60 days until my overseas recitals
I'm very much looking forward to playing my two recitals in Vilnius, Lithuania. My first recital is for the Christoper Summer Festival at St. Casimir's Church on July 9 and the second is at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Conventual Franciscans) on July 13. Both recitals will be published on my YouTube channel in due course. I'm immensely grateful to Vidas and Ausra Pinkevicius for helping me organise these events. Asides from the organs and churches, spending time with them and a few other friends from YouTube will be very memorable. The cuisine, culture and history of Lithuania is very fascinating to me.
I realise it has been close to 5 months since my last newsletter, but that doesn't mean I have been twiddling my thumbs being idle 😂. Probably the most exciting that has happened since then was my private tour of the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ. Murray Allan, the organ tuner and restorer of the organ since 2017, was kind enough to let this internet organist (along with his two friends) loose on the instrument. It's the word's newest and largest mechanical tracker-action pipe organ - six divisions, five manuals plus pedals, with 131 speaking stops served by 200 ranks consisting of 10,244 pipes. Some believe Liepāja’s Holy Trinity Cathedral has the world's largest mechanical organ, but this only has 131 stops, 4 manuals and over 7000 pipes. If we are talking about the largest unreconstructed organ, then Liepāja’s Holy Trinity Cathedral wins. It's probably safe to say that it's the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. (The first image of this newsletter is a selfie at the console). I'll leave you to drool over the console with the picture below.
And of course, here are some obligatory selfies and pictures to prove we were actually there (Callum Knox, David Molloy).
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank a couple of generous people, Marie Carter & Joe Youmans, for funding the Zoom H1E 32bit digital recorder (wishlist item). This portable unit has been a joy to use and will capture many more hours of organ audio. In fact, the Sydney Opera House video was captured using this device!
The Opera House video and the preceding organ recital at St. Stephen's Macquarie Street are available to watch below.
https://youtu.be/V9ux4EpIK1w?si=QodUcpYxmjIPChEA
https://youtu.be/AXhLP64WlYI?si=g1r9dl_EoR3WYjII
On Tuesday I will be playing at the local Tunes on Tuesday recital series which will give me another performance opportunity before my upcoming trip. The programme for Tuesday is as follows:
Denis Bédard (1950 - )
Suite du troisieme ton
Petit Plein Jeu
Grand Plein Jeu
Duetto
Tierce en taille
Basse et dessus de Trompette
Aria sur les Flutes
Grand Jeu
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 535
Denis Bédard (1950 - )
Cat Suite
Prrrelude
Cats at Play
Catnap
Toc-cat-a
I will publish this recital on the channel as soon as possible for your enjoyment. Once again, I thank you for your ongoing support, comments and friendship. Until next time, May the Fourth be with you! (a day later...)