Please join us for a thrilling program of blockbuster French organ music, including César Franck’s dramatic Choral in A minor, Jean Langlais’s colorful Medieval Suite, and Charles Tournemire’s fiery Easter improvisation on Victimae paschali laudes. The recitalist is Maurice Clerc, organist emeritus of Dijon Cathedral.

Our organ recital series features some of the finest organists playing one of America’s great organs. Grace Cathedral’s 7,466-pipe Aeolian-Skinner instrument, the Charles B. Alexander Memorial Organ (1934), is one of the first and finest American classic-style organs and is among the largest church organs in the West. Experiencing music in our gothic cathedral with its unique acoustics, soaring nave, and jewel-like stained glass windows is a feast for the ears, eyes, and soul.

View the full program here.

Starting on March 12, there will be an admission fee for visitors on Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. Those wishing to attend the organ recital must register in advance to avoid paying the fee. Thank you for your understanding.

Program

Choral No. 3 in A minor
César Franck (1822 – 1890) 

Méditation
Louis Vierne (1870 – 1937)                                            

Bach’s Memento: “Mattheus-Final”
Charles-Marie Widor (1845 – 1937)                         

Suite Médiévale
Jean Langlais (1907 – 1991) 

Improvisation on Victimae paschali laudes
Charles Tournemire (1870 – 1939) 

Watch

Maurice CLERC plays “le pas espagnol” of Gabriel Fauré

Event Details

The concert will also be livestreamed here and on Facebook.  The cathedral will open for seating at 3:30 pm. The entrance to the cathedral is at the top of the Great Steps. The accessible entrance is via the glass doors on Taylor Street or from the cathedral garage.  Masks are strongly encouraged inside the cathedral.

About the Organist

MAURICE CLERC joins in the continuity of the grand French tradition while drawing his energy from the dynamism of our time. His numerous concerts, approximately 1,300 recitals in some twenty countries including 28 tours in North America (U.S.A and Canada), have merited his international reputation. Traveling four continents over forty years, from Europe to Australia, he has played in prestigious places such as Notre-Dame de Paris, St. Patrick’s Cathedral of New York, the Dom de Lübeck, the St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, the N.H.K. auditorium in Tokyo, and Hong Kong Cultural Centre. In 1987, he was invited to give two of the inaugural concerts of the grand organ Flentrop in a new auditorium in Taipeï. In 1999, he went to Seoul for a convention of organists. In 2003, he was again in Hong Kong, then China, Mexico, and South Africa. In June 2019 he returned to New Zealand and Australia. In 2020, he went to Hong Kong and Japan. This international career has led him to appear at leading festivals such as those in Bruges, Ravenna, Madrid, Morelia, Saint Eustache in Paris, Milstatt, Frankfurt, Budapest, Warsaw, Buenos-Aires, and Montevideo. Born in Lyon in 1946, Clerc was awarded a diploma at the Ecole Normale of Music in Paris where he studied with Suzanne Chaisemartin. At the Higher National Conservatory for Music of Paris, he obtained, in 1975, a First prize in organ under the tutelage of Rolande Falcinelli. With Gaston Litaize, he pursued this course for several years, deepening his interpretation of the repertory of the 18th century. In 1972, he had the opportunity to take the famous courses of improvisation given by Pierre Cochereau at the International Academy of Nice. He won the Prize of Improvisation in the international competition in Lyon in 1977. Clerc is Emeritus organist of the cathédral in Dijon after being the titular organist of this great instrument for 46 years from 1972 to 2018. He was also a professor at the Conservatory of Dijon and lecturer at the University. Clerc has recorded a dozen CDs, among which include the music of Bach and German baroque masters. Having built up a reputation in the romantic and modern repertory and considered one of the specialists in French music, he became attached to the major works of Franck, Vierne, Dupré, Fleury, and Langlais. His most recent recordings present Cochereau and French transcriptions. Maurice Clerc is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

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