At the Mildred Andrews Centennial celebration at the School of Music, John Schwandt joined Justin LaVoie in a performance of "Spectre on the Spree" for duo organ. Theatre Organ lovers will recognize that this is based on the piano/organ duet arrangement by Simon Gledhill and Richard Hills, altered a bit to turn it into an organ duet. We think you'll agree it was quite a hit!
The American Organ Institute
Official Website - aoi.ou.edu/
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The mission of the University of Oklahoma’s American Organ Institute is to invigorate and reinvent the time-honored and deeply-linked studies of pipe organ building, playing, and improvisation, through preparing and equipping students for successful careers as performers, teachers, organ builders, scholars, and technicians. We seek to inspire students and audiences with learning and exposure to this ancient and ever-evolving instrument by offering innovative and informed approaches to the pipe organ and its music.
Our students cultivate excellence and mastery of performance in both the traditional classical and sacred repertoire, focusing on historical performance practice as well as playing for today's audiences and congregations. The AOI also offers students the singular opportunity to undertake focused study of the American traditions of improvisation, scoring, and accompaniment of silent films and theatrical pipe organ performance. This cultivates opportunities for insight as well as the preservation of a unique aspect of the United States’ rich musical heritage. It likewise opens the doors to musical skills and techniques which have great relevance to the wider aspects of today’s organ profession, where all musicians are called upon to be broadly based in many disciplines as well as entrepreneurial in their visions of the organist's role in an ever-changing culture.
“This Institute… will be of great benefit to organ builders in the United States by providing a stable source of young people dedicated to organ building and with enough training to get a good start on a career.” - Jack M. Bethards, President and Tonal Director, Schoenstein & Co. Organ Builders
Video production: Cristiano Rizzotto | DMA Student & AOI Shop Assistant