Seven organists. Three upcoming concerts. One Tabernacle organ — with five manuals or keyboards and 206 ranks or organ pipes, for those keeping count.
And all will be featured in upcoming events at the Salt Lake Tabernacle over the next two months.
Organ Fest XIII
Organ Fest XIII is returning to the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Friday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 p.m. It will feature the five Tabernacle and Temple Square organists and an organist from the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
Featured organists include Richard Elliott, Andrew Unsworth, Brian Mathias, Linda Margetts, and Joseph Peeples from the Tabernacle organ staff, and James Goldrick, a native of the United Kingdom and Australia who recently assumed the post of assistant organist at the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
The OrganFest XIII program will include music by Bach, Diemer, Dunstable, Locklair, Mulet, Susato, Vierne, Walther, Weaver and Widor.
Since 2008, the Tabernacle and Temple Square organists and the organist from the Cathedral of the Madeleine have joined to celebrate organ music and to support organ music programming on Classical 89, Utah’s classical radio station. The annual concert has previously alternated between the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
Organ Fest XIII is free and open to those 8 years old and older; tickets are not required. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and those attending should be in their seats by 7:15 p.m.
Due to construction on Temple Square, the Tabernacle can be accessed by the gates on West Temple. A current map is available here.
The concert will be recorded and rebroadcast on Classical 89 on Sunday, Oct. 30, at 12:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Mountain Time.
2 Virtuoso Performance Series concerts
The second concert in the newly created Virtuoso Performance Series will feature Gabriele Terrone, the Cathedral’s organist and assistant director of music, on Friday, Oct. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Tabernacle. It will also be livestreamed on the choir’s YouTube channel. After the performance ends, the video will be available for on-demand viewing.
On Friday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m., the next concert will feature Andrew Unsworth, who has been a Tabernacle organist since 2007.
The Virtuoso Performance Series is free and open to those 8 years old and order; no tickets are required. Entry to the Tabernacle is accessed through the gates on West Temple Street. Due to construction on Temple Square, please review current access on the map here.
The series began earlier this year with a concert by James Higdon, an organist from the University of Kansas. Plans for the series include concerts about once a quarter.
Plus these recitals, streams
There are also free noon organ recitals in the Tabernacle, and the organ is also featured in a series, “Piping Up: Organ Concerts at Temple Square,” streamed every Wednesday on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel and website and also on Broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
