Ditmas Park

Daniel Roth set to play Kilgen Organ at Our Lady of Refuge Church

April 21, 2015 By Francesca Norsen Tate, Religion Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
World-acclaimed organist Daniel Roth. Photo credit: Joseph Vitacco
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One of the world’s most renowned organists, Daniel Roth, will perform at Our Lady of Refuge Church in Ditmas Park, as part of a concert series for the parish’s recently restored Kilgen Pipe Organ.

Michael Barone, of the popular radio program “Pipe Dreams,” will be the emcee for the event. Stephen Buzard will conduct the Schola. Friends from Quimby Pipes Organ, David Schopp of AR Schopp’s Sons will all be present for this program of works of Sweelinck, Bach, Franck, Vierne and Mendelssohn.

Maestro Roth’s concert will mark the culmination of seven years of diligent work for Joseph A. Vitacco, III, who spearheaded the capital campaign to have his church’s Kilgen Pipe Organ restored. Vitacco put Our Lady of Refuge Church on the international music map through this campaign, which raised the needed funds through social media. Vitacco is now stepping down from the roles of capital campaign manager and concert coordinator.

The organ builder was George Kilgen & Son of St. Louis, which also made the instrument for St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A.R. Schopp’s Sons and Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc. joined forces to restore the instrument.

During the October 2013 sold-out dedication recital, Vitacco received an extended standing ovation.

When Our Lady of Refuge reached out to people who love organ music to help pay for the church’s organ restoration, they said the instrument would be used to enrich the cultural lives of people of the city. Each concert since the organ’s re-inauguration has seen a growing audience.

Olivier Latry was the guest artist at that inaugural recital. Since then, the acclaimed organists who have also given concerts on the Kilgen have included Craig Cramer and John Thiessen, of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, and the Juilliard School of Music, respectively; Todd Wilson, director of music at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio and faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music; Thierry Esaich; improviser Organist of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont in Paris and professor of music at the Paris Conservatoire; and Loreto Aramendi from Spain’s Basque region, who working to restore the Cavaillé-Coll instrument of Santa Maria del Coro (1863). For tickets to the Friday, April 24 concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m., visit www.olrbrooklyn.org/rothtickets.

 

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