Organ, Voice and Viola!

On Friday, September 23 at 7:30, organist Richard Spotts will be joined by vocalist Leon Griesbach and violist Linda Vaillancourt in a program of the music of the French organist, composer and mystic Charles Tournemire. Tournemire was a profound and volatile mystic and while his music is not the type that often has instant appeal, his avant-garde, plainchant derived experimentation gets inside ones being slowly and compellingly and once there has the ability to transport the listener outside time and space.

Richard Spotts is a graduate of Westminster Choir College. He has dedicated over a decade of study to Charles Tournemire, having concertised widely in the United States and Canada. In addition to recitals and liturgical performances of Tournemire’s music, he has lectured on the subject of Tournemire at universities and conferences, most recently having given a presentation at the American Guild of Organists’ 2022 Seattle convention. Mr Spotts’ book on the subject—“Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique: La haute mission”, which is a summation of his study of the man and his music—is set to be published this year by the Wayne Leupold Foundation. The programme for this evening will include movements from “L’Orgue Mystique” and “Sei Fioretti musicals”, along with the rarely heard “La Salutation Angélique” for violin and soloist and the “Trois Poèmes pour orgue”.

This concert is sponsored by Prince of Peace Parish and admission is by free will donation. For more information, contact Scott Vaillancourt at 240-9419 or Scott.Vaillancourt@Portlanddiocese.org