Saugerties Pro Musica
2006
/ 2007 Concert Season
Gregory D’Agostino Performance January 14th, 2007
Gregory D’Agostino International Organ virtuoso
PROGRAM
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)War March of the Priests
Boléro de Concert, Op. 166
Louis Alfred James LÉFEBURE-WÉLY (1817-1869)Organ Concerto No. 5 in F
Major George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)Salamanca, Op. 136, No. 1 (Trois Préludes Hambourgeois) Guy BOVET (b. 1942)
Lotus Blossom
(arr. Alec Wyton) Billy STRAYHORN (1915-1967)Rhumba Robert ELMORE (1913-1985)
INTERMISSION
Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H Franz LISZT (1811 - 1886)
Chant du Soir
Enrico BOSSI (1861-1925)Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543
J.S. BACH (1685-1750)PREVIOUS REVIEWS
writing, the gentle and songlike as well as the robust and purely dexterous.” First-Ever Performance, Ned Rorem Complete Organ Works, THE NEW YORK TIMES [Allan Kozinn]“In both concerts, Mr. D’Agostino gave deft, powerful performances that got to the heart of Mr. Rorem’s
“D’Agostino met his challenge brilliantly in a program reaching from the German and French Baroque to Liszt, Ives, and Dave Brubeck …with impeccable articulation, D’Agostino underscored Bach’s pulsing rhythmic inevitability …” Solo Recital, THE WASHINGTON POST [Cecelia Porter]
"…crushing power when needed, and sensitivity to the music’s dark, filmy atmospherics.” Poulenc & Paulus Organ Concertos, THE WASHINGTON POST [Ronald Broun]
“…entertainment of the highest order …performed with uninhibited brio.”
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE “MUSIC IN CONCERT” [Jack Sullivan]All concerts are on Sunday at 3 PM
at the Saugerties United Methodist Church
on the corner of Washington Avenue & Post Street
Admission $12 - Seniors $10 - Students Free
About the artist
Gregory D’Agostino came to national attention as a concert organist when he performed two different back-to-back memorized concerts for the 100th anniversary of the American Guild of Organists before overflowing crowds of 3,400 at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Church of St. Mary the Virgin. The New York Times praised his “deft, powerful performances” for his recital series at New York’s famed Riverside Church, and The Washington Post has likewise acclaimed his playing as “brilliant” and “impeccable.”
With a vast repertoire including the complete works of Bach, Liszt, Handel, Schumann, and Brahms, Mr. D’Agostino performs from memory music of the Renaissance to works written by today’s outstanding composers. He has an especial affinity for the music of Liszt and the French romantics, and his performances of this repertoire achieve a “stunning, controlled delirium” (The American Organist, national convention review). His musical daring has led to collaborations with legendary American composers George Crumb and Milton Babbitt, and of his first-ever performance of Ned Rorem’s complete works for organ, principal New York Times critic Allan Kozinn wrote that Mr. D’Agostino “got to the heart of Mr. Rorem’s writing, the gentle and songlike as well as the robust and purely dexterous.”
His appearances as soloist with such orchestras as the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Slovak Radio Orchestra have received equal praise. The San Diego Union-Tribune selected his concerts with the Mostly Mozart Orchestra as among San Diego's “memorable performances of the year,” in the company of such eminent artists as the Guarneri String Quartet and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. The Washington Post declared that Mr. D’Agostino’s performance of the Poulenc Organ Concerto displayed “crushing power when needed, and sensitivity to the music’s dark, filmy atmospherics,” and the Charleston Post and Courier has praised his interpretation of Stephen Paulus’ Organ Concerto as “a major accomplishment by any measure.”
Mr. D'Agostino's recent tour of Japan included 11 concerts, masterclasses, and a lecture at the prestigious University of Tokyo. He been a featured artist at South Carolina's Piccolo Spoleto Festival in three different seasons, St. Petersburg International Festival of the Palaces (Russia), Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival (Washington), San Diego's Spreckels International Organ Festival, London Incorporated Association of Organists, Prague Free Organ World Festival (Czech Republic), Schola Cantorum (Paris), Nowy Sacz Organ Arts Festival (Poland), European-American Festival (Southampton, New York), Olomouc International Organ Festival (Czech Republic), and the Krakow International Organ Festival (Poland)
He has been a featured artist on Public Radio International's "Pipedreams," Radio Prague, Czech National Television, NPR's “The Next Big Thing,” NPR’s “Soundcheck,” and Florida Public Radio. He is a prize-winner of two Juilliard Concerto Competitions as well as a New York American Guild of Organists Competition. Among his CDs are Monuments of Germanic Music (Centaur Records), Organ Festival (Gigue Records), Islands & Vistas (Orcas Records), Locklair Organ Concerto (Slovak Radio Orchestra; Albany Records), Babbitt’s Manifold Music (Bridge Records), and Crumb’s Pastoral Drone (Grammy-winning series; Bridge Records). A versatile artist, he has recorded for film including Jonathan Bepler’s massive organ score for Cremaster 2 by acclaimed filmmaker Matthew Barney, which was featured at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Three new CDs will be released in 2007, including his recently completed Bach on the Lutheran Seminary Flentrop (Loft Recordings).
Gregory D’Agostino earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from The Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student of Jon Gillock and Vernon deTar, Performing Artist with the Lincoln Center Institute, and Teaching Fellow in music theory. He received the M.M. and B.M. in organ performance from The Juilliard School, where he also studied harpsichord with Lionel Party. Further studies have been with Xavier Darasse, Bernard Lagacé, and Marie-Claire Alain at the Toulouse Organ Academy, France.
Mr. D’Agostino is an active member of the American Guild of Organists and serves on the national committee on Seminary and Denominational Relations. He has given masterclasses for universities and AGO chapters, and has been guest lecturer at Juilliard, faculty of various Pipe Organ Encounter (POE) programs for young organists, and director and faculty of New York City’s first POE.
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