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The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI: The Organ Takes Center Stage

Paul Jacobs, the only organist ever to have won a Grammy Award, will perform in all three works on our Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast on Sunday, April 25th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, April 26th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2.

As part of the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ at Verizon Hall back in November, 2016, the Organ Concerto of Christopher Rousewas given its world premiere just before intermission of the concert.

The nearly 7,000 pipes of this magnificent organ are showcased not only in this new work, written especially for Paul Jacobs, but with two other compositions that demonstrate its marvels: Camille Saint-Saens’s ever-popular Symphony No 3, the “Organ” Symphony, and—to begin the program—Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva, composed in 1960 when Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist donated a new organ to the Academy of Music for Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

POIC011517SL.mp3
Composer Christopher Rouse, who died in 2019, talks to WRTI's Susan Lewis during intermission of this 2016 concert.

During intermission, WRTI’s Debra Lew Harder speaks with Paul Jacobs, and Susan Lewis talks to Christopher Rouse.

Detailed program notes from the concert

PROGRAM:

Barber: Toccata Festiva

Rouse: Organ Concerto

INTERMISSION

Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 3, “Organ”

     Paul Jacobs, organ

     Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Gregg Whiteside is host of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts on WRTI, every Sunday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, online at WRTI.org, and on the WRTI mobile app!Enjoy a rebroadcast of Sunday concerts on Mondays at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2.

Gregg was the host of WRTI's morning drive show from 2012 until his retirement from WRTI in January, 2021. He began producing and hosting The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert broadcasts in 2013, joining the Orchestra in Hong Kong for the first-ever live international radio broadcasts from that island in 2016, and in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for two historic broadcasts in 2018. You can still hear Gregg as host of the Orchestra broadcasts every Sunday and Monday on WRTI.