Thomas Dahl

SACRED MUSIC PROGRAM TO HOST GERMAN ORGANIST

Thomas Dahl, a concert organist and director of music at the Church of St. Peter in Hamburg, Germany, will serve as church musician-in-residence at Lenoir-Rhyne College Oct. 22-25. Dahl is also conductor of the Hamburg Bach Choir.

His visit is one of the activities scheduled this year in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Lenoir-Rhyne's Sacred Music Program. The public is invited to a free organ recital by Dahl at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at St. Stephens Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, located at 2304 Springs Road NE in Hickory.

The recital will feature works of Buxtehude, Bach, Brahms, and Reger, as well as several contemporary pieces by Ernst Ulrich von Kameke. A highlight of the program will be an improvisation by Dahl, who has won prizes in improvisation competitions in Europe. The program will conclude with a movement from "Organ Sonata" by Percy Whitlock and two movements from Vierne's "Symphonie b minor."

Dahl will also perform during the 11 a.m. worship service on Oct. 22 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, located at 547 6th St. NW in Hickory. He will give a presentation on "Church Music in Germany" at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 23 in Room 104 of the Mauney Music Building on campus. He will also lead the Chapel Choir and play for campus worship at 11:15 a.m. Oct. 24 in the Mauney Music Building. All events are free and open to the public.

Dahl was born in Tönning, Germany, in 1964. He studied music in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Paris and Chicago, obtaining six diplomas. In 1995 he was first-place winner in the International Improvisation Competition in Knokke/Heist, Belgium. He was also awarded prizes in the competitions of Schwäbisch Gmünd (Germany), Nijmegen (The Netherlands) and was a finalist in St. Albans (England).

Since age18, he has played numerous concerts throughout Europe, in Japan, Russia and the United States. He has participated at international music festivals throughout the world.

Dahl has given lectures and master classes at the Gnessin Academie (Moscow), the Conservatoire of Triest (Italy) and Birmingham Conservatoire (England). He has recorded several CDs with music by Vierne, Mendelssohn, Reger and others.

His repertoire ranges from works of the Renaissance to the Avantgarde (Ligeti, Hambræus and Guillou). His main interests are the organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Max Reger as well as other symphonic works of the 19th and 20th centuries. He performs regularly works for organ and orchestra and was soloist in the German premiere of the Concerto Héroïque of Jean Guillou, considered the most difficult organ concerto ever written.

For more information about Dahl's visit, call 828-328-7149.

©2006 Lenoir-Rhyne College