Music Beaufort: Bach organ concert at Parish Church of St. Helena : The Beaufort Tribune Newspaper, Beaufort SC Newspapers

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Sunday, October 18, 2009
Music Beaufort: Bach organ concert at Parish Church of St. Helena

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Bach organ concert at Parish Church of St. Helena

This past Friday at noon, French organist Francois Olivier, the resident choir organist at Saint-Eustache church in Paris, presented a one-hour concert of organ works by the incomparable Johann Sebastian Bach and by three of Bach’s organ-composer predecessors: Henry Purcell, Nicolaus Bruhns and Nicolas de Grigny.

Parish Church of St. Helena, Beaufort SC

Playing masterfully the magnificent and famous Taylor & Boody tracker organ in the St. Helena choir loft, Mr. Olivier entranced the audience of 150 listeners with his precise finger- and foot-work that made the organ sing. Afterwards Mr. Olivier said the organ’s pedals are just like the ones in Europe, making his playing the instrument a performance of ease and beauty with an audible base line perfectly suited to the instrument.

The program included Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Major and his Prelude in C Major, Purcell’s Voluntary in G, Bruhns Preludium in G Major, and de Grigny’s Veni creator. Also included was a favorite familiar to churchgoers, Bach’s Choral wachet auf.

Saint Eustache Church, Paris, France

Francois Olivier has been the resident choir organist at Saint-Eustache in Paris since 2004. The church is located in the center of Paris, across the Seine within a few minutes’ walking distance from Notre Dame cathedral. Built in the 17th century, it has a Gothic-style exterior and a Renaissance-style interior. With 8000 pipes, its principal organ is reputed to be the largest pipe organ in France, surpassing the organs of Saint Sulpice and Notre Dame.

The organ in St. Helena’s church is not so grand but equally prized. It was constructed in 1985 to replicate a Dutch instrument of the type Bach himself played in the 1700s. The two-manual instrument has a mechanical action just like those in the German churches in which Bach composed and played. It has been featured in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of History and Technology in Washington DC as one of the finest recreations of an organ of Bach’s era in the USA.

Francois Olivier studied organ with Louis Robilliard at the Lyon CNR, winning first prize, and also with Pierre Pincemaille at the Saint-Maur CNR, again winning first prize. He won the Audience Prize in the French classical musical performance competition in Bordeaux in 2000. He performs as an accompanist and soloist, and in various orchestral ensembles. He was awarded a Master of Musicology degree by the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 2004.

The fall series of organ concerts at St. Helena’s continues October 30 with organist Charles Tompkins of Furman University, Greenville SC, and November 13 with Brian Jones, Emeritus Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Boston MA.

The spring series will include four concerts: February 26 with Julian Collings, organ, and Rebecca Hewes, cello, of London, England; March 5 with Dr. Marilyn Mason, University of Michigan; March 19, Dr. Gail Archer, New York NY; and April 9, Dr. Elizabeth Harrison, Oklahoma City University.

All the concerts are on Fridays at noon and are free.

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