Saturday 12th November from 10.30am - Greg Abrahams
Come and enjoy coffee and cake from 10.30am and a 40-minute recital from 11am given by Greg Abrahams, Director of Music at St Michael’s, Bishop’s Cleeve. Suggested donation for the organ fund £5 for adults, free for under 18s
Australian-born Greg Abrahams is the Music Director at St, Michaels and All Angels, Bishops Cleeve. Since coming to England, Greg has performed regularly in the Cathedrals in the West Country, twice at Westminster Abbey, Notre Dame in Paris, Washington National Cathedral, Trinity Church in Boston MA, St. Thomas’ Fifth Avenue New York, toured Slovakia twice and returned to Australia numerous times to give recitals. As well as holding professional music qualifications, Greg is a Chartered Engineer and has a degree in computing. Until recently his proper job was lecturing in Information Technology at a University.
Greg's programme is:
Passacaglia and Fugue BWV582 - J.S. Bach
Organ Sonata No 8 e minor – J. Rheinberger
Fuge, Intermezzo, Scherzoso, Passacaglia
Forthcoming Organ Elevenses recitals are as follows:
17 December - Owain Park
Owain is Junior Organ Scholar of Wells Cathedral, and before taking up that post was Organ Scholar at Westbury-on-Trym Parish Church. He will take up the Organ Scholarship at Trinity College Cambridge in 2013. He holds the ARCO diploma.
14 January - Ian Ball, Worcester
Ian Ball enjoys a dual career as lawyer and musician. Ian was educated at Bolton School, the University of Oxford, the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of the West of England. He won organ scholarships to St Peter's College, Oxford and Manchester Cathedral, and his teachers have included David Sanger, Gordon Stewart and Peter Hurford. Further studies were pursued in Paris with Naji Hakim at La Trinité. Ian is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and a member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.
Ian's programme is:
Omnes de Saba venient (from Le Tombeau de Duruflé) David Briggs
Toccata improvisée: «Marche des Rois» Pierre Cochereau trans. Briggs
Two chorale preludes from Orgelbüchlein:
Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin (BWV 616)
Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (BWV 617) JS Bach
Mihtâr Youssif (from 14 Christmas Improvisations) Naji Hakim, trans. Ball
Gershwinesca Naji Hakim
11 February - Paul Walton, Bristol Cathedral
Paul Walton studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, and was the Sydney Nicholson Organ Scholar at Manchester Cathedral from 1999 - 2001. In September 2001, Paul became Assistant Organist at Bristol Cathedral. He accompanies the Cathedral Choir, regularly gives recitals, and directs the Cathedral Chamber Choir and the Cathedral Consort.
10 March - John Davenport, All Saints', Clifton
John Davenport was a Chorister at Portsmouth Cathedral and Winchester College and was awarded the Henry Smart Organ Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. He has been involved in the Bristol musical scene since 1982, when he was appointed Director of Music at Clifton College. He is Director of Music at All Saints, Clifton.
14 April - Oliver Condy
Oliver won a music scholarship to Ellesmere College and subsequently spent a year in Paris where he studied with Susan Landale at the Conservatoire National de Région de Rueil Malmaison. In 1997, as part of an English and French degree at Cardiff University, he returned to Paris where he continued studying the organ with Mme Landale while teaching English at Lycée Montaigne. The year culminated in him being awarded a ‘Premier Prix’. After graduating in 2000, Oliver completed an MA in organ performance studies at Cardiff University, studying under the renowned Bach scholar Peter Williams. He has been the editor of BBC Music Magazine since 2004 before which he was deputy editor of Classic FM Magazine. Oliver's Organ Elevenses recital programme will include Bach, Howells and Vierne.
12 May - Richard Johnson (as part of Community Fair)
Westbury-on-Trym Parish Church's organist Richard Johnson is the mastermind behind the Organ Elevenses recital series. He combines a professional career as a patent attorney with a busy schedule of musical activities. His double life began at Oriel College in the University of Oxford, where he held both the organ scholarship and an academic scholarship in physics. Whilst at Oxford, Richard studied the organ with Martin Schellenberg and was also Director of Music at Pusey House and founder conductor of the Oxford University Medical Society Orchestra. He lives and works in Bristol, and is a member of Exultate Singers and accompanist to the City of Bristol Choir. Richard holds the LRSM diploma in organ performance.
For future local and national concerts, see www.organrecitals.com