Ronald Ebrecht, Wesleyan University Organist, has appeared to critical acclaim for three decades over a territory that spans four continents.
He has given master classes and lectures in world-famous conservatories such as Vienna, Sydney, Beijing and across the U.S.
He is particularly known for his interpretations of the first editions of Maurice Duruflé.
Duruflé was born in Louviers, Haute-Normandie. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling. At age 17, upon moving to Paris, he took private organ lessons with Charles Tournemire, whom he assisted at Basilique Ste-Clotilde, Paris until 1927. In 1920 Duruflé entered the Conservatoire de Paris, eventually graduating with first prizes in organ, harmony, piano accompaniment, and composition.
In 1927, Louis Vierne nominated him as his assistant at Notre-Dame. Duruflé became titular organist of St. Étienne-du-Mont in Paris in 1929, a position he held for the rest of his life. In 1939, he premiered Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto (the Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor) ; he had advised Poulenc on the registrations of the organ part. In 1943 he became professor of harmony at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he worked until 1970. In 1947, Duruflé wrote what is probably the most famous of his few pieces : the Requiem op. 9, for soloists, choir, organ and orchestra. The same year, Marie-Madeleine Chevalier became his assistant at St-Étienne-du-Mont. They married in 1953 (after Duruflé’s first marriage to Lucette Bousquet, contracted in 1932, ended in civil divorce in 1947 and was declared null by the Vatican on 23 June 1953) . The couple became a famous and popular organ duo, going on tour together several times throughout the sixties and early seventies.
Duruflé suffered severe injuries in a car accident in 1975, and as a result he gave up performing ; indeed he was largely confined to his apartment, leaving the service at St-Étienne-du-Mont to his wife Marie-Madeleine (who was also injured in the accident). He died in Louveciennes (near Paris) in 1986, aged 84.
Duruflé was highly critical of his own composition. He only published a handful of works and often continued to edit and change pieces after publication. For instance, the Toccata from Suite, op. 5 has a completely different ending in the first edition than in the more recent version, and the score to the Fugue sur le nom d’Alain originally indicated accelerando throughout. The result of this perfectionism is that his music, especially his organ music, holds a very high position in the repertoire.
Born in 1980, Vincent DUBOIS began organ studies at age 11 in the organ school of the Cathedral of St. Brieuc, France, then studied at the National Conservatory of Angers. In 1998, he was accepted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the organ class of Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard, and the following year was admitted to the composition class.
Vincent Dubois has performed in many countries throughout Europe as well as the United States, Russia, Canada, and the Far East. In addition, he has won a number of prizes, among them the Gold Medal and First Prize of the National Conservatory of Angers, and first prizes in 20th-century composition, organ improvisation, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, and organ interpretation at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. He won the Recital Gold Medal at the 2002 Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition, and most recently, the 1st Grand Prix in the 2002 International Competition of Toulouse.
Dubois has also appeared with many orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestre Philharmonique of Radio France, the French National Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmonica del Gran Canaria, the Orchestre de Picardie, the Orchestre de Bretagne, Le Madrigal de Paris , and the Ensemble Vocal Michel Piquemal. His performances have been broadcast over Radio France, the ORF Vienna, CBC Radio Canada, and Australian Radio.
By the age of 16, Dubois was named titular organist of the Cavaillé-Coll organ at the Cathedral of St. Brieuc. He currently teaches harmony and counterpoint at Angers National Conservatory, where in 2005 he was appointed assistant manager of the conservatory. He is now Director of the Conservatoire and superior Academy of Music of Strasbourg. He is also the titular organist at the Cathedral of Soissons.
Vincent DUBOIS – Chartres 2013
Clive Driskill-Smith was born in 1978 and educated at Eton College, where he was a music scholar.
He began learning the organ at the age of 15 and, during his ‘gap’ year, served as Or-gan Scholar at Winchester Cathedral and as Assistant Organist at Winchester College. The following year he went up to Christ Church, Oxford University. In 1999 he graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Music and in 2001 he gained the Mphil in interpretation and performance. He is currently Sub-Organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
Clive is also active as a pianist and bassoonist. He holds the ARCM diploma in Piano Perform-ance and continues to give solo recitals and concerto performances. During this time, he performed with the orchestra at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, London’s Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall and at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall.
