The Haarlem Organ Festival places
artistic talent at its heart.
What is the most essential element of the performance of organ
music: being able to demonstrate one’s knowledge of everything
taught to us through the research of musicologists and
organologists during the last decennia? Or could it be
something more important – namely making a tangible contact
with one’s public?
Of course the latter is impossible without the knowledge of,
and the insight into the many styles of music which one as an
organist comes into contact with. But the knowledge and
insight are only means to the ultimate end: making music. That
goal – and the Festival in Haarlem is, as far as this issue is
concerned, very clear in its intentions – is ‘artistic
communication.’ If the public cannot understand what the
musician is trying to say through the music, then public
performance loses its raison d’etre.
This means that, as an organist, one must know what one wants
to ‘say’ as a musician, when performing the compositions of
one’s choice. Respect for the composer whose creation finds
itself on your music stand is essential, as is an
apprecisation of, and admiration for the instrument you are
playing. Equally though, one must be aware of the need to
‘translate’. The aural characteristics of the organ, and of
the music are the tools through which an organist must make
that vital contact with his or her public.
The Summer Academy and the Improvisation Competition are
conceived with precisely this aim: development of artistic
talent and of the ‘translating’ skills of the academy students.
But this philosophy is also reflected in the concerts which
will take place during this festival.
The Foundation of the Haarlem International Organ Festival
hopes that this festival, as diverse as the (sound) colours of
the organ in the old St Bavo, will delight you, the visitor.
