Welcome to Orgelfest 2013!
Ottawa Ontario
You'll love hearing Angela Hewitt (Bach: The Art of Fugue), Christian Lane (USA), Rachel Laurin, Thomas Annand, Jennifer Loveless, James Calkin, and the Ottawa Bach Choir. Workshop leaders, among others, will include Giles Bryant and Valerie Hall, and our focus on youth will feature Orgelfest Academy for young organists aged 17 - 25, as well as the National Organ-Playing Competition. And there'll be a Boat Cruise on the Ottawa River!
Come to Ottawa and have fun with us at Orgelfest 2013!
POST CONVENTION
Over the next few days we will be posting information on this website including some workshop handouts, pictures, radio interviews, Fr Jim Beall's sermon and other interesting items about Orgelfest 2013.
WORKSHOP HANDOUTS
Giles Bryant: Do-able Britten handout.
Benjamin Britten - Simple anthems recommended by Giles Bryant
The Centre still has some new copies for sale of the anthems recommended for use by ordinary church choirs by Giles Bryant at his Orgelfest workshop. Available, at $3.00 per copy, are:
24 copies - A Hymn to the Virgin (SATB plus simple solo quartet)
23 copies - The Birds (unison anthem with piano accompaniment)
If you would like to purchase any of these, please contact Frances Macdonnell at 613-726-7984, or e-mail
Valerie Hall: The Church Musician's Legacy
Organ Scholar Guidelines
Pedal Exercises by Gerald Bales
How to Practice by Barrie Cabena
Neil Cockburn: Art of Fugue.
INTERVIEWS and REVIEWS
Radio interview with James Chubb and James Macdonnell about the Hymn-writing Competition.
Radio interview with Rachel Mahon on the Organ Playing Competition.
Review of Angela Hewitt's concert by Richard Todd in The Ottawa Citizen.
Letter to the Editor about Angela Hewitt's concert.
NATIONAL ORGAN PLAYING COMPETITION
Congratulations to the six contestants in this year's competition. The winners of the three prizes are:
First Prize:
$5,000 - The Godfrey Hewitt Prize, offered by the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Fund
Second Prize:
$2,500 - The Létourneau Prize, offered by Létourneau Pipe Organs
Third Prize:
$1,000 - The Muriel Gidley Stafford Prize, offered by the Royal Canadian College of Organists
We wish to thank all the competitors for taking part and for their fine playing. We wish them well in their further studies.
SLIDESHOW
Pictures of Orgelfest 2013!
COLLEGE SERVICE
This is the text of the sermon preached by The Reverend Canon James H. Beall at the College service.
CENTRE HISTORY
The Centre History kiosk made its debut at Orgelfest 2013. This is an interractive display which places significant events on a timeline. Bill Vineer supplied muich of the content and Rick St Germain put it all together. Click on the graphic below to access this display.
THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone who helped make Orgelfest 2013 a success. Thank you to all the registrants who came to participate in this festival. We look forward to seeing everyone in London at the Festival of the Forks July 6-8, 2014
A number of the Orgelfest organ recitals and concerts are also open to the general public.
For concert information, press the "Public Concerts" button below.
There will be plenty of tickets available for all public concerts at the door.
Please call Frances at 613-292-5285 for information.
REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION is now open. We have negotiated a special rate with the Delta Hotel. To get this special rate, visit the Hotel page and use the Delta Booking Tool. We have also negotiated special air and rail rated for Orgelfest attendees. Information on these rates are at the bottom of the Registration page.
Photo courtesy of the City of Ottawa
HYMN-MUSIC WRITING COMPETITION
WE HAVE A WINNER!
The winning entries are announced for the Hymntune Writing Competition offered by Orgelfest 2013 for a new hymn to be sung at the College Service at Orgelfest 2013, on August 12, 2013, in St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Ottawa.
There were forty-nine entries to this competition, far more than we had expected! Most came from across Canada, but a few from the United States, and one from Australia. The entries were first examined by a Committee, and then the final six choices were sung through at the Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Centre of the RCCO on June 17, and the winners were determined by a general vote.
The winners are:
First Prize - James (Jamie) Chubb, Toronto, Ontario
Second Prize - Jeff Enns, Elmira, Ontario
Third Prize - Winnagene Hatch, London, Ontario
The Prizes are:
First Prize - $500 - donated by James Bailey, Architect, Toronto, Ontario
Second Prize - $300 plus a 1 year membership in SOCHS - donated by the Southern Ontario Chapter of the Hymn Society (SOCHS)
Third Prize - $100 - donated by the St. Barnabas Anglican Church Music Fund, Ottawa, Ontario
The rules of the competition and the text of the hymn are posted here.
For over 30 years, Jamie Chubb pursued a career in business computer software and organ technology. Some 900 organs around North America function with his software and other features, such as MIDI, he has helped to design. Since 2008, he has been spending a lot more of his time pursuing his primary interest, music. Among other things, Jamie has written a full-length rock-opera, Dreamlight, to draw support to causes of the disabled. Jamie is a member of the American Institute of Organbuilders, and in his musical family, he is a 4th-generation organist.
The author of the words of the hymn is James F. Macdonnell (born 1953, Ottawa, Ontario). He is an Ottawa musician and poet, who wrote the words in a metre not found elsewhere in today’s hymnbooks, to inspire Canadian musicians to write a new tune. Jamie Macdonnell, who worked at Library and Archives Canada through his working life, is a well known countertenor, and was the musical director for many years for the Men’s Voyces, an Ottawa early-music vocal group.
We are very grateful to all the participants in this Competition for their musical work, and to the donors of the Prizes; without all of you, this Competition would not have been possible.
Hotel:
101 Lyon Street, Ottawa.
Orgelfest Attractions
In response to the many suggestions made through the This is My Voice
survey, we have implemented many of your convention
suggestions.
- We are announcing an
Orgelfest Academy
option for registrants ages 17-25. For details, click on the Academy menu item. - Many of our venues will be air conditioned.
- There will be a variety of workshops.
- Simultaneous translation will be provided for some workshops.
- More opportunity is being provided to visit exhibits.
- There will be lots of North American artists including Angela Hewitt, Christian Lane, winner of 2011 CIOC competition in Montreal and Ottawa organists Rachel Laurin and Thomas Annand. A complete list of artists appears under the Artists menu.
- Registration fees are being kept low (at or below the 2003 rate).
- Registration will include a cruise on the Ottawa River to see many sites of Ottawa from the river.
- Since many of the organ consoles are out of the view of the audience, we will have a video screen so that the audience can watch the recitalist.
The RCCO (Orgelfest 2013) is a Registered Canadian Charity.
Mailing Address:
Orgelfest 2013,
c/o St. Peter's Ev. Lutheran Church,
400 Sparks Street,
Ottawa ON K1R 5A2
e-mail:
