Organ Landscape Ruhr
A Year with the Queen of Instruments
Organ at the Essen Cathedral / Photo: Martin Engelbrecht
With around 480 concerts at 70 venues scheduled for 2010, organists will be pulling out all the stops in the Ruhr, possibly even securing an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. The conurbation will swell with sound during the world’s largest organ festival, as local musicians and organists from the region’s twin towns and cities pitch in, talented youngsters in particular take their turn at the keyboard, and audiences enjoy premières and performances of compositions from the countries in which the Ruhr's twin towns are situated.
This ecumenical festival is an umbrella event for existing concert series organised by churches and local groups, which will take place in their usual form. The concerts will also put the actual venues and the "Queen of Instruments" in the spotlight: the Ruhr Metropolis is home to a veritable treasure trove of historical organs and masterpieces in the art of organ-building. In parallel to the festival, a book crammed with pictures and historical facts will present 60 of the most valuable and stunning instruments from the Ruhr. It will be published in January 2010 by Bachem Verlag, Cologne. The organ festival also includes walks that take in a wide variety of locations where organs can be heard, including magnificent, centuries-old places of worship with acoustic qualities that are often well worth a closer listen.
Inaugural concert: Friday, 15 January 2010, 19:00
Olivier Latry, organist at Notre-Dame in Paris,
Essen Cathedral, followed by a reception in the Marktkirche, Essen
Partners: Stefan Glaser, Project Manager, Diocesan Representative of Church Music of the Diocese of Essen; Marcus Strümpe, Cantor of the Salvator Church in Duisburg; Dr. Michael Schlagheck, Representative of the Diocese of Essen, Capital of Culture RUHR.2010; Reverend Andreas Volke, Director of the Protestant Office of Culture RUHR.2010; Ernst Kubitscheck, organist, Salzburg (A); Prof. Olivier Latry, titulaire organist at Notre-Dame, Paris (F); Philippe Lefebvre, titulaire organist at Notre-Dame, Marcq-en-Baroeul, Paris (F); Prof. Peter Planyavsky, former cathedral organist, Schwechat-Vienna (A); Prof. Daniel Roth, titulaire organist at St. Sulpice, Paris (F); Gionata Sgambaro, flautist, Paris (F); Prof. Marek Stefanski, organist at St. Mary’s Basilica, Krakow (PL); James Vivian, organist at Temple Church, London (GB) and the cities of: Bochum, Bottrop, Dinslaken, Dorsten, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Gevelsberg, Gladbeck, Hagen, Hamm, Herne, Kamp-Lintfort, Lünen, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Oberhausen, Recklinghausen (district), Werne, Wesel, Witten, Xanten, Brussels (B), Enfield, London (GB), Marcq-en-Baroeul, Paris (F), Salzburg, Vienna/Schwechat (A), Wodzisław (PL)
You can find further information (in German) at:
www.orgellandschaft-ruhr.de