The Flentrop organ in UC Santa Barbara's Department of Music will take center stage on Jan. 10 for “Bach to Flentrop,” a performance commemorating the 40th anniversary of the organ’s arrival at UCSB.
For the concert, James Welch, the campus’s university organist and carillonist from 1977 to 1993, will present a program of Bach compositions specifically composed for the Flentrop organ, as well as a number of contemporary pieces. The event also honors Karl Geiringer, the internationally renowned specialist in musicology and composition who taught at UCSB from 1962 until his death in 1989.
“Bach to Flentrop” will reintroduce the campus and community to a unique and historical musical instrument that currently resides behind a wall in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. The Flentrop organ was produced by the Dutch organ company of the same name, and harkens back to the baroque models from the organ instrument’s inception. It is a prime example of the historical organ revival that began during the latter part of the 20th century. It features mechanical rather than electrical connections between the keys and stops, and would have been familiar to composers such as Bach.
Over the last four decades, UCSB’s Flentrop has been called on time and again for performances and recitals by such as those by renowned organists Albert Campbell, Ennis Fruhauf and Dame Gillian Weir.
Presented in association with the American Guild of Organists, “Bach to Flentrop” begins at 7:30 p.m. in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. Tickets are $7 for students, and $15 for all others. More information is available at www.music.ucsb.edu.
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