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GILLIAN
WEIR
Organ
"Consummate
and unparalleled artistry...if anyone can persuade the vast bulk
of concert-goers that the organ, too, is a musical instrument,
then Gillian Weir is indisputably that person."
- Music
and Musicians
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Through
her unique career as an internationally acclaimed concert
organist, performing worldwide at the major festivals and with
leading orchestras and conductors, Gillian Weir has become
established as a distinguished musician known for her virtuosity
and integrity, her reputation extending well beyond the world of
the organ. Her renown as a performer, which has stimulated
numerous young players to follow her, is backed by her scholarly
reputation; she is in demand as an adjudicator for all the
leading international competitions and as lecturer, broadcaster,
teacher and writer, while her television appearances have reached
vast new audiences.
Her
repertoire is exceptional in its breadth and variety, stretching
from the Renaissance to contemporary works. She has performed the
complete works of Bach as well as others including Messaien, and
her pre-eminent position as Messiaen interpreter has been
underlined with her CD release of his complete organ works –
received universally with such plaudits as that from Le Monde:
“This intégrale is a worthy successor to that by
Messiaen himself” - and also by her contribution to Faber's
The Messiaen Companion and other publications.
She
has received many prizes, awards and honours, and in the 1996 New
Year's Honours List was created Dame Commander of the Order of
the British Empire in recognition of her services to music,
having been made CBE in 1989. Her achievements have been marked
by the reissue on CD of her famed series of Argo recordings, and
her nomination by Classic CD magazine as one of the 100
Greatest Keyboard Players of the Century, as well as by The
Sunday Times as one of the 1000 Music Makers of the
Millennium. In December 2000, ITV South Bank Show chronicled her
worldwide activities as a performer, teacher and recording artist
in a highly acclaimed documentary. She has recently accepted the
appointment of Distinguished Visiting Artist at the Peabody
Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
USA.
Gillian's
schedule last year included recital and concerto appearances in
Berlin, Canada and the USA (including the spectacular Disney Hall
in Los Angeles), the new Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore, and
festivals throughout Europe. In October she gave the first
full-scale recital for several decades at the Royal Albert Hall,
to an audience of over 2000. Her much praised Organ Master Series
for Priory Records continued with the double-CD sets of Bach,
including the Leipzig Chorales on the new organ at Bach's own
church of St Thomas, Leipzig. This was followed by the first in a
new series of concert-hall recordings, celebrating the Albert
Hall's refurbished organ.; the next, made in the Royal Festival
Hall just before the organ was removed for restoration, followed
in February, and the third in the series, from Symphony Hall,
Birmingham, is just released. The re-release of her legendary
Messiaen recordings (containing the three posthumously published
works and thus one only two complete sets) have received further
acclaim, being hailed by Gramophone as “one of the
finest organ recordings ever made”.
For
further information on Gillian Weir's forthcoming appearances and
recordings, please see her website: gillianweir.com
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