Jan. 22, 2002 – Nationally acclaimed New York City organist Kent Tritle will present a recital of classical music at the St. Thomas Reformed Church on the evening of Feb. 6.
The program will include works of J.S. Bach, Stephen Paulus, Charles Marie Widor and Louis Vierne.
Tritle is principal organist of the New York Philharmonic and American Symphony Orchestras. He also teaches at the Juilliard School and is director of music ministries at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan. And he serves as artistic director of the Dessoff Choirs, an acclaimed choral society made up of several choruses whose highly trained members pay for the experience of performing in the ensemble.
At St. Ignatius Loyola, Tritle "oversees one of the most ambitious and highly refined church music programs in the United States," St. Thomas Reformed Church minister of music Roger Lakins said.
In that capacity, Lakins said, Tritle "served as artistic consultant on the design and installation of the magnificent Noel Mander pipe organ which was donated by a family in the congregation to show support of the direction in which their church's music was heading under Tritle. The instrument, built in England, is the largest tracker action pipe organ in Manhattan and will surely stand out for many years to come as one of the finest and most historically significant instruments to be installed in the United States in the last half of the 20th Century."
Tritle holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in organ performance and conducting from the Juilliard School, where he has been a faculty member since 1996. Under his direction, the Dessoff Choirs received the 1999 ASCAP/Chorus America Award for adventurous programming.
He has recorded with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur and Andrew Litton and has released solo recordings on organ on the AMDG, Epiphany, Telarc, VAI and Gothic labels. Audiophile Audition named his album of Romantic organ music for Epiphany the best recording of the year in 1996. He has been profiled in The New York Times and Manhattan File Magazine and featured on National Public Radio's "Pipe Dreams."
"Quite frankly, I don't think the island has had a performer of Kent's stature or talent as an organist since the early '80s, when Virgil Fox played at the Reichhold Center for the Arts," Lakins said.
The recital will begin at 8 p.m. There is no admission charge, but a freewill offering will be taken. The church is located in downtown Charlotte Amalie on Nye Gade between Back Street and Crystal Gade. For more information, call 776-8255.