The V International Organ Festival
PROGRAMME:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 (“Dorian”)
Three Schübler Chorales
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Sonata in D major
Dan Locklair
Rubrics, a liturgical suite for organ
Charles Villiers Stanford
Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, Op. 57
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes
Felix Mendelssohn
Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (arranged by Samuel Warren)
Gioacchino Rossini
Overture to La gazza ladra (arranged by Thomas Trotter)
Performed by Thomas Trotter (organ)
Thomas Trotter is one of Britain’s most widely admired musicians. The excellence of his musicianship is reflected internationally in his musical partnerships. He performs as soloist with, amongst many others, the conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly and Sir Charles Mackerras. He has performed recitals in Berlin’s “Philharmonie”, the “Gewandhaus” in Leipzig, both the “Musikverein” and the “Konzerthaus” in Vienna and London’s Royal Festival Hall. He has played inaugural concerts in places such as Princeton University Chapel USA, the “Concertgebouw” in Amsterdam, the Royal Albert Hall, and Moscow's International Performing Arts Centre. He appears at major Festivals such as Salzburg, Edinburgh and London’s BBC Proms, and he performs with leading orchestras such as the Vienna, Berlin and London Philharmonic. In May 2002 he was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society award for Best Instrumentalist, the first organist ever to win this award.
Thomas Trotter was appointed Birmingham City Organist in 1983 in succession to Sir George Thalben-Ball, and he is also Organist at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey and Visiting Fellow in Organ Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. Earlier in his career he was organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, winning the First Prize at the St Albans International Organ Competition in his final year. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University in 2003 and from Birmingham University in 2006.
Alongside his weekly recitals in Birmingham, Thomas Trotter regularly performs throughout the USA and Europe. He is an active recording artist and several of his recordings have been named “Critics Choice” by The Gramophone magazine. This season he will play two of the opening concerts on the restored organ at Auckland Town Hall New Zealand, as well as inaugurating the new organ at Llandaff Cathedral. Other engagements include concerts in Europe, Russia, South Korea and Australia.