Italian Organist Leads 4th Annual Harmony in the Hills

Italian organist and composer Eugenio Fagiani will begin the fourth season of the Harmony in the Hills concert series at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Rochester on Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.

Fagiani regularly performs in Europe, the United States and Canada. He has appeared at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche in Berlin, the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, St. James Anglican Cathedral in Toronto, on the Bruckner Orgel of the St. Florian Stiftsbasilika in Linz, Austria, and the Shrine of La Verna, St. Vitale's Basilica in Ravenna, Italy.

The resident organist of the historic Locatelli organ in the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Mapello, Italy, he studied with M° Enzo Corti in Milan, Italy, and earned an Organ and Composition diploma at the “Luca Marenzio” Conservatorium in Brescia, Italy. He also graduated in Musicology at the SPFM in Cremona-Pavia University with a graduation thesis on “Marcel Duprè and the art of improvisation.”

He has trained in interpretation with Nigel Allcoat, Ewald Kooiman, Piet Kee, Daniel Roth, Gillian Weir and Naji Hakim. Later, he specialized in the art of improvisation with Nigel Allcoat, Jurgen Essl, Peter Planyavsky and Naji Hakim. He also thoroughly studied Music Analysis with Marcel Bitsch.

He is also director of Italy’s only school of “20th century” organ improvisation.

He has lectured at New York University, the Royal Canadian College of Organists in Toronto and at England’s Oxford University.

As a composer he has received commissions from several festivals in Europe and in the U.S., among which are:

• Sacred Music Office in Bergamo, for the MDCC Anniversary of S. Alexander's (Bergamo's patron saint) Martyrdom (1998)
• XXIX Wuppertaler Orgeltage (2001)
• Luzern, Switzerland’s Kollegitheater in Sarnen for scene music for “Etat de Siège” by Albert Camus (2001)
• "Stele" composition commissioned by Stephen Tharp for the second commemoration of September 11th Tragedy in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York (2002)
• From Carol Williams and the Spreckels Organ Society in San Diego, Calif. (2004)
• XXIV Bergamo’s Historical Organs Season for a series of transcriptions from Mozart’s works (2005)
• From Adriano Falcioni for a re-elaboration of Tchaikovsky’s “Scherzo” from the VI Symphony, to be recorded in the new Pinchi organ in the new St. Pio’s Hall in S. Giovanni Rotondo (2006)

His works are published by Carrara, Turris and Delatour France.

St. Paul’s is at 620 Romeo Street near downtown Rochester. (Romeo Street is off Main Street, 2 blocks north of University in downtown Rochester. Turn right onto Romeo Street (at the Dairy Queen) and bear left to stay on Romeo Street at the first light (Parkdale). The church is 3 blocks up on the right. Parking is at the back, near the canopy.) The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary.

Concert tickets are $10 and available at the door.