Pipedreams Live! returns to Rochester with host Michael Barone for Organ Celebration
ROCHESTER, N.Y.— For the first time since 2009, American Public Media’s Pipedreams Live! returns to Rochester to host a series of concerts performed on several important pipe organs of Rochester. Michael Barone, host and founder of Pipedreams and its touring counterpart Pipedreams Live!, will introduce the programs and interview the performers during each concert.
Presented by the Rochester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Eastman School of Music, and in partnership with WXXI FM Classical 91.5, the upcoming Pipedreams Live! consists of five concerts taking place from April 21-24. The event kicks off on Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m., with Italian virtuoso Francesco Cera performing on Eastman’s Italian Baroque Organ at the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG). This concert is part of the Third Thursday concert series at MAG. Entrance is free with Gallery admission, half-price on Thursdays. A special pre-concert lecture will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Gallery auditorium, given by Edoardo Bellotti, Associate Professor of Organ, Harpsichord, and Improvisation at Eastman School of Music.
Students from the Eastman School of Music Organ Department will be featured in the latter four performances. On Friday, April 22, two concerts will take place at Christ Church, Rochester (141 East Ave). Both the 5:30 “Happy Hour” concert and the 8 p.m. program will showcase the abilities and stylistic ranges of Eastman’s Romantic and Baroque organs housed in the church. On Saturday, April 23 at 8 p.m., performers will present a concert of chant-inspired repertoire at on the Fritts organ at Sacred Heart Cathedral (296 Flower City Park).
The final performance turns the spotlight on the 1928 Wurlitzer theater organ at Auditorium Theater (885 E Main St). The Rochester Theater Organ Society (RTOS) presents their annual “Eastman Bunch” concert including special guest Justin LaVoie. This entertaining final concert takes place on Sunday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m. Admission to each of the student concerts is free, but donations will be accepted at the door to help cover recording and production costs.
For more details and the most up-to-date information, please visit https://www.esm.rochester.edu/organ/.
Pipedreams can be heard Sundays at 8:00 p.m. on WXXI 91.5 FM in Rochester, and on WXXY 90.3 FM in the Southern Tier.
The concert at the Memorial Art Gallery on April 21 is sponsored by the Humanities Project, a program of the University of Rochester Humanities Center.