Summer Organ Series at the Kimmel Center Begins with Bradley Hunter Welch on
July 1, 2008
Tickets Now on Sale for $10!
Luxuriate in the rich tonal palette of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ this summer at the Kimmel Center’s Summer Organ Series on Thursday nights in July. The month long, low-cost, Thursday night series begins on July 10, 2008 at 7pm with "world-class virtuoso" (The American Organist) Bradley Hunter Welch, followed by additional performances that showcase the talents of renowned organists Felix Hell on July 17, 2008 at 7pm and Scott Montgomery on July 24, 2008 at 7pm. Each concert is approximately 75 minutes long, without an intermission.
Welch’s program includes Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565; Drischner’s Variations on "O Run, Ye Shepherds"; Albright’s Jig for the Feet ("Totentanz") from Organbook III; Schumann’s Canonic Study No. 4 in A-Flat Major, Opus 56; Ives’s Variations on "America"; Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H; Dupré’s Allegro deciso from Evocation (Poème Symphonique) and an excerpt from Rossini’s Overture from William Tell.
Tickets for the Summer Organ Series are $10 for general admission, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.
Thursday, July 10, 2008 | 7pm
Verizon Hall
Bradley Hunter Welch
Price: $10
Currently the artist-in-residence at Highland Park Methodist Church in Dallas, Bradley Hunter Welch was a featured artist at three regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists in 2005, and recently made his European debut at the Chartres Festival in France. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Welch received his undergraduate degree in organ performance from Baylor University and both his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in musical arts from Yale University of Music. He was awarded the Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, the most prestigious prize awarded by the Yale faculty. In 2003, Welch won first place at the Dallas International Organ Competition and was also awarded the Audience Prize for the second time.
Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 7pm
Verizon Hall
Felix Hell
Price: $10
Called "a young organist of staggering virtuosic gifts" by the Boston Globe, German organ prodigy Felix Hell makes his Kimmel Center debut on the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ. The youngest organ major ever to graduate with a B.M. from Curtis Institute of Music, Hell studied under John Weaver and Alan Morrison. He has performed more than 500 recitals worldwide since the age of nine, and has collaborated with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the National Academy Orchestra of Canada and the New England Conservatory Philharmonic, among others. Career milestones include performances of the entire organ works of Bach both in the United States and Germany in 2006 and 2007. Hell was recently appointed as organ instructor at the Sunderman Conservatory in Gettysburg, PA. Hell’s program will include Reger’s Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H; Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue G Minor, Op. 7; Barber’s Adagio for Strings (arr. William Strickland) and Liszt’s Fantasy and Fugue on "Ad nos ad salutarem undam."
Thursday, July 24, 2008 | 7pm
Verizon Hall
Scott Montgomery
Price: $10
Organist Scott Montgomery currently serves as director of music and organist for Holy Cross Catholic Church in Champaign, Illinois. In July 2006, he won first prize in the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Chicago, a prize which included the Lilian Murtagh Memorial Award. He has studied under Karen Cook, Kim Hess, Kerry Heimann and Michael Keeley, and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree as a student of Dr. Dana Robinson at the University of Illinois. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Sonata No. 1 in F Minor; Grigny’s Ave Maris Stella; Parker’s Sonata in E flat minor, Op. 65; Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547; Vierne’s Pièces de Fantaisie, Op. 55; Hampton’s Suite No. 2 and Widor’s Symphony No. 5 in f minor, Op. 42, No. 1.
"[Scott Montgomery] is a confident performer who conveys musical ideas not through flamboyance but through super-solid playing."
Kimmel Center Presents’ 2008/2009 Season is sponsored by Citi. The Great Orchestra Series is supported by ARCWheeler. Additional support is provided by the University of Pennsylvania Health System, American Express, and Interpark. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. In-kind support is generously provided by Deloitte. NBC-10 is a media partner for Kimmel Center Presents.
Free in the Plaza programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.
The Kimmel Center is the recipient of partnership funding through the nationally recognized PNC "Grow Up Great" initiative, a ten-year, $100 million investment in preparing children for success in school and life. Funding gives support to the Kimmel Center’s early childhood program "Bop and Swing," an arts program for children 1-5 years old, designed to promote an appreciation for American culture.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS SPONSORED BY CITI
Bradley Hunter Welch, organ
BACH: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565
DRISCHNER: Variations on "O Run, Ye Shepherds"
ALBRIGHT: Jig for the Feet ("Totentanz") from Organbook III
SCHUMANN: Canonic Study No. 4 in A-Flat Major, Opus 56
IVES: Variations on "America"
LISZT: Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H
DUPRÉ: Allegro deciso from Evocation (Poème Symphonique)
ROSSINI: Overture from William Tell (excerpt)
Felix Hell, organ
REGER: Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H
DUPRÉ: Prelude and Fugue G Minor, Op. 7
BARBER: Adagio for Strings (arr. William Strickland)
LISZT: Fantasy and Fugue on "Ad nos ad salutarem undam"
Scott Montgomery, organ
MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY:Sonata No. 1 in F Minor
GRIGNY: Ave Maris Stella
PARKER: Sonata in E flat minor, Op. 65
BACH: Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547
VIERNE: Pièces de Fantaisie, Op. 55
HAMPTON: Suite No. 2
WIDOR: Symphony No. 5 in f minor, Op. 42, No. 1.
> index of news releases
> For more information, and to request high resolution images for press use, please
send us a message online.