Organ Recitals

The final round of the Fifth Miami International Organ Competition was held at the Church of the Epiphany, Miami, Fla., on February 26, 2010. Sponsored by Fratelli Ruffatti and the Church of the Epiphany, the evening featured three finalists each playing a 25-minute program on the 61-rank Ruffatti organ; an enthusiastic audience of almost one thousand people was in attendance. The first prize of $5,000 as well as the $500 audience prize was awarded to David Baskeyfield, originally from England, now a Doctoral student of David Higgs at the Eastman School of Music. Jared Ostermann, currently a Doctoral student of James Higdon at the University of Kansas, received the $1,500 second prize. Third prize of $1,000 went to Clayton Roberts, currently a Master’s student of Robert Bates at the University of Houston. Michael Barone from Pipedreams was on hand as part of a weekend of organ events in South Florida. Judges for the 2010 competition were Cristina Garcia Banegas, Robert Bates, Andrew Canning, Douglas Cleveland, Brian Neal, and Peter Sykes. The Sixth Miami International Organ Competition will take place in early 2012; please check the Fratelli Ruffatti website for more information. www.ruffatti.com

Concerto in F Major (Hob. XVIII:7)                                                    Joseph Haydn
            I. Moderato                                                                              (1732-1809)
            II. Adagio
            III. Allegro

Marilyn McDonald, Violin I
Lisa Goddard, Violin II
Amir Eldan, Violoncello
James David Christie, Organ

Bagatelles, Op. 47                                                                                Antonin Dvořák
            I. Allegretto scherzando                                                            (1841-1904)
            II. Tempo di minuetto, grazioso
            III. Allegretto scherzando
            IV. Canon, Andante con moto
            V. Poco allegro

Marilyn McDonald, Violin I
Lisa Goddard, Violin II
Amir Eldan, Violoncello
James David Christie, Organ

Partita for English Horn and Organ, Op. 41, No. 4 (1954)                    Jan Koetsier
            I. Liberamente                                                                          (1911-2006)
            II. Larghetto
            III. Vivace
            IV. Andante sostenuto (Wie schön leucht' der Morgenstern)

James David Christie, OC ’75, M.M. ‘77 is Professor of Organ and Chair of the Department at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He also serves as Artist-in-Residence at the College of the Holy Cross as well as organist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Highly acclaimed all over the world as solo recitalist, Professor Christie also plays with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe. He served as organist at Senator Ted Kennedy’s funeral service in Boston. Winner of awards and prizes too numerous to list, he was the first American to win the coveted first prize at the International Organ Competition in Bruges, Belgium. Advanced organ students come from many countries to Oberlin to study with him.

Marilyn McDonald, a founding member of Castle Trio and the Smithson and Axelrod Quartets has toured worldwide as a chamber musician playing repertoire from baroque to contemporary. She is a consistently admired teacher and leader at Oberlin’s Baroque Institute each summer. She has been soloist with the Milwaukee and Omaha Symphonies, presented concerts at Caramoor Festival, Yale University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and the Mostly Mozart Festival, among others. As Professor of Violin at Oberlin Conservatory and Teacher of Baroque Violin, she has guided students to international competitions where they have consistently won prizes. In the past year she was honored with the “Excellence in Teaching” award at Oberlin. Most recently Ms. McDonald played with the Smithsonian Chamber Players at the Inauguration of President Obama.

Amir Eldan, formerly on the faculty at Juilliard, was appointed Assistant Professor of Cello at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2006 and became a member of the Oberlin Trio. He was the youngest member of the Metropolitan Opera orchestra when he won the position of Associate Principal Cellist at the age of 22. He received Doctor of Music and Master of Music Degrees from Juilliard after graduating cum laude from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has performed as soloist with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and the Juilliard Orchestra and performed in Ireland, England, France and Tel-Aviv. His New York debut featured the Double Concerto of Brahms, which he performed in Alice Tully Hall. He has offered master classes in the U.S., China and Israel.

Violinist Lisa Goddard is currently in her fourth year at Oberlin, pursuing degrees in violin performance and biology. Lisa has performed with the Oberlin Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster, the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra as Principal Second Violin and the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra. She has performed in Carnegie Hall in New York and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. She presently plays with Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. An active chamber musician, Lisa was a founding member of the Qatsi Quartet and the Wry Bread String Quartet. Her primary teachers include Marilyn McDonald, David Bowlin and William Starr.

