Concerts & Recitals

Posts about Concerts and Recitals.

Eccles Organ Festival: Twenty-sixth Season

All Eccles Organ Festival Recitals are given on Sundays at 8:00 PM at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, UT. All events are offered free of charge and open to the public. Donations are welcome.

Here are links to the first few events. You may be particularly interested in the open console events that are offered this season!

Sign-up is required; please see event web page.
Sign-up is required; please see event page.

Recital – Sebastian Greim at St. Ambrose Catholic Church

Young German organist Sebastian Greim will give a recital at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Salt Lake City on Tuesday evening, September 3rd at 7:00 p.m.  Admission is free.  The church is located at 1975 South 2300 East.

Sebastian Greim was born in 2000 in the vicinity of the Fichtel Mountains in Bavaria, Germany.  At a young age he began playing the accordion and later branched out to the organ and piano. He currently studies the organ under Reinhold Schelter in Wunsiedel, Bavaria.  In 2018, he won first prize in the German “Jugend Musiziert” (“Young Musicians”) competition.  Since that time, he has given numerous organ recitals and performances with soloists, including mezzo-soprano Anna-Katharina Hilpert. Having successfully passed his A-level examinations in 2019, Sebastian will begin his university studies in church music in 2020.  During his spare time, he volunteers as a paramedic for the German Red Cross.

SLCAGO Sponsors Eccles Organ Festival

This year (2019), the SLCAGO is formalized and increased its sponsorship of and partnership with the famous Eccles Organ Festival. The Eccles Organ Festival is an internationally recognized organ recital series, which seeks to provide the highest quality and most engaging organ performances free of charge to Salt Lake audiences, as well as masterclasses and public lectures.

An important part of the AGO’s mission is to provide opportunities for organists to hear great organ music. Recitals and concerts are important both for enriching the community’s arts programs and for inspiring organ students’ vision of what is possible on their chosen instrument.

The SLCAGO fulfills this part of its mission—recitals and concerts—primarily through its partnership with the Eccles Organ Festival. Please visit https://ecclesorganfestival.weebly.com/ to see what the 2019 season has in store! All of the Festival’s event are also included in our Events Calendar.

CANCELED: SLCAGO Fall Kickoff: Temple Square Performances: Raul Prieto Ramirez Recital

Update Sep 25: We are sad to announce that Raul Prieto Ramirez has had to cancel his scheduled performance this Friday. Treatment for a severe flare-up of tendonitis, which I am certain many of you have suffered, is forcing rest. Our reception is also canceled, of course. We will keep you updated with information about future events.

The recital and reception will be held Friday, September 27, 2019 @ 7:30 PM in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

The SLCAGO kicks off the 2019-20 season by joining Temple Square Performances to bring you this recital by Raul Prieto Ramirez. The recital will be followed with a private reception for AGO members and donors.

Ramirez is a Spanish-born organist recently appointed as San Diego California Civic Organist at Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park. You can read more about him here: https://www.raulpr.com/prueba-home-2.

AGO Members and Donors are invited to join us for a private reception with the artist following the concert. This is the perfect place to meet up with fellow chapter members to start off the season. This replaces our traditional potluck kickoff event.

We think you will really enjoy this concert and we look forward to seeing you at the reception!

Recital: Agnieszka Rybak-Piotrowska on Temple Square

Polish organist Agnieszka Rybak-Piotrowska will be giving a solo organ recital in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square on Tuesday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m.  Her program is titled, “A God of Miracles: The Miracle on the Vistula,” and will tie in to the Polish national holiday of August 15, during which the Polish people celebrate their country’s 1920 victory over Soviet-Russia during the Polish-Soviet War. 

AGO Certification — Will You Join Me?

When we release our 2019-20 program details, you’ll some increased focus in AGO Certification this year. We are very excited about certification and the benefits it can bring all organists, whether professional, volunteer, or hobbyist.

This month’s TAO (The American Organist, July 2019), includes a few certification testimonials in an article entitled, “AGO Professional Certification” that goes right along with our chapter focus. (Read TAO online at agohq.org.)

My favorite is this one:

The AGO examinations, which test many areas of skill, promote a complete musicianship that has always been an organist’s hallmark. For me, the study and practice leading up to each exam were as fulfilling as the sense of achievement when I passed.

—David Enlow, FAGO, ARCCO

So, I’m going to throw out the challenge now. I am going to go for my Service Playing certification this season! I am not trained. I am a volunteer organist. I play Sundays in my LDS congregation and I really have very little aspiration for organ repertoire. However, I have great aspiration for what David wrote above: “a complete musicianship that has always been an organist’s hallmark.”

Every organist, whatever one’s role, needs that next-step musicianship. I know already from experience that each step up in my skills increases my enjoyment of the organ. Now, certification is my next step. July 2019 TAO also documents the 2020 AGO Professional Certification Requirements. You can also find them on agohq.org.

So, will you join me?