Organist
From Freepedia
An organist is a musician who plays the organ, whether pipe or electronic.
In the United States there is a national organisation called the American Guild of Organists (AGO). Comparable bodies in other countries include the Royal College of Organists (RCO) in the United Kingdom and the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO). All these institutions are oriented toward the organist involved in classical music rather than popular music.
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Types of organists
Organists can be divided basically into one of two types, church organists and concert organists:
- As the name suggests, church organists typically accompany a church or cathedral's congregation and choir in song at worship times, and provide voluntaries at the end of services. Often they also play solo music before, and occasionally during, the service. Larger churches and cathedrals employ full-time professional organists, who are often also responsible for the training and conducting of the choir; a variety of job titles is found, including director of music and (in the UK) master of the music. The largest establishments may also employ one or more assistant organists, sometimes called sub-organists. By contrast, in smaller churches the organist is generally a part-time employee, and not necessarily otherwise professionally involved in music.
- Concert organists on the other hand perform concert repertoire at venues, usually solo, but sometimes with an orchestra. For the most parts, a concert organist usually holds a church position which is quite frequently full-time and is a place to practice. Concert repertoire usually calls for more virtuosity than typical church repertoire, but since almost all concert organists also play in churches, often one can hear a concert piece in a church venue. Obversely, quite often an organ concert will feature a piece of church repertoire such as a chorale prelude. Concert repertoire typically involves a large organ, usually of the symphonic organ variety.
Famous organists
Notable concert organists of today include: Carlo Curley, Marie-Claire Alain, John Weaver, Ken Cowan, Alan Morrison, Diane Meredith Belcher, Felix Hell, Paul Jacobs, Daniel Roth, Thomas Murray, Cherry Rhodes, Olivier Latry, Gillian Weir, Eberhard Fölster, Rosalinde Haas, Lionel Rogg, Evgenija Lisitsina, and Frederick Hohman.
Notable organists of the past, many of whom were also composers for the instrument, include: Johann Sebastian Bach, Marcel Dupré, Louis Vierne, César Franck, Jean Langlais, Helmut Walcha, Virgil Fox, Charles Courboin, Fernando Germani, Maurice Durufle, Marie-Madeleine Durufle-Chevalier, Jeanne Demessieux, Pierre Cochereau, Karl Richter, George Dorringtion Cunningham, Sir George Thalben-Ball, Alexander Schreiner, Camille Saint-Saens, Karl Straube. In Europe, the historical importance of churches as employers of musicians meant that many composers not now remembered for their association with the organ nevertheless were engaged as professional organists: for example, Mozart, Reger, and Elgar.
List of active concert and church organists
- Alain, Marie-Claire (France)
- Belcher, Diane Meredith (USA)
- Cowan, Ken (USA, born in Canada)
- Frenkel, Simonah (USA, born in Russia)
- Haas, Rosaline (Germany)
- Hell, Felix (USA, born in Germany)
- Jacobs, Paul (USA)
- Lohmann, Ludger(Germany)
- Morrison, Alan (USA)
- Sherer, John (USA)
- Teti, Federico (USA, born in Italy)
- Watanabe, Kiyo (USA, born in Japan)
- Weaver, John (USA)
