A recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21, by Malcolm Matthews, director of music at St. Mary’s Church in downtown Rochester, wraps up the 2014-2015 season of Third Thursday Concerts with Eastman’s Italian Baroque Organ at the Memorial Art Gallery.
Titled “Frescobaldi as Fountainhead: His Music and Influence,” the program will feature works by Frescobaldi, Froberger, Muffat, Pasquini, Quagliati, Rossi, and Storace.
Matthews received his Bachelor of Music degree with Performer’s Certificate at Eastman, and graduated with a master’s degree in both organ and harpsichord performance at Eastman in 2014.
At St. Mary’s Church, Matthews directs a 25-member choir and oversees the music program. In addition, he is an instructor in Eastman’s Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards Department. He frequently accompanies students, collaborating with a variety of instruments from brass and winds to strings on repertoire including works from 1600 to the present. He also consistently works as a continuo player on the harpsichord for solo instrumentalists and ensembles such as the Canandaigua Chamber Ensemble and Eastman’s Collegium Musicum directed by Paul O’Dette.
Matthews won first place in 2013 Westfield International Organ Competition and 2005 South-Eastern Region IV Young Organists Competition, and second place in the 2012 National Young Artist’s Competition in Organ Performance. He was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Concours international d’orgue de Lyon. Matthews has performed organ recitals in Bremen, Germany; Seattle, Wash.; Tempe, Ariz.; Greenville, S.C.; Sarasota and Delray Beach, Fla.; Chattanooga, Knoxville, Kingsport, and Nashville, Tenn.; Chicago, Ill,; and Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Eastman’s Italian Baroque Organ was built around 1770 in central Italy. Restored and installed in 2005 at the Memorial Art Gallery, the instrument is the only one of its kind in North America. The organ’s beautiful, authentic sounds have been heard by thousands of people who have come to the weekly Sunday mini-recitals and the special monthly concerts by internationally known guest artists and Eastman musicians.
Admission to the concert is included in Gallery admission, which is half-price on Thursday nights and free to UR student ID holders. This concert is made possible by the Rippey Endowed Trust.
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