The Central Synagogue will host organ concerts every Tuesday from October to May. The concerts will alternate between student performers and international star performers. This week is Marek Kudlicki Concert Organist, Warsaw, Poland.
Marek Kudlicki is one of the few organists who earns his living almost exclusively from appearing in concerts. He tours the world constantly and has performed on every continent achieving great acclaim.
He was born in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland. He studied organ (under Prof. Joachim Grubich) and conducting (under Prof. Krzysztof Missona) at the Academy of Music in Cracow. He completed his diploma with distinction. It is noteworthy that he began his musical career while still a student, by giving concerts and recitals in many cities of Poland.
In the summer of 1973 he took part in the master course in Mechelen (Belgium) taught by Prof. Flor Peeters, the noted interpreter of Cesar Franck’s organ works. He continued his postgraduate studies with renowned organist, Prof. Hans Haselböck at the Vienna Academy of Music.
Marek Kudlicki won the First Prize (and the Special Prize of the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art) in the Organ Competition in Poland in 1973.
For many years he has been actively engaged in artistic activities as is evidenced by the many concerts he has given in almost all of the European countries and many times in the U.S.A. and Canada, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
He has often appeared at international festivals as performer and judge for organ competitions. His numerous performances have been presented in conjunction with well known concert series in various music centers (Stockholm, London, Vienna, Sydney, Wellington, New York, Minneapolis, Bogota, Buenos Aires), as well as at renowned concert halls (Cracow Philharmonic, Cracow; Sala Luis-Angel Arango, Bogota; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul; Roy Thompson Hall, Toronto; Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong; National Concert Hall, Taipei).
In 1985, 300th anniversary of J.S.Bach, Marek Kudlicki was invited to perform on the largest organ of Asia in the International Festival in Seoul, Korea.
Marek Kudlicki regularly promotes Polish organ music in his programs.
He routinely includes works of native composers in his recitals and in his recordings. He has given lectures at various universities on different continents.
His annual coast to coast North American tours are greeted with enthusiasm. On the 200th anniversary of the Polish Constitution, he gave
a celebratory recital at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral.
He has recorded extensively for the state radio stations in Poland, Italiy, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Iceland, Radio Hilversum, Radio New Zealand, Radio Suisse Romande, National Public Radio – U.S.A., South African Broadcasting Corporation, as well as for several TV and record companies.
Marek Kudlicki’s repertoire is extensive. It encompasses works of all periods, including early, romantic and contemporary Polish organ music. Apart from solo works, he has in his repertoire numerous and seldom played pieces for organ and orchestra. He has performed these works with various orchestras throughout the world.
In his many years in the profession he has often complemented his appearances as an organ soloist with his activities as a conductor.
Now, about that organ:
The Gabe M. Wiener Memorial Organ is an extraordinary instrument commissioned and built for the specific requirements of the congregation’s worship services and music program.
It was presented to Central Synagogue by Zena, Michael, and Jenny Wiener in celebration of the life of Gabe M. Wiener, his love of the instrument, and his passion for music; in the hope that future generations will find inspiration in the superlative music that only an instrument of this quality can produce.
Constructed by the renowned firm of Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Canada and completed in 2002, the organ consists of two distinct, interconnected instruments: a Bimah Organ (Casavant Opus 3812) located alongside the bimah and used primarily during services to accompany the cantor, choir, and congregation; and a larger Gallery Organ (Casavant Opus 3813) located in the elevated rear choir loft and used both for services and concerts.
It is comprised of two consoles and 4,345 pipes, 55 stops, and 74 ranks, located in the front and rear of the sanctuary. It replaces a 1926 Kilgen organ of 1,552 pipes that was destroyed in the fire that damaged the synagogue in August 1998. (That instrument replaced the original Jardine organ of 1880.)
The Bimah Organ, with Choeur, Echo, and Pédale divisions (groups of pipes) was installed and voiced in July 2001, in time for the re-dedication of the sanctuary on September 9, 2001. The Gallery Organ, with Grand Orgue, Récit, Positif, Solo, and Pédale divisions, was installed and voiced in March 2002. Both coordinate in style and materials with the design of the restored sanctuary. The entire instrument was dedicated at a concert on April 10, 2002, by concert organist David Higgs and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Each organ can be played from separate movable consoles: the Bimah console, which has three keyboards, and the Gallery console that has four. Either can control the entire organ. The Bimah console is equipped with 40 pistons, 31 couplers, and 30 toe studs. The Gallery console is equipped with 80 pistons, 24 couplers, and 34 toe studs. Both consoles have solid-state combination systems with 128 levels of memory, MIDI connections, transposers, and many other amenities.
The organ contains two very special stops created specifically for Central Synagogue: a Trompette Shofar, that replicates the sound of the traditional shofar, used for services on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur; and a Klezmer Clarinette, that reproduces the sound of a klezmer clarinet with great brilliance and clarity, believed to be the first such organ stop in the world. Both are used to enrich the accompaniment of contemporary anthems and liturgical music. The instrument also contains a rich array of other reed registers, including a Trompette-de-Fête that can sound out over the entire organ, and a 32-foot Contre-Bombarde in the pedal division that provides floor-shaking bass to the full ensemble.
The organ was designed by Pierre Dionne, President of Casavant Frères, and Jacquelin Rochette, Associate Tonal Director, in conjunction with George B. Stauffer and Shelly Palmer, who served as organ consultants for Central Synagogue. It is the product of three years of planning and a cumulative total of 21,000 work-hours by Casavant’s artisans and musicians.
To fully enhance the experience of worship and music in the sanctuary, Central Synagogue commissioned a specially designed advanced sound system. The Main Sanctuary Sound Reinforcement System provides clear intelligible reinforcement of speech and music to every listener in the congregation with more than 40 loudspeakers located throughout the sanctuary. The use of a large number of smaller loudspeakers, combined with advanced digital signal processing, allows the listener to hear the sound as though it is coming from the bimah, rather than a loudspeaker, with minimal visual impact.
A separate Reverberation Enhancement System helps to create an acoustical environment favorable to a concert organ. It incorporates four small microphones hung from the ceiling to pick up sound generated within the room, process it, and feed that sound back into the sanctuary as additional reverberation. This system improves the amount, tonal balance, and spatial aspects of the reverberation within the sanctuary and enhances congregational singing and responsive worship.