Organ Centennial Festival - July 5th

Our beloved organ turns 100 this year! We will be celebrating with monthly concerts featuring organists from around the world who will showcase the extraordinary capabilities of this amazing instrument.

Sunday, July 5th

at 3:00 pm

This year marks the 250th Birthday of the United States of America. To celebrate this extraordinary milestone, the Music Program of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius is organizing an organ recital featuring patriotic music composed for the organ.

The program will open with the celebrated piece “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Aaron Copland, arranged for organ. This iconic American composition was created in 1942 as a patriotic response to America's entry into World War II, honoring the heroism of everyday citizens on the home front.

Following this, there will be two organ preludes based on popular tunes. The first, composed by New Yorker Calvin Hampton, is based on the tune "America the Beautiful." The second, by Dale Wood, adapts the Christian hymn "Amazing Grace."

Originally written for solo organ, “Elegy” by African-American composer William Grant Still has become versatile, existing in multiple arrangements that showcase the renowned composer's signature lyrical melodies and straightforward yet expressive harmonies.

“American Rhapsody,” a popular organ composition by the celebrated Italian-American composer and organist Pietro Alessandro Yon, will follow. Included in Yon’s collection of organ pieces titled “12 Divertimenti,” this work blends popular themes from the Civil War era, incorporating familiar tunes such as “Maryland, My Maryland” (also known as “O Christmas Tree”), “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” (the tune for “Jesus Loves the Little Children”), “Deep River,” “Dixie,” and “Hail Columbia.”

A tribute to one of America’s distinctive musical styles, three preludes based on African American spirituals by composer and church musician Charles Callahan will showcase the full range of the 'string division' of our Casavant organ.

The program will conclude with the National Anthem, which serves to cap the entire recital. Dudley Buck’s “Concert Variations on the Star-Spangled Banner,” Op. 23, will perform this task. Composed in 1866, almost 60 years before it became the National Anthem, this famous virtuoso organ piece remains a staple of the concert organ repertoire, celebrated for its technical demands and creative reimagining of the U.S. National Anthem.