Organist Kent Tritle opens the 25th Anniversary Season of N.P. Mander Organ Recitals at Sacred Music in a Sacred Space on the instrument he brought to life

The recital on Sunday, October 22 at 3 pm at the visually arresting historic Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (980 Park Avenue at 84th Street) features works by J.S. Bach, Marchand, Paulus, Guilmant and others. Tickets are $25; purchase at smssconcerts.org or call 212-288-2520.

In this 25th Anniversary Season, the N.P. Mander Organ Recital Series reunites the instrument with organists connected to its history, beginning with Kent Tritle on October 22, a tribute to his spearheading role in the birth of the instrument. When Kent Tritle was named Director of Music at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in 1989, he built the now-robust music program from scratch, founding the church’s Sacred Music in a Sacred Space (SMSS) concert series and heading the efforts to design and install the Mander organ.
For 25 years, the mighty N.P Mander organ has been a defining feature of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola; at 30 tons and 45 feet high, its 5,000 pipes, 55,000 parts, four keyboards, and 68 different stops fill the stunning sanctuary with lush, crisp, nuanced, and powerful music that has become a hallmark for parishioners and patrons of SMSS concerts. At a cost of $1.25 million in 1992, its creation by the English organ builder N.P. Mander involved a year of planning and construction in England, and a five-month installation at The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola.

About Kent Tritle
Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors. Called “the brightest star in New York’s choral music world” by The New York Times, he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; Music Director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York; and Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, the acclaimed 200-voice volunteer chorus.

In addition, Kent is Director of Choral Activities and Chair of the Organ Department at the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, Kent Tritle is the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra.

In recent years, Kent has been recognized with honors from Career Bridges (2017 Distinguished Achievement Award), Clarion Music Society (2016 gala honoree), and the Manhattan School of Music (2016 President’s Medal for Distinguished Service).

As an organ recitalist, Kent Tritle performs regularly in Europe and across the United States; recital venues have included the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, Dresden’s Hofkirche, King’s College at Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. With the Philharmonic he has performed Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony conducted by Lorin Maazel and Andrew Davis, and recorded Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Britten’s War Requiem and Henze’s Symphony No. 9, all conducted by Kurt Masur, as well as the Grammy-nominated Sweeney Todd conducted by Andrew Litton. He is featured on the DVDs The Organistas and Creating the Stradivarius of Organs. In 2015 he became Chair of the Organ Department of the Manhattan School of Music.

Kent Tritle holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from The Juilliard School in organ performance and choral conducting. He has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

About Sacred Music in a Sacred Space
Sacred Music in a Sacred Space at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City is committed to presenting the finest sacred choral and organ repertoire spanning over 1,000 years of music history. Known for their artistic excellence, the renowned Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola present exhilarating performances of large-scale choral masterpieces as well as more intimate and reflective settings by lesser-known composers. Internationally acclaimed organists may also frequently be heard on the Church’s magnificent N.P. Mander Pipe Organ, the largest tracker organ in New York City.

Program
Program follows
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KENT TRITLE, organ
Sunday, October 22, 2017 3 pm

Grand Dialogue, Louis Marchand (1669-1732)

Tryptich (2000), Stephen Paulus (1949-2014)
2. Be still my vision

Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543, J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Sonata No.3 in A Major, Op.65, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Andante tranquillo
Con moto maestoso

Intermission

Chorale Preludes, Op. 122, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Herzliebster Jesu
O Welt, ich muss dich lassen

Sonata No.5 in C minor, Op.80, Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
1. Allegro Appassionato
2. Adagio
3. Scherzo
4. Recitativo
5. Choral et Fugue