This fall I begin my tenure as a Cathedral Organist at St. Joseph Cathedral in Wheeling, West Virginia. The Cathedral is an exquisite example of the Lombardy Romanesque architecture; it hosts two pipe organs: a three-manual Casavant Frères in the organ gallery, and a one-manual antiphonal Kilgen in the chancel.
I am very grateful for the opportunity and look forward to much inspiring music to come.
Soli Deo Gloria!
The Cathedral of St. Bavo, Haarlem, the Netherlands
September 1, 2012 at 3 pm (15h00)
Leidsevaart 146
2014 HE Haarlem
Joseph Adema Organ (1923)
PROGRAM
Prelude for a Prayer
Zvonimir NagyMeditation IX “I am who I am” (Exod. 2. Mose 3, 14)
From “Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity”
Olivier MessiaenLitany Ora Pro Nobis
Franz Liszt […]
Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 4 pm at St. Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Zvonimir Nagy (organ) and Edward Kocher (trombone) of Duquesne University.
Beckerath Organ (restored by Taylor & Boody)
The recital features organ and trombone repertoire inspired by prayer and meditation. Music can help us apperceive the sense of our inner being as well as encounter the divine in some beautifully mysterious ways. The pipe organ, with its wide array of sound colors, seems to be the perfect vehicle for this experience.
The nature of musical performance can also be appreciated as musical ritual, in terms of an induced spiritual ethos, rather than a mere execution of idiomatically constructed musical sequences. As a composer and organist, I investigate the notion of the religious in musical performance as experienced by both the performer and listener. As a result, the introspective setting of the presented repertoire invites one to contemplate the structure and meaning of prayer through sound, as portrayed by musical themes and gestures.
As incense rises, the recital unfolds like a spiral from the compositions written in the present day towards Franck’s monumental Prière, when it folds back almost where it has started.
PROGRAM
Prelude for a Prayer
Zvonimir Nagy (b. 1978)Incantation for a Holy Day, op. 64
Jean Langlais (1907-1991)Meditation (trombone & organ)
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)Prayer, op. 20
César Franck (1822-1890)Hosanna (trombone & organ)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)Sweet Hour of Prayer
“Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.”
William Bolcom (b. 1938)Intercessions
ImprovisationPrayer of Christ Ascending Towards His Father
“Father, I have manifested Thy name unto […]