Opening night at the Kimmel Center belongs to two amazing women: first, Trudy Pitts became the first jazz artist to play the Cooper Organ, then legendary vocalist Nancy Wilson took center stage. It is fitting that the season started with a local star who made her name on the world stage and with one of the finest artists in the world. What did you think of the show?
It was absolutely wonderful!
As an Organist that played the new Dobson at the P2P in May, and one that is working on taking the organ to audiences that don't usually hear it, I was so proud of those in the programming that put Trudy Pitts on the stage. She did such a fantastic job of not only playing the organ, but using the various mechanics to demonstrate that the Pipe organ can go from a ladybugs whisper to louder than a Mack Truck horn. That might have been the very first time many people in attendance heard a pipe organ played in a non-classical fashion. Keep up the good work on programing in this fashion, to make more friends for the organ.
Although Ms. Pitts is a Hammond Organist, she demonstrated that she was more capable and aware of the idiosyncracies of a pipe organ. Her opening with use of the Rosignol (Bird Call stop) let me know that we were in for a real treat and that this lady sure meant business. Her comments were also very touching or humerous saying that the pipe organ is "..still alive and well" and mentioning that "this is a monster!" It was actually a teary-eyed moment for me, when I thought of how many people were probably getting introduced to the Organ, and NOT by someone that is a purist or musicological, as many organists tend to be. That in itself was a good deed by the programming people at the KC. It might become evident in programming for the Organ that people that are "endorsed" or "supported" by groups of Organists will have a completely different approach and stage presence than people that may be considered more appealing to the general public. when Organists say "general public" we usually mean people that have little or no exposure to the organ, as opposed to those that listen to the organ regularly or those that are trained as organists. The general public is not usually concerned with the "academics" related to Organ-playing as much as they know what they like to hear. A great example is Cameron Carpenter. Cameron is an acquaintance of mine, and is a modern day Virgil Fox. The general public is captivated by Cameron's playing, as evident when he played during the 5 Organists recital in May. On the other hand, many trained/academic organist speak with incessant profanity about him.
How about Barbara Dennerlein next? Barbara Dennerlien is actually the "Young German" Trudy Pitts. Different from Ms Pitts, Barbara was primarily trained as a classical organist, then went to Hammond, using pipe organ technique, and now is a whiz at both. Also of note is Joe Utterback, a formidable Organist with classical training at the organ, but with a switch of gears to Jazz at the pipe organ. (I think Ms Pitts was trained as a pianist, and evolved into the Jazz ORgan virtuoso she is now)
I thought a couple of things were very clever:
You programmed Ms Pitts before Nancy Wilson, thus having the initial full house that could hear the organ.
the advertising of Ms Pitts appeared that the Organ was going to have a "supportive" role, rather than being a complete concert of jazz improvisation at the pipe organ for over an hour, along with a "This is what this organ can do" demo.
That was very clever programming and advertising. Do it again! (bwahahaha)
Aside from the performance...
I receently joined the Young Professionals for the Performing Arts at the "Virtuoso" level of membership. Whenever I said I had a membership, people at Cadence and the gift shop were so nice and gave me discounts. The food, drinks, and bartenders were fantastic. Made for a great night out!
wish to find out if I could get to audition for chorus on any of the upcoming events, I am a former student of AVA studied Opera, mezzo soprano. Over 50yrs old live in the suburbs.