Message from the Artistic Director:

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the 2011 edition of the McGill Summer Organ Academy which will take place  from July 11 to 21. We have several important anniversaries to celebrate in 2011.

The Beckerath organ in the Église de l'Imaculée-Conception is now 50 years old and it continues to serve as a teaching instrument for the organ class at McGill. William Porter and James David Christie will each present a concert there for you to enjoy during the Academy. The French classical organ in Redpath Hall is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and it serves as a great pedagogical tool for students. Also, the installation of this instrument has made Redpath Hall one of the favourite concert venues in downtown Montreal. The anniversaries of Franz Liszt and Jehan Alain will be the topics of Olivier Latry's courses, and Alexandre Guilmant will be given his due by Michel Bouvard.

I would like to encourage you to register early in order to avoid disappointment. Even if you are only planning to audit, it would help us enormously in planning the logistics of the Academy if you were to register early. Please note that our fees have not increased since 1997, and this is a fact worth noting given the present economic climate.

There is a bilingual website on the Organs of Quebec that you might enjoy browsing if you are not familiar with Quebec and its great heritage. Quebec City celebrated the 400th Anniversary of its founding in 2008. You can find this web site at www.quebec400.gc.ca. Also, you might enjoy browsing on the web site for the Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC) at www.ciocm.org.

I hope to see you in July at McGill and should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Devon Wilkinson and Jonathan Patterson, our Co-Executive Directors, at organ@music.mcgill.ca.

Best wishes,
John Grew, Artistic Director
MSOA

Questions? Contact organ@music.mcgill.ca

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