Clive studies the organ with David Sanger and, on gaining the FRCO diploma, was awarded the prestigious Limpus Prize and the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal. In 1999, the Royal College of Organists awarded him a Travelling Scholarship which has funded further study on the Continent with Hans Fagius, Jan Willem Jansen and Harald Vogel. He has given recitals worldwide and recorded as both soloist and accompanist. His extensive repertoire spans six centuries and includes the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen.
In September 2000, he was awarded first prize in the Royal College of Organists’ international’ Performer of the Year’ competition. In July 2001, he was awarded second prize and the audience prize in the St Albans international organ competition and in August 2002 the Con-certo Gold Medal and the Durufle prize in the Calgary international organ competition. Clive Driskill-Smith gives major recital tours in Europe, the USA, South Africa, Australasia and the Far East.
“>From 1971 until his retirement in 1990 he was professor of organ at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg and also worked as an organist at the Cathedral of Freiburg.
Ludwig DOERR studied at conservatories in Cologne and Stuttgart with Anton Nowakowski and Karl Marx.
“>In 1950 he won the International Bach Competition in Leipzig, Bach Prize.
In 1952, Doerr was organist at Speyer; At the same time, he teaches organ at the Episcopal Church Music Institute of Speyer and the College of Education in Landau.
Matthew Dirst is Professor of Music at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, where he teaches courses in music history and performance practice. He is also Founder and Artistic Director of Ars Lyrica Houston.
Prof Dirst is the first American musician to win major international prizes in both organ and harpsichord, including first prize at the American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition (1990) and second prize at the inaugural Warsaw International Harpsichord Competition (1993). Equally active as a performer and scholar, his publications on the music of Bach and its reception appear in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Early Music, Notes: The Journal of the American Music Library Association, Music and Letters, Bach Perspectives, and Eighteenth-Century Studies. He is also the author of a recent book entitled Engaging Bach: The Keyboard Legacy from Marpurg to Mendelssohn (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Organized around the most productive ideas generated by Bach’s keyboard works from his own day to the middle of the nineteenth century, this study shows how Bach’s remarkable and long-lasting legacy took shape amid critical changes in European musical thought and practice. In the words of one prominent reviewer, it is “a compelling and readable survey, one marked by clarity, judgement and nuance” (Early Music, Feb 2013).
Widely admired for his stylish playing and conducting of Baroque music especially, Dirst was hailed by the Dallas Morning News for his “crisp but expressive direction” of the Monteverdi 1610 Vespers, which it named “Best Classical Performance of 2010.” Early Music America described his recent solo recording, of harpsichord works by François and Armand-Louis Couperin (Centaur), as a “stylish, tasteful, and technically commanding performance… expressive and brilliant playing.” Dirst’s recordings of music by Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti and J. A. Hasse with Ars Lyrica on the Naxos and Sono Luminus labels have earned a Grammy nomination for Best Opera 2011 and widespread critical acclaim.
Prof Dirst’s academic degrees include a PhD in musicology from Stanford University, MM in organ and Master of Sacred Music degrees from Southern Methodist University, and a BM from the University of Illinois. A Fulbright scholar to France, he received the coveted prix de virtuosité in both organ and harpsichord with teachers Marie-Claire Alain and Huguette Dreyfus and did further harpsichord study with Alan Curtis at UC Berkeley. He also serves as Organist at St Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston.
James Diaz is the First Prize winner of the 2000 Dallas International Organ Competition, and the Gold Medal and Concerto Prize winner of the 1994 Calgary International Organ Competition.
He also took First Prize at the Fort Wayne National Organ Competition in 1994.
In addition to giving solo recitals in North America, Europe, and Asia, Mr. Diaz has given the world premiere of two organ and orchestra works by Pulitzer Prize winning composers: in 2002 he appeared with the Dallas Symphony in the premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s September Canticle, and in 1994 he premiered Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for Organ and Orchestra with the Calgary Philharmonic.
He has recorded a solo CD for Delos International at the Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, and his recording of the Schuller concerto has been released by New World Records.
