Calgary Organ Festival

[KB7DQH]

Calgary Organ festival


By Jacquie Moore, Calgary Herald October 14, 2011



Nice pipes, coming to a church near you

1Thinking Outside the Bach   Think pipe organ and you likely hear righteous Sunday-morning hymns. While the fest does largely take place in churches across the city, Neil Cockburn, Head of Organ Studies at MRU and Artistic Director of this second annual fest, reminds us that organ music extends beyond the pews. "The theme from Phantom of the Opera is perhaps the best-known piece of popular organ music," he says. More recently, Montreal band Arcade Fire used a pipe organ to haunting effect on their 2006 album, Neon Bible.

2The King Lives Following a recital at St. Bavo's Church in Haarlem, Holland, Mozart called the church's 60-voice, 32-foot-pedal towered organ "the king of instruments." Cockburn, who once played at St. Bavo's, concurs. "It was amazing. Normally you can fit two or three stops in your hand on a pipe organ. These ones were bigger than door handles."

3Kids Like Pizza Believe it or not, they like pipe organs, too-ergo, the festival's youth-oriented workshop titled "Pedals, Pipes and Pizza." "The mechanics of organs are very interesting to kids," says Cockburn. "They'll get to look inside an organ and also get their first individual lesson."

4Organ Grind Organs aren't as popular as guitars for a number of reasons (for one, it's tough to find a roadie to lift 20 tons into the back of the bus), not the least of which is that it's a tricky instrument to learn. "There are different kinds of hard when it comes to playing organ music," says Cockburn. Attempt just about anything by French composer Marcel Dupré and you can skip aerobics class for the day. "You're moving your hands and feet and it's physically very challenging stuff."

5Putting the Fun Back in Funeral Music Calgary's Cantos Music Foundation, which on Monday hosts the lecture "Historical Organ Building: Should It Matter to Me?", is home to an impressive collection of organs, some dating back to the 18th century. Cockburn's favourite is the enormous 1924 Kimball theatre organ. "I love it because it's got nothing to do with the classical music I play-it's got drum and xylophone sounds. It puts the fun back into something I can get too serious about." -Jacquie Moore
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Calgary+Organ+festival/5548035/story.html#ixzz1b1RE0x92

Sounds like a fun event...
Eric
KB7DQH