Fassang was born into a family immersed in music. He started his organ studies at the age of 13 with István Baróti and graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 1998, where he had studied organ with Ferenc Gergely and István Ruppert, and piano with Ilona Prunyi. The same year he enrolled in the organ class of Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1999 Fassang got also accepted to the improvised music department where he studied under Loic Mallié, Philippe Lefebvre, Thierry Escaich and Jean-François Zygel.

As part of his studies he spent a sabbatical year in Japan, where he became the resident organist of the Sapporo Concert Hall. During that time, he performed several concerts in Japan, and recorded his first organ CD on the Kern organ at Sapporo Concert Hall that included music of Bach and Liszt as well as his own improvisations. Since 2002 he has performed concerts in France, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Canada, Japan and in the USA.

In 2003 and 2004 Fassang graduated from the organ class and from the improvisation class of the Conservatoire of Paris with excellent results (first prize with honours). From 2004 to 2008 he taught improvisation at the Musikene (Higher Academy of Music of the Basque Country) in San Sebastián. After 6 years abroad, he decided to return to his native country, and settle down there. Since September 2008, he is assistant professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He was responsible for supervising the construction of the organ of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall and was appointed artistic consultant of the organ concerts of the Palace of Arts in Budapest in 2006. His improvisational style demonstrates the versatility of the organ through the incorporation of jazz and folk music influences. He continues to play classical works, but he also performs concerts with French saxophonist Vincent Lê-Quang, with Hungarian musician Balázs Dongó Szokolay (flutes, saxophone, bagpipe), Hungarian guitarist Gabor Gado, and Hungarian folksinger, Beata Palya.

Having won several prizes at major international organ competitions since 2002, László Fassang has quickly established himself as a major young talent in the international organ world. He graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest and the Paris Conservatoire. In 2000, Fassang took a sabbatical year to become resident organist at the Sapporo Concert Hall (Japan).

Winner of the Gold Medal in Improvisation at the International Organ Competition in Calgary (2002), and winner of the Interpretation Prize in Chartres (2004), Fassang moves as freely and happily in the imagination of great composers as in his own. Open to every musical style, he also enjoys playing with jazz and folk musicians. He gives concerts around the world and taught improvisation at the San Sebastian College of Music. He was responsible for supervising the construction of the organ of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall (Budapest) and was appointed artistic consultant of the organ concerts of the Palace of Arts (Budapest) in 2006. In the same year he got the Liszt Ferenc Prize awarded by the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture and the Prima Prize awarded by the National Association of Entrepreneurs. Since 2008 he holds a teaching position at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.

In the fall of 2014, he succeeded at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris as a teacher of improvisation at one of its masters Philippe Lefebvre, organist of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.

László FASSANG – Chartres 2011

http://www.concertorganists.com/artists/laszlo-fassang/

Rolande Falcinelli entered the Paris Conservatory in 1932, where her teachers were Isidor Philipp and Abel Estyle (piano), Marcel Samuel-Rousseau (harmony), Simone Plé Caussade (counterpoint), Henri Büsser (composition), and Marcel Dupré (organ and improvisation). In 1942, she received the second Grand Prix de Rome in composition. From 1946-1973, she was titular organist at Sacré-Cœur in Paris. Additionally, she taught organ at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau from 1948-1955, and at the École Normale de Musique in Paris from 1948-1955.

In 1948, Rolande Falcinelli performed from memory the (then) complete organ works of Marcel Dupré at Salle Pleyel in Paris, whose music was in the center of her interests throughout her career as a performer and teacher. In 1955, she succeeded Marcel Dupré as professor of organ and improvisation at the Paris Conservatory, where she taught until 1987. Among her numerous students were many brilliant organists of our time, such as Odile Pierre, Pierre Gazin, Xavier Darasse, Louis Thiry, Yves Devernay, Francis Chapelet, André Isoir, Daniel Roth, Jean-Pierre Leguay, Louis Robillard, Philippe Lefebvre, Maurice Clerc, Patrice Caire, Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet, and Naji Hakim.

In addition to her numerous organ compositions, she wrote works for piano, harpsichord, solo instruments, orchestra, choir and songs. She also made numerous recordings, including several LPs with compositions of Marcel Dupré at the Auditorium Marcel Dupré in Meudon. Rolande Falcinelli died on June 11, 2006, at age 86, in Pau, France. From her first marriage with Felix Otto, an employee from Norddeutscher Rundfunk in Hamburg, Germany, she had a daughter, Sylviane (b. 1956), a French musicologist.

http://www.falcinelli.org/RolandeFalcinelli/RFmainFR.html

Born in Hereford in 1976, Henry Fairs studied in Birmingham, graduating with first class Honours in 1998.

