive Director James Thomashower. … [Read more...]
Frederick Hohman is the 2019 Pogorzelski-Yankee Awarded Composer
Frederick Hohman's commissioned composition, The Organ Icons, will be premiered March 3, 2019 at 4PM, at Daniel DiCicco Hall at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. For those who can't attend in person, the recital will be streamed live on the AGO website. Sunday, March 3, 3:00PM: Pre-concert discussion Sunday, March 3, 4:00PM: Recital featuring Katelyn Emerson on the Pogorzelski-Yankee organ The Organ Icons THE ORGAN ICONS takes its inspiration from the 16th-century Parody Masses as were composed by Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594), where excerpts from bawdy secular songs were incorporated into the compositional fabric of sacred choral compositions sung in the Mass. In the Parody Mass, … [Read more...]
2019 AGO Gala Honors John Walker
JOHN WALKER TO BE HONORED AT AGO ENDOWMENT FUND DISTINGUISHED ARTIST AWARD RECITAL AND GALA BENEFIT RECEPTION IN PITTSBURGH Colleagues, Students, Loved Ones, and Friends from Across the Country Will Gather to Celebrate His Lifetime Achievements at AGO Endowment Fund Benefit Click for more information or to purchase tickets, ads, or sponsorships NEW YORK CITY — The American Guild of Organists (AGO) has selected internationally acclaimed organist and teacher JOHN WALKER as the honoree for the 2019 AGO Endowment Fund Distinguished Artist Award Recital and Gala Benefit Reception on Friday, April 26, in Pittsburgh. The public is invited to attend. Complete information is available online at Agohq.org/2019-gala. The celebration begins … [Read more...]
Music on Demand: Residential Pipe Organs in America
Scott Hummel discusses the player pipe organs that became popular in American homes at the turn of the twentieth century. … [Read more...]
New on Vox Humana: Historic Organ Restorations in Cortona, Tuscany
Gian Carlo Ristori, Chairman of Organi Storici Cortona, discusses cataloguing, preserving, and organizing restorations of historic organs in Tuscany, Italy. Read now … [Read more...]
Three Organs in Need: A New Fairy Tale
Celebrated author, librettist, and poet Marec Béla Steffens presents a new fairy tale about three pipe organs who desperately need repairs, and are willing to use any means necessary to get them. Artwork: “Organ-ised Crime” (2018) by Krystyna Steffens. Three Organs in Need: A New Fairy Tale … [Read more...]
