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July 3
Giuliana Maccaroni & Federica Iannella
Federica Iannella lives in Senigallia, Central Italy, her hometown. She studied organ and composition at the Conservatory G. Rossini in Pesaro, and graduated cum laude in Discipline Musicali, interpretative direction, from the Conservatory A. Pedrollo in Vicenza.
Ms. Iannella performs regularly in important European Festivals, as well as appearing with such choral and orchestral groups as the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Prague Chamber Choir, and the Compagnia de Musici di Parma-with whom she has interpreted almost all of the Handel organ concertos.
Apart from her extensive concert and educational work, Ms. Iannella is also a musicologist who graduated from the University of Bologna.
Ms. Iannella is a regular organist at the Church of Santa Maria della Neve in Senigallia, where she is artistic director of the Senigallia International Organ Festival.
Giuliana Maccaroni graduated from the G. Rossini Conservatorium of Pesaro, where she studied organ and organ composition with Maestro Marco Arlotti. After further study, she obtained a Diploma in Harpsichord and a degree in Musicology at the University of Cremona. In addition, she gained a Magisterial organ degree at the Conservatorium of Vicenza with Maestro Roberto Antonello.
Ms. Maccaroni was awarded two scholarships, and has won many prizes at national and international contests. She has made the first-ever recording of Giovanni Morandi's Sonatas for organ four-hands with the organist Federica Iannella, for Tactus Publishing House. She is currently the regular organist of Christ the King Church, Pesaro, with a Mascioni historical organ, and artistic director of the international organ festival "Vespri d'organo a Cristo Re."
July 10
Barbara Dennerlein
Born in Munich in 1964, Barbara Dennerlein started playing organ at the age of eleven. Just four years later, she was performing regularly at local jazz clubs where she laid the foundations for her future career as a professional musician. She soon became the leading representative of her instrument: the legendary Hammond B3. Without doubt, she can claim that she paved the way for the organ's current renaissance in jazz.
Ms. Dennerlein is one of the few organists who play a pedal bass, and is surely unequalled for her breathtaking technique. "The pedals enable me to create a special rhythmic structure that the double-bass can't easily imitate, since together with the two manuals I have a kind of 'rhythmic triptych' at my disposal," she explains.
Ms. Dennerlein is currently presenting her live-on-tour new Duo album, Love Letters (Bebab 250969), which was the product of six intense years of working with her Argentinean drummer, Daniel Messina.
July 17
Jane Watts
The career of the internationally acclaimed Welsh organist Jane Watts has taken her all over the world. "From the first few bars, you can tell why Jane Watts' performances have gathered such superlatives," began the review in Gramophone magazine of her recording made on the organ of the Ulster Hall, Belfast. Other recordings, including those from Westminster Abbey, Chartres Cathedral, Orléans Cathedral, and St. John's Smith Square have been equally well received.
Ms. Watts has been Organist of the Bach Choir since 1991, and is the only woman since the Choir's founding in 1876 to hold the post. In March 2003, she was soloist with the Choir during their visit to the 10th Al-Bustan Festival in Beirut, during which she undertook the formidable organ part in the world premiere of Naji Hakim's Gloria. She has been an exclusive recording artist with Priory Records since 1988.
July 24
Joyce Jones
Joyce Jones might be termed the "accidental organist." After entering the University of Texas as a piano major, a badly sprained hand caused her to turn to the organ. The pedal technique developed during that time has since been described as legendary. (She always includes one piece featuring pedals-as her way of thanking God for showing her what she should do with her life.) Three years later, she graduated with highest honors, won a national organ competition, and started teaching at the University at the age of nineteen.
Ms. Jones is the Joyce Oliver Bowden Professor of Music, Professor of Organ and Organist in Residence at Baylor University. She has been a featured soloist at many regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Of her Worcester, Massachusetts, concert in June 1999, the American Organist reported: "Her amazing technique and depth of understanding through memorization brought the crowd screaming to its feet."
July 31
Ludmila Golub
Russian organist and pianist Ludmila Golub graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire where she studied piano, organ, and harpsichord with L. I. Roisman-as well as attending master classes by M. Chapuis, A. Izoir, and L. F. Tagliavini. She is particularly interested in Twentieth Century music, and was the first in Russia to perform organ works by Ives, Messian, Ligeti, and Jolivet.
Many of her most creative efforts have been dedicated to Russian composers. One of them (Alfred Schnitke) wrote, "Golub is a wonderful interpreter of contemporary music. Like many other composers, I cannot but praise her brilliant performance of organ and harpsichord parts in my compositions."
Ms. Golub has recorded often for television and radio as well as for such record labels as Chandos, Le Chant du Monde, and Hyperion.
August 7
Ahreum Han
Ahreum Han has received top prizes from many competitions. Her live concerts have been featured on the radio show Pipedreams on American Public Media. Ms. Han has performed as a soloist with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, the University of Pennsylvania Orchestra at Irvine Auditorium, as well as in solo performances at the Kimmel Center's widely acclaimed Cooper Memorial Organ, Ocean Grove Auditorium, St. Bartholomew's Church in New York, St. Philip's Cathedral in Atlanta, Jack Singer Hall in Calgary, and the Princeton University Chapel. Ms. Han graduated with a bachelor's degree in organ performance from Westminster Choir College, where she studied with Ken Cowan. In May 2007, she graduated with an artist's diploma from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied as a full scholarship student of Alan Morrison.
She currently attends the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, studying with Thomas Murray for her Master of Music degree. She also serves as the organist at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Stamford, Connecticut.
The other star of the festival is Trinity Church's Marshall & Ogletree Opus 1 virtual pipe organ. The digital organ was designed specifically for Trinity Church and installed in 2003. It replaced the Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ that was damaged by dust and debris on September 11, 2001. Opus 1 has six divisions, 85 drawknobs on each of two consoles, for a total of 170 stops, 240 unique registers, and 82 audio channels. During the encore on July 3, Opus 1 will be played from both consoles, gallery and chancel, simultaneously.
