Organ Spectacular

Classics I

Organ Spectacular

Our 2024/25 season kicks off on Saturday October 5th with a celebration of the mighty Forbes Organ at the Performing Arts Center. Guest soloist Felix Hell performs the Belgian composer Joseph Jongen’s iconic Symphonie Concertante for Organ and Orchestra from 1926

Saturday October 5, 2024, 7:30pm

San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center

Concert sponsor: Len Jarrott
Soloist sponsor: Bert and Candace Forbes

Program Details

Ravel

Menuet Antique

Jongen

Symphonie Concertante, Op. 81

  • Composed 1926
  • Featuring Felix Hell, organ
  • Read more

Brahms

Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98

Classical 101: Facts That Might Surprise You

  • The Forbes Organ comprises 2,767 pipes and took nine months to tune after it was installed.
  • Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante was commissioned by the owner of the Wanamaker department store in Philadelphia. It was to be the inaugural work for the restoration of the Wanamaker Organ, today the largest organ in the world in what is now the Macy’s in Center City, Philadelphia.
  • Ravel originally wrote Menuet Antique for piano. The fully orchestrated version you’ll hear wasn’t completed until 34 years later.

You Might Also Like

If you’re looking to branch out from this concert and hear more from these composers or in similar styles, Maestro Andrew Sewell has some suggestions:

  • Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 (coming this March)
  • Maurice Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition – Composed by Mussorgsky, later orchestrated by Ravel (coming this November)
  • Ravel: Bolero – One of Ravel’s most well known works
  • Ottorino Respighi: Roman Trilogy – Written around the same time as Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante. You might know part two of the trilogy, Pines of Rome, from “Fantasia 2000.” (Flying space whales!)

Listen In

This curated playlist of the concert program is available in Apple Music and Spotify.