A prize-winner at FRCO, he was the recipient of a Countess of Munster Trust Award which enabled him to study in Paris with Susan Landale, where he won a Premier Prix in organ. He also studied interpretation and improvisation with Thierry Mechler at the Musikhochschule in Cologne.

Henry Fairs is an organ tutor at the St. Giles International Organ School in London and Director of Music at Bromley Parish Church.

He also teaches organ at Eltham College where he co-ordinates annual study trips to France and Germany. Recent engagements have included performances of the Poulenc Organ Concerto and Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, and in January 2002 he performed the complete organ music of Maurice Duruflé on the centenary of the composer’s birth.

Next months he will be appearing as soloist with “Eurobrass Strasbourg” at the Silbermann organ in Ebersmunster, Alsace, and he will give the opening recital in the International Organ Series at the St. Petri Kirche in Hamburg.

In 2002 he obtains the “Prix Maurice Duruflé” during the Concours International d’Orgue de Chartres.

Other engagements include recitals in the International Series at Notre-Dame in Thierenbach, Alsace, the Evesham and Gower festivals, and at Horsham, Farnham, Westminster Abbey and Oxford Town Hall.

Henry FAIRS – Chartres 2006

http://henryfairs.com/

Hans Fagius (born 1951 in Norrköping, Sweden) studied the organ with Bengt Berg, and, at the Stockholm College of Music, with professor Alf Linder. In 1974 he continued his studies with Maurice Duruflé in Paris. During his years of study he twice won prizes at international organ competitions (Leipzig and Stockholm) .

Hans Fagius has given récitals all over Europe, in Australie, USA and Canada. In the summer 1994 he played at the National Convention of The American Guild of Organiste in Dallas. On the Swedish label BIS he has made numerous recordings, including a complete recording of the organ works of J. S. Bach on 17 CDs, a disc with music by W .A . Mozart, symphonies by Widor, a great part ot the organ works by Saint-Saens, and recordings with four hand organ repertoire as well as music for organ and piano. His recordings of Liszt’s three great organ works won the Grand Prix du Disque Liszt in Budapest 1981. Recently released productions are more symphonies by Widor (n° 2 et 8), and the Art of the Fugue by J. S. Bach. During the spring 2000 he will record music by S. Karg-Elert. The repertoire concentrates on early music and music from the romantic period.

After several years as organ teacher at the Colleges of Music in Stockholm and Gothenburg, Hans Fagius was in 1989 appointed professor at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has also several times been a jury member at international organ competitions.

In 1998 he was elected as a member of the Royal Swedish Music Academy. For the Year 2000 Hans Fagius is engaged for concerts, masterclasses and jurys charges in the Scandinavian countries, England, Austria, France, Belgium and Slovenia.

Jean-Luc ÉTIENNE has studied the organ with Pierre Cortellezzi, André Stricker and Louis Thiry. The latter’s teaching, as well as his close relationship with the organist and composer Jean-Jacques Grunenwald had a great impact on him.

As a finalist in the Toulouse International Competition 1986, dedicated to contemporary organ music, he revealed his unfailing attachment to the music of his time.

Jean-Luc Etienne teaches the organ at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Tours, notably within the Department of Early Music.

He gives numerous concerts in France and abroad, publishes articles in various magazines and devotes an ever growing part of his activities to composing. His catalogue includes instrumental pièces for the Keyboard, organ, harpsichord and piano, violin, cello, viola da gamba, harp, flute, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, trumpet, horn and basson as well as vocal music.

Jean-Luc ÉTIENNE – Chartres 2007

Born in Bordeaux in 1943, Michel Estellet-Brun studied the organ at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, and then undertook further study with Gaston Litaize and Pierre Cochereau. His appointments include Beauvais Cathedral, the Abbey of Royaumont, and the churches of Notre Dame de la Croix, St Georges and St Joseph des Nations in Paris. His discography includes a recording of organ music by the Czech Josef Klicka, on the Alpha label: bringing the work of this unjustly neglected composer to public attention has been a substantial element in his career.

