Jonathan Rudy, most recent winner of the American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance (NYACOP) will perform at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 607 NE Madison Ave., Peoria, Illinois on Sunday, March 8 at 3:30 p.m. Entitled “World of Pipes:King of Instruments,” this innovative program will feature a variety of works from many different eras gathered together by these thoughts from the artist:
The Organ―grandest instrument the hand
Of man has placed in Music’s galaxy;
In which all Nature’s wondrous sounds are linked
In golden chains of countless harmonies.
Responsive to the touch of man’s weak hands
As if a giant’s fingers swept its keys
And called concordant voices from the depths,
The diapason of the storm-struck sea,
The thunder’s peal, the wind’s wild whistling wail,
The songs of swift-winged warblers in the air,
And the soft sighing of the ambient breeze
Temple of Tone art thou! The shrine supreme
Of Sound’s mysterious powers and richest gifts,
God-given thought alone could have inspired
The human mind to frame so grand a work;
Great Organ―Monarch of all Instruments!—George Ashdown Audsle
Words such as “strength” and “magnitude” often accompany descriptions of the pipe organ. Yet the true beauty of this glorious instrument is its flexibility and variety; for as Audsle’s poem suggests, it can articulate every tone and picture that human thought could possibly imagine. Today’s program will capture just a few of these “worlds” – distinct realms of sound and color – and will demonstrate just how diverse, and divine, organ music can be.
Jonathan D. Rudy
Works on the program will include the Grand Dialogue in C Major by Louis Marchand (1669-1732), the Prelude and Fugue in A minor by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), selections from Four Biblical Dances by Peter Eben (1929-2007), Fantasie No. 2 in D-Flat Major Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), as well as works by Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), American composer Pamela Decker (b. 1955), and French organist and composer Jean Guillou (b. 1930). Admission is $12 for Adults and $10 for Senior Citizens. Students and children are free.
For more information on Jonathan, please visit www.jonathandrudy.com.
Cathedral of St. Mary
607 NE Madison Ave. • Peoria, IL 61603 • (309) 682-5823
Admission: $12 Adults / $10 Senior Citizens / Children and Students free
Peoria Chapter of the American Guild of Organists 