Celebrity Bank Holiday Organ Recitals

Celebrity Bank Holiday Organ Recital starting at 11:30

 

Our last Bank Holiday organ recital for 2023 is as follows:

Monday 28th August

David Hirst (Organist Titulaire at the Church of Notre-Dame in Mantes-la-Jolie)

 

David Hirst is one of the few British organists to have integrated into the French organ world.  Based near Paris, he is Organiste Titulaire of the 12th-century Collegiate Church of Mantes-la-Jolie.  He presides over the three organs of this magnificent edifice and is Artistic Director of the International Organ Festival.

As a recitalist, David performs regularly in international festivals.  Recent appearances include Chartres, Bourges and Antwerp Cathedrals, St Augustin's in Paris, the Laurenskerk in Rotterdam, and venues in Germany and Switzerland. 

David holds a master's degree in music from Cambridge University and a postgraduate diploma with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied organ performance under Lionel Rogg.  He has also studied under Nicolas Kynaston and Thomas Trotter.

Previous organist appointments include Emmanuel College Cambridge, St Germain du Chesnay in Versailles, and St Martin-in-the-Fields, London's royal parish church.  At St Martin's, he played for celebrity and royal occasions, concerts and recordings, as well as 30 BBC broadcasts in five years. 

David's discography includes the first CDs ever recorded on the 1897 grand organ by Joseph Merklin in Mantes-la-Jolie.  His latest disc was issued to critical acclaim by the Priory label in 2022 ('These stylish performances are quite sublime'...Organists' Review).

www.davidhirst.org

 

Programme:

 

Toccata and Fugue in F Major BuxWV 156                 Dietrich Buxtehude (c 1637 – 1707)

 

Sonata No 5 in C major BWV 529                                  J S Bach (1685 – 1750)

i  Allegro

ii Largo

iii Allegro

 

Claire de Lune (from the Suite Bermasque                 Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)

for piano)                                                                             transcription by Jean-Baptiste Robin

 

Variations on a theme of Paganini Opus 68               Bryan Hesford (1930 – 1996)

 

Nimrod (from the Enigma Variations)                         Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934)

                                                                                                Transcription by Robert Gower

 

Variations & Fugue on God save the King                   Max Reger (1873 – 1916)

 

 

Admission is free of charge and there is a retiring collection. Refreshments are served beforehand from 10:30

We look forward to seeing you.