His compositions include the oratorio La Passion à Menilmontant as well as much solo organ music, some of which is published by Fagus in Scotland. He is currently working on a series of compositions inspired by Paul Claudel’s poems on the Stations of the Cross. Michel is a frequent visitor to England and has played at Salisbury Cathedral (where he improvised a 44-minute Symphonic Suite in four movements before an enthralled audience of young organists), Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and, most recently, at Westminster Cathedral, where he played a set of improvisations during a Sunday evening Mass. He has also played in Germany and the Czech Republic, where he gave the final concert of the Organ Festival of Eastern Europe in the Basilica of Olomouc, as well in his native France.

In 2006, Michel was decorated by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, receiving the Gold Medal of St Gregory for his outstanding services to church music over nearly forty years.

Born in 1961, François Espinasse studied in the Conservatoire Nationale de Région of Toulouse his music studies. He obtains the first price of organ in Xavier Darasse’s class in 1980. Then he improves with André Isoir. He is the international competition of Toulouse prizewinner in contemporary music in 1986 and of the Tokyo-Musashino in 1988.

He is co-holder organist in Saint Severin’s church in Paris. Since 2005, he teaches also in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Lyon. He is chairman for the Commision Nationale Supérieure des Monuments Historiques and for the Commission des Orgues non protégés (the unprotected organs) for the Culture Ministry.

François Espinasse gives also master class in Europe and Asia (Korea and Japan) and takes part in international competition jury like Chartres, Odense, Tokyo, Toulouse…

His cds recording are gratefully cheered by the critic.

Regularly François Espinasse can be seen in concerts and also as soloist in, for instance, the NHK Orchestra directed by Charles Dutoit.

He works with lot of composers like Gilbert Amy, Jean-Yves Bosseur, Xavier Darasse, Pierre Farago, Jean-Louis Florentz, Jacques Lenot, François-Bernard Mâche, …

François ESPINASSE – Chartres 2007

Organist and Director of Choirs for The Episcopal Church of St. Paul in the Desert in Palm Springs, California, Nathan B. Ensign has been active in LPM since it’s beginning in 1995.

He was coordinator for the local program in the Diocese of California (the San Francisco Bay Area), and is the LPM National Board Past Chair.

Having graduated with a double major in Church Music and Organ from Texas Christian University, he continued his musical training in France for eight years studying with such masters as Jean Langlais, Gaston Litaize, Pierre Cochereau and Daniel Roth.

Stefan Engels was born in Germany and received his musical education in both Germany and the USA.

He studied organ, piano, harpsichord, conducting and church music at the Musikhochschulen in Aachen, Düsseldorf, and Kôln, and in 1993 moved to the USA to pursue further organ studies with Robert Anderson and Wolfgang Rübsam.

In 1995 Stefan Engels received the Artist Diploma degree in organ performance from Southern Methodist University. He has participated in master classes with Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, Ewald Kooiman, Ludger Lohmann, Günther Kaunzinger, and Harald Vogel.

Stefan Engels won several awards and prizes during his studies in the USA including First Prize at the William C. Hall Organ Competition in San Antonio in 1994 and First Prize at the Concerto Competition at Southern Methodist University in Dallas the same year. He was a finalist in the 1996 American Guild of Organiste National Organ Competition.

In 1998, lie won the Concerto Gold Medal at the Calgary Organ Competition.

He has performed throughout the USA, Canada, Belgium, Italy and Germany as soloist, accompanist and member of ensembles, including a recital at the 1998 Karg-Elert Festival Berlin. He has made two recordings of works by Marcel Dupré on the Naxos label which were released worldwide in 1999. He has held positions as organist, organ scholar, director of music and choirmaster in Germany and the USA.

Stefan Engels is currently Asociale Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College, Rider University, Princeton. New Jersey, USA.

Freddy Eichelberger, organist and harpsichordist, was born in Paris. After extended studies of organist and harpsichordist, he mainly dedicates himself to chamber music on ancient instruments and to musical theatre with, for instance the ensemble Les Witches.

His growing taste for improvising brought him to play with musicians of all origin, as well as to teach one­off at the Festival of Improvised Music of Lausanne and in various academies. He’s also playing since long and beautiful years with the violonist Odile Edouard, in duett or in the ensemble Sine Titulo.

Freddy Eichelberger co­organizes the complete Johann Sebastian Bach cantatas to be performed at the Bastille Eglise Réformée of Paris.

http://www.lescheminsdetraverse.net/artistes/freddy-eichelberger/