Michael Stairs

This is a must-hear re-broadcast for all of our organ music enthusiasts! It's The Philadelphia Orchestra's All-Organ Weekend from last November - a mini-festival, of sorts, that represents the culmination of a month-long celebration of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ at Verizon Hall. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts.

Born in Bologna in 1879, Italian violinist, violist, conductor and composer Ottorino Respighi moved to Rome in 1913.  He became internationally recognized for his trilogy of symphonic poems celebrating the  fountains, pines, and festivals of the city.

WRTI's Susan Lewis considers The Pines of Rome, performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra. She spoke with organist Michael Stairs and Associate Principal Clarinet Samuel Caviezel. 

When Michael Stairs sits at the organ console, the result is nothing but perfection. He is indeed the organist's organist. Stairs has been organist for The Philadelphia Orchestra since his appointment by Riccardo Muti in 1985. He taught at the Haverford School for 25 years and was beloved by his students. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, he also holds an Artist's Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music.

For many people, organ music is for weddings, funerals, and the Phantom of the Opera. But as the Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns reports, this pious pocket of classical music is starting to become mainstream.

Why didn't we know about this before? After the gala installation of the Kimmel Center's Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ in 2006, interest waned among less-devout concertgoers. And let's face it, the organ community can seem like a forbidding club of connoisseurs. The organ could have sunk into aficionado obscurity.

What a program! It's a re-broadcast of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI, Sunday, October 12th at 1 pm. The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ and organist Michael Stairs are two of the biggest stars in a firmament of many! Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin had to withdraw from this performance in March, but it brought conductor Alain Altinoglu to Verizon Hall at Yannick’s recommendation, and was he ever in his element!

The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast this Sunday at 1 pm opens with a collection of “Symphonic Fragments” from Alfredo Casella’s rarely performed opera La Donna Serpente (The Snake-Woman), based on an 18th-century fable-play by Carlo Gozzi, and is followed by one of Sergei Prok

Born in 1879, violinist, violist, conductor and composer Ottorino Respighi moved to Rome in 1913. He became internationally recognized for his trilogy of symphonic poems celebrating the fountains, pines, and festivals of the city. WRTI’s Susan Lewis considers The Pines of Rome.