THIERRY ESCAICH comes to Philadelphia
ORGAN RECITAL at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian, Sunday, November 23, 2014 at 4 PM
IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP for the Philadelphia Chapter of the AGO Monday, November 24, 2014 9:30 AM - noon
The Monday workshop will include an interview with Mr. Escaich about the Musical Life of Paris today and especially the Musical Life at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris since having succeeded Maurice Duruflé. As an expert on Improvisation, the remainder of the morning will be spent on the techniques of improvisation with three chapter members in a master class format. Our three chapter improvisors are Lucas Brown, Zach Hemenway and Parker Kitterman.
The Workshop is available to Chapter Members at the subsidized price of $10.00 or $25.00 for Chapter Guests.
THIERRY ESCAICH, COMPOSER AND ORGANIST
Internationally renowned composer, organist and improviser, Thierry Escaich is a major figure on the contemporary musical scene and one of the most original. He considers the three aspects of his art indissociable elements, working with the same vigour to translate a luxuriant inner universe, an irrepressible need for expression.
Born in 1965, Thierry Escaich has been organist at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris since 1997, having succeeded Maurice Duruflé. He appears in recitals the world over and everywhere he fills the audience with enthusiasm, combining repertoire pieces with his own compositions and improvisations; he also excels in the accompaniment of silent films on the organ or piano. Amongst recent engagements, let us mention Philadelphia (in recital and as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach), Vienna (recital at the Konzerthaus, soloist with the Orchestre de Paris and Paavo Järvi at the Musikverein), Saint Petersburg (recital at the Mariinsky Theatre, soloist with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev), London (recital at the Proms), Berlin (recital at the cathedral, soloist with the Konzerthausorchester and Lothar Zagrosek), and concerts in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Tokyo, Budapest, Bucharest, Gdansk, and Athens, in the principal Paris venues and at numerous festivals both in France and abroad.
After having been composer-in-residence with the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre de Bretagne and the Orchestre National de Lyon, he is currently associate composer with the Paris Chamber Orchestra since September 2011. His catalogue boasts some hundred pieces, performed by the leading international orchestras and artists and honoured by three Victoires de la Musique awards as 'Composer of the Year' (2003, 2006 and 2011). In 2010 he composed a ballet premiered by the New York City Ballet and Benjamin Millepied, and, for the Lyons Opera, is currently preparing an opera on a libretto by Robert Badinter after Victor Hugo's story Claude Gueux, which will be premiered in March 2013.
Since 1992, Thierry Escaich has been teaching composition and improvisation at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMD), where he himself obtained eight ‘premiers prix’. The different facets of his art are illustrated by an abundant discography, in particular on the Accord/Universal and Indésens labels, and critically acclaimed. His disc Les Nuits hallucinées (2011), which crowned his residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon, received numerous distinctions, including a 'Choc de l’année' from Classica magazine, signalling one of the outstanding releases of the year.