Oberlin Conservatory senior oboist and English horn player David Barford, studies with Robert Walters, solo English horn of the Cleveland Orchestra, and Alex Klein, former principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has performed frequently in Oberlin's orchestras, most notably playing principal on Mahler’s First Symphony. This past summer, he was a fellow at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where he studied with Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, principal oboist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and David Weiss, former principal of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In November 2008, David participated in the Weill Institute’s Orchestral Repertoire Workshop at Carnegie Hall and performed in Weill Recital Hall. He has also studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Simone Gheller is a native of Padua, Italy. He attended the Pedrollo Conservatory, Vicenza, and graduated cum laude from the Venezze Conservatory, Rovigo; he received a diploma in church music in Prato. He then attended the University of Vienna, Austria, where he received his Concert Organist Diploma under the tutelage of Michael Radulescu and Roman Summereder. In 2008, he received the Medaille d'Or en Superieur d'Interpretation under Prof. Eric Lebrun at the CNR-Saint Maur des Fossés, France. He won first prizes in 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2000 in the Citta’ da Viterbo National Organ Competition, the Vegezzi-Bossi International Organ Competition in Alexandria, and both the first prize and the Gold Medal of the President of the Republic in the 1999 Giarda Competition, Rome. In 2007, Simone won first prizes in the Korschenbroich (Germany) International Organ Competition and the André Marchal International Organ Competition, Biarritz, France; at the latter, he was also awarded the Prize of the Audience and prizes for the best interpretations of Bach and French music. A candidate for the Artist Diploma, Simone studies organ under Prof. James David Christie and Church Music under Prof. Jack Mitchener. He is Organist of The First Church in Oberlin, U.C.C.

JinHee Kim is 24 years old and a native of Seoul, Republic of South Korea. As of September 2009, she has been an Artist Diploma candidate, studying organ under Prof. James David Christie and Church Music under Prof. Jack Mitchener. JinHee undertook her undergraduate studies in organ performance with Prof. Tong-Soon Kwak at Yonsei University. She was awarded the Yonsei University Alumni Scholarship as well as a University Scholarship and graduated summa cum laude. She has performed extensively in her native Korea and was the Second Prize winner of the 2003 Jangsin National Competition and the Silver Prize winner of the First Korean National Pipe Organ Competition in 2007. JinHee is currently Minister of Music and Organist at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Parma, Ohio; she also serves as accompanist for the Oberlin Women’s Chorus and as organist for services in Oberlin’s Fairchild Chapel.

Melanie Williams, a sophomore at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studies flute with Professor Michel Debost. She began learning the flute at the age of five and has studied with her grandfather Dr. Frank Williams, Amy Porter, Nicole Esposito, Julia Bogorad, Kenichi Ueda and Betty Bang Mather. Melanie has performed in a master class of Louis Moyse and was selected, through national competitive audition, as a Suzuki convention master class performer for Toshio Takahashi, founder of the Suzuki Flute method. In addition, she was a flutist in both the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and its chamber group, Encore, under the direction of Maestro Allen Tinkham. Melanie has performed as flute soloist with the Central Iowa Symphony, the Oskaloosa Symphony, the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has also won first and second prizes in the high school division of the Des Moines Symphony’s 2006 and 2007 Young Artist Competitions, and first prize in the 2003, 2005 and 2006 Iowa Flute Wonders Solo Competitions.

14 mars 2010 - 16h
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Rennes

Orgue de chœur Merklin (1869)
Florence Rousseau, Loïc Georgeault (*), orgue

WWW.FLORENCE-ROUSSEAU.COM

Félix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Sonate n°1, en fa mineur (*)

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
Three preludes for organ (*)
« Bryn Calfaria »
« Rhosymedre »
« Hyfrydol »

Charles Tournemire (1870 – 1939)
Chorals-Poèmes pour les sept paroles du Christ
Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso
Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani

César Franck (1822 - 1890)
Deuxième choral en si mineur

_______________________________________________

All concerts take place at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue at 84th Street, New York City, easily reached via the 4/5/6 subway lines or buses on Madison, Lexington, and Fifth Avenues, and on 86th Street. The church is accessible to the physically challenged.

Tickets are available online through www.smssconcerts.org or by calling the concert information line at 212-288-2520; VISA, MasterCard, American Express and Discover accepted. Concert information is available at Sacred Music in a Sacred Space’s website at www.smssconcerts.org. Email inquiries may also be sent to music@saintignatiusloyola.org.