SNC:AGO RECITALISTS

James David Christie: June 5, 2015

James David Christies has been internationally acclaimed as one of the finest organists of his generation. He has performed. around the world with symphony orchestras and period instrument ensembles as well as in solo recitals. He was the 1979 first Prize winner of the Bruges (Belgium) International Organ Competition and was the first American ever to win first Prize in this prestigious competition; he was also the first person in the competition's eighteen-year history to win both the First Prize and the Prize of the Audience.

Christie has served as organist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1978 and has performed and recorded with the major orchestras of Vienna, London, Stuttgart, Koblentz, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore, New York, Boston, and others. He has given more than 50 tours of Europe and performs regularly in Canada, Asia, Australia, and Iceland. He is music director of Ensemble Abendmusik, a Boston-based period instrument orchestra and chorus specializing in sacred music of the 17th and 18th centuries. He has performed with many period instrument orchestras including the Academy of Ancient Music, the Bach Ensemble, Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, the New York Collegium, and others.

He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the New England School of Law for his outstanding contributions to the musical life of Boston, and the New England Conservatory honored him with its Outstanding Alumni Award. He has served on numerous international organ competition juries.

Mr. Christie has recorded for a dozen prominent labels and has received several awards for his solo recordings, including the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik and the Magazine d'Orgue: Coup de Coeur.

He holds positions as chair and professor of organ at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; distinguished artist in residence at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts; chair and college organist at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He has previously held positions at Boston Conservatory, Harvard University, M.I.T., and Boston University.

Program

Pieces choisies (1711/12): Charles Piroye (ca 1668/72 - ca 1717 /30)
La Béatitude

Daphne (3 variations): Anon. Dutch, 16th century
Camphuysen manuscript

Praeludium in G Minor, BuxWV 148: Dieterich Buxtehude (ca 1637-1707)

Partite diverse sopra:
Sei gegru8et, Jesu gutig (BWV 768}: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
(chorale and 11 variations)

Concerto in D Major, RV 93: Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1748)
(transcription: J. D. Christie, 1996)

I. Allegro
II. Largo
III. Allegro

Elegie (2006): James David Christie (b. 1952)
(in memoriam: Jean Langlais)

Six pieces (1896/1901): J. Guy Ropartz (1864-1955)

III. Sortie