Returning after a sabbatical year away, Cornell organists David Yearsley and Annette Richards are as inspired as ever by the superb Cornell organs. They hope audiences will be too, and invite everyone to join them throughout the fall for a season of music that brings together historical traditions, contemporary works, and the remarkable instruments of Sage Chapel and Anabel Taylor Chapel.
This fall, the Midday Music for Organ series presents "Soundtracks to Six Chapters in the History of the Organ." Each of the six Wednesday lunchtime recitals follows a different theme, juxtaposing the ancient with the contemporary, the Baroque with the modern, and the old with the new. New this year, Cornell introduces a series honoring longtime Cornell University Organist Donald R. M. Patterson, featuring two full-length recitals. See the full semester schedule below.
All events are free and open to the public.
Soundtracks to Six Chapters in the History of the Organ
Wind Power
Wednesday, September 2, 12:30–1:10 p.m.
Sage Chapel
David Yearsley and Annette Richards
Wind Power explores the organ’s capacity for endless breath. The program travels from the sublime slowness of Olivier Messiaen’s "L’Apparition de l’Église éternelle" to the hot-air fantasy of J. S. Bach’s infamous Toccata and Fugue in D minor; from Girolamo Frescobaldi’s magical coaxing of tuneful counterpoint from a free-spirited bird in "Capriccio sopra Il Cucco" to the breathless dance of twenty-first-century Canadian composer Rachel Laurin’s "Toccatina"; and finally to a Cornellian Bolero on the Aeolian-Skinner organ by David Yearsley, cleared once again for take-off.
Color and Light
Wednesday, September 23, 12:30–1:10 p.m.
Anabel Taylor Chapel
Annette Richards
Color and Light fills Anabel Taylor Chapel with the spectral timbres of the German Baroque organ, heard in music by Dieterich Buxtehude, Georg Böhm, Arvo Pärt, and Nikolaus Bruhns.
Lunch Bachs
Wednesday, October 7, 12:30–1:10 p.m.
Anabel Taylor Chapel
David Yearsley
Lunch Bachs invites audiences to marvel and mug, weep and wince at three midday masterpieces by J. S. Bach, performed by David Yearsley, with a side order of an ill-advised organ duet served up by that scurrilous would-be son of the clan, P. D. Q. Bach.
Echoes and Elaborations
Wednesday, October 28, 12:30–1:10 p.m.
Sage Chapel
Tim Pyper
In Echoes and Elaborations, the organ enters the nineteenth century with music by Felix Mendelssohn and César Franck, performed on the Aeolian-Skinner organ in Sage Chapel by Cornellian Tim Pyper (DMA, 2011). The program also features new music by contemporary composer and Cornellian Zachary Wadsworth (DMA, 2012).
Reflecting Bach
Wednesday, November 11, 12:30–1:10 p.m.
Anabel Taylor Chapel
Annette Richards, with colleagues and friends from the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative
Reflecting Bach asks how J. S. Bach’s contemporaries, sons, students, and successors responded to the beauty, virtuosity, and originality of his organ music. This program welcomes colleagues and friends from the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative, whose annual festival comes to Ithaca this year.
Tradition and Experimentation
Wednesday, December 2, 12:30–1:10 p.m.
Sage Chapel
Cornell organists and friends
The final Midday Music for Organ program of the fall explores Tradition and Experimentation in the Advent and Christmas seasons, with music by Louis Vierne, J. S. Bach, Nicolas de Grigny, Jeanne Demessieux, and Olivier Messiaen.
The Donald R. M. Patterson Organ Recital Series
Double Vision
Sunday, September 27, 3:00 p.m.
Sage Chapel
Annette Richards and David Yearsley
Double Vision presents original music and transcriptions for two organists at one instrument, including works by members of the Bach family, Antonio Soler, W. A. Mozart, Gioachino Rossini, and others.
Distinguished Guest Artist: Renée Anne Louprette
Tuesday, November 17, 7:30 p.m.
Anabel Taylor Chapel
Renée Anne Louprette
Cornell welcomes distinguished guest artist Renée Anne Louprette for an evening of organ music spanning the seventeenth through twenty-first centuries. Her program features works by Dieterich Buxtehude, Matthias Weckmann, Girolamo Frescobaldi, György Ligeti, and Régis Campo.
