“Pipes around the Pacific,” the 2010 annual convention and organ festival of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, will be held in Victoria, British Columbia July 18–22, with an optional trip to Vancouver. Featured concert performers will include David Palmer, Philippe Bélanger, Paul Jacobs, and Tong-Soon Kwak. The keynote speaker will be Paul Halley. The festival will feature commissioned works by British Columbia composers Alan Matheson (flugelhorn and organ) and Larry Nickel (choir). While an important centerpiece will be the recently installed Helmuth Wolff tracker organ in Christ Church Cathedral, there will also be visits to historic instruments by Bevington (1862), Appleton (1840), Pease (1880), Conacher (1891) and Aeolian (1920).
Daily events will include worship services from the Taizé, Anglican, and Jewish traditions, and workshops on such topics as Asian music for organ and harpsichord (Calvert Johnson), tracker organs of the Pacific coast (David Dahl), organists’ health issues (Dr. Steven Benson), contemporary Canadian organ music (Valerie Hall), youth and the organ (Neil Cockburn), extemporization (Paul Halley), a choral reading session (Fran Pollet), and many others. Optional events include a visit to the Butchart Gardens (Aeolian player organ), a banquet in Victoria’s historic Chinatown, and a day-trip to Vancouver on July 22 to see and hear several instruments (Casavant, Kenneth Jones and others).
For registration forms, fees, and all other information, contact Mrs. Jean McClennan, Registrar, 4701 Hillwood Rd., Victoria BC V8Y 2N3, e-mail [email protected], or telephone 250/658-3773. A downloadable registration form is available at www.rcco2010.ca.
