Sietze de Vries
Friday, October 26, 2007, 8:00 p.m.
Westminster Presbyterian Church's annual organ series, Musica Organi, now entering its eighth season, continues to bring internationally renowned organists to our community and region. The past seven seasons have been filled with marvelous music-making by a number of the world's leading organists on Westminster's warm and colorful Richards, Fowkes organ. We continue our commitment to the community and region with this year's offerings, and we hope you will be able to join us for these two very special evenings.
The season begins Friday evening, October 26, 2007, at 8:00, with the Dutch concert organist Sietze de Vries.
On Friday evening, May 9, 2008, at 8:00, the recitalist is Annette Richards, Professor of Music and University Organist at Cornell University.
Made possible by a generous endowment, each recital is free of charge and open to the public. A nursery is provided. Come join us for two wonderful evenings of organ music!
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Sietze de VriesFriday, October 26, 2007, 8:00 p.m. |
Sietze de Vries received his first organ lessons from Jaap Niewenhuijse at the music school in Gouda. At the municipal conservatory in Groningen he studied with Johan Beeftink, Jan Jongepier (improvisation), and Wim van Beek. In 1994 he was awarded the pedagogy diploma summa cum laude as the last pupil of Wim van Beek in this subject. He holds the performance diploma from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where Jos van der Kooy was his teacher, and he also studied improvisation and church music there.
He is very active as a concert organist in the Netherlands and abroad, with concert tours and master classes that have taken him to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, England, and the United States. He has won fifteen different prizes in various national organ competitions, in both repertoire and improvisation. The high point of these activities was winning the international improvisation competition in Haarlem in 2002, where he had been a finalist in both 1998 and 2000.
Sietze de Vries has recorded several CDs of repertoire from all periods and improvisations in various styles. He is also increasingly active as a teacher of improvisation and as a composer.
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Annette RichardsFriday, May 9, 2008, 8:00 p.m. |
Annette Richards, Professor of Music and University Organist at Cornell University, divides her time between musical scholarship and performance. Born in London, she holds a bachelor's degree in English from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where she served as organ scholar. She received the Performer's Degree in Organ from the Sweelinck Conservatorium, Amsterdam, and the Ph.D. in musicology from Stanford University.
A specialist in music of the Italian and North German Baroque, Ms. Richards has concertized in the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Spain, Germany and the United States. She won third prize at the 1992 Dublin International Organ Competition and in 1994 first prize, with David Yearsley, at the Bruges Early Music Festival in the competition for organ duo. Her CD Melchior Schildt and the North German Organ Art, on the historic organ at Roskilde Cathderal, Denmark, is forthcoming from Loft Recordings.
Ms. Richards is equally active as a scholar. She has been a Fellow at the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities in Santa Monica, California, and at the Society for the Humanities at Cornell. From 2003 to 2005 she spent two years in Berlin, supported by a Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship and a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
She is author of The Free Fantasia and the Musical Picturesque (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and editor of C. P. E. Bach Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2006). Together with David Yearsley she is also editing the complete organ music of C. P. E. Bach for the new C. P. E. Bach: Complete Works (Packard Humanities Institute, forthcoming).
When Westminster Presbyterian Church commissioned Richards, Fowkes and Company in 1994 to build their Opus 7, what was envisioned was an instrument that would benefit not only the worship of the congregation but also music making in the community and the entire region. At the same time, Westminster was building a new sanctuary, incorporating into the design an ambiance and acoustic that would lend beauty and support to worship and musical offerings. The church was fortunate to have architect, acoustician, and organ builder in collaboration as this vision was brought into being.
Richards, Fowkes & Company's Opus 7 was installed and voiced beginning in September 1998 and was dedicated the following May with a recital given by Robert Clark, who served as the consultant. The organ is 33 ranks, with 25 stops on two manuals and pedal.
Richards, Fowkes and Company's Opus 7 is strongly influenced by the work of Arp Schnitger and the North German/Dutch tradition and yet reflects an eclecticism that successfully supports the wide range of musical demands placed on it by the many periods of church music included in worship and concerts at Westminster. Its sensitive mechanical action provides the player with an extraordinary intimacy of touch and infinite degree of control over the manner in which the air enters each pipe. The approach to voicing produces a warm, vocal, well-blended sound with color and interest; moreover, because the stops can be combined successfully in both conventional and uncommon ways, the instrument is very versatile and offers the player great artistic freedom. The sound is inviting and enveloping, intended to inspire the singing of hymns and other service music, accompany the choirs, and convincingly play most of the great organ literature.
Westminster is now sharing this wonderful new instrument and setting with the community and region in an annual series of organ recitals, Musica Organi. Many of the world's premier organists are being brought to our area as part of Westminster's musical outreach. The inaugural season, 2000-2001, featured recitals by Aart Bergwerff, David Higgs, and James David Christie. In 2001-2002 the recitalists were Douglas Reed, Edward Parmentier, and Christa Rakich. For the 2002-2003 series the organists were Robert Clark and Hans Davidsson, and for the 2003-2004 series Jacques van Oortmerssen and Craig Cramer. The 2004-2005 season featured John Rose and Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra. For the 2005-2006 season the recitalists were David Yearsley, Christa Rakich, and Pieter van Dijk. Performing for the 2006-2007 series were Magnus Kjellson and Peter Westerbrink.
Note: We maintain an archive of programs from these and other organ recitals at Westminster.
Westminster Presbyterian Church
6500 Northshore Drive
Knoxville, TN
37919
Telephone: (865) 584-3957
FAX: (865) 584-8840
E-mail:westminsterpres@comcast.net
From Interstate 40, use the Papermill exit and look for signs to Northshore Drive. Turn onto Northshore and follow it south as it crosses Kingston Pike. Move to the left lane (the right lane exits). As the road becomes two-lane watch for the church on the left just after Lyons Bend Road. (It is at the corner of Lyons Bend and Northshore.)
Please note: Highway construction on I-40 is in flux and likely to remain so for some time.
Updated 10/21/2007
Westminster
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