Mr. Diaz is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan, where he studied organ with Robert Glasgow and piano with Dickran Atamian. He holds a master’s degree in Organ Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Todd Wilson and worked under Karel Paukert at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights.
Following service as assistant organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, in 1998 he was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Michael and All Angels Church in Dallas, one of the largest Episcopal churches in the United States.
A native of England, Andrew received his first organ lesson at the age of 7 and by the age of 9 was serving as organist for his local parish church. He won a scholarship to Wells Cathedral School in 1999 where he studied organ with Rupert Gough, David Sanger, and David Briggs.
From 1999-2000 he was Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral. He later studied at the Musikhochschule, in Stuttgart with Prof Dr. Ludger Lohmann and held posts as organist of St. Franziskus and St. Johannes in Stuttgart. Andrew won First Prize in the St. Albans International Organ Competition in 2005, the Bach prize in Wiesbaden in 2005 and the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin in 2003. In 2008, he won Second Prize in the Canadian International Organ Competition in Montreal.
Andrew undertakes a busy concert schedule, performing throughout Europe and North America and has released two solo CDs.
Andrew DEWAR – Chartres 2010
Born in a family of musicians, Frédéric DESENCLOS studied the organ with Gaston Litaize and André Isoir at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris where he graduated in organ, ‘écriture’, music history, harpsichord and chamber music.
Laureate of the European Organ Competition in Bolton, Great Britain in 1992 as well as the Internationel Orgel Konkurrence in Odense, Denmark in 1994, Frédéric Desenclos is now organist at the Chapelle Royale de Versailles and teaches at the Orléans conservatoire outside Paris.
A major part of his discographic activity is devoted to baroque repertoire. He has worked for different records companies, such as Alpha, Triton, Auvidis, Hortus, Emi-Virgin Classics, Tempéraments Radio-France. Thanks to his keen interest for the continuo practice and his knowledge of French music, Frédéric has been appointed as the organist/continuist at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.
His solo activity extends worlwide: Amsterdam, Barcelone, Denver, Gent, Haarlem, La Roque d’Anthéron, Lisbonne, Londres, Maastricht, Nantes, Poitiers, Saintes, St-Michel-en-Thiérache, Stockholm, Toulouse, Versailles, York, Zaragoza…
He has recorded works by diverse composers such as Bach, Couperin, Dandrieu, Alfred Desenclos, Henry Desmarest, César Franck for different labels including Alpha, Triton, Solstice and Astrée and, for EMI Virgin Classics, made two CDs with solo organ pieces by Louis Marchand, Pierre Tabart, André Raison and Nicolas de Grigny. In 1999, the Ensemble Pierre Robert was founded by Frédéric Desenclos to provide for the performance of the French petit motet.
In his early childhood Patrick Delabre discovered his passion for music, and he learned to play keyboard instruments and choir singing. Then he studied organ and composition at the National Conservatory of Lille where he received an introduction to choir conducting.
At the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique of Paris he continued his studies in harmony, counterpoint, fugue and organ, winning four prizes.
In 1976 he was appointed assistant organist at Chartres cathedral with Philippe Lefebvre as main organist ; he took over from him in 1986 as head organist.
Patrick Delabre has won the international improvisation competition in Lyon, and he was also a finalist at Chartres’ international improvisation competition.
His musical activities grow through the organ of the cathedral teaching and giving concerts as well as educational presentations.
The local authorities of Chartres and Lucé have asked him to take in charge their organ and composition classes from autumn 2003 on.
He is giving recitals, playing on famous organs e.g. in St Maximin, Poitiers, St Ouen in Rouen ; in Paris, St Sulpice, St Eustache and Notre-Dame.
Patrick Delabre has travelled a lot for concerts abroad. His recitals in Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, USA, Canada and Japan mean a very enriching aesthetic expe-rience to him.
He is also jury member in several international competitions (Chartres, Hamburg, St Blasien).
In Chartres cathedral, he has recorded a CD dedicated to works of J.S. Bach and C. Franck.
The record company Forlane entrusted him with a composition for children’s choir and instruments. These fifteen arrangements of popular traditional songs have been performed by the National Music School Children’s Choir of Chartres in June 2002.
Patrick DELABRE – Chartres 2013
