Imagine heading to the shopping centre for a pair of socks and walking into a pipe organ recital. That really was part of Calgary’s first International Organ Festival and Competition, and we think it’s one of the most delightful ideas this city has ever had.
The Canadian Encyclopedia records that the first festival ran 13 to 19 October 1990, with plans to repeat it every four years. The star was the Carthy organ in the Jack Singer Concert Hall. It’s a Casavant instrument inaugurated in 1987, and according to the Werklund Centre it has 6,040 pipes, 75 stops and four manuals. That’s a lot of organ.
We love the ambition of it. A prairie city built a competition that reached across oceans for its entrants, then gave the whole town a way to join in. The goals were refreshingly clear. Help a young organist of international calibre launch a concert career, give competitors some real experience, and show off the Carthy organ along with a brand new Canadian organ concerto.
The numbers were big. Some 108 organists from 18 countries applied, and eight made the finals. Preliminary rounds took place in Lübeck and Cleveland, and the finals came home to Calgary. The jury was chaired by Terence Fullerton, the resident organist at the centre, with finalists judged by names such as Gillian Weir and Simon Preston.
Britain’s Kevin Bowyer took first prize. That meant a gold medal, $12,000, a recording engagement and an organized international concert tour. Not a bad week. In the orchestral round, American Matthew Dirst premiered Michael Colgrass’s Snow Walker with the Calgary Philharmonic on 19 October 1990, conducted by Mario Bernardi. That’s a proper big night, and it happened right here. If you like the Philharmonic’s history, you’ll enjoy reading how the Jubilee and the Philharmonic had a 28-year run.
Here’s what makes us smile most. The festival didn’t stay inside the concert hall. There were lunchtime organ concerts in shopping malls, a tour of organs around the city, and silent films with organ accompaniment at the main branch of the Calgary Public Library. Master classes and a symposium were led by jury members, and a programme called Music and Mechanics brought in more than 5,000 schoolchildren. About 7,000 people attended the ticketed events, and many performances were broadcast across the country on CBC radio.
The competition stayed on the calendar. Pipe Dreams, the American radio series about organ music, describes it as held every four years during a ten-day festival and mentions editions in 1998 and 2002.
So where do you go from here? Read the full story of how one organ became Studio Bell, then look up the Carthy organ and its pipes online. A 1980s instrument that could fill a hall and a shopping centre deserves a few minutes of your curiosity.
Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia, Calgary International Organ Festival; Werklund Centre; Pipe Dreams.
A Pipe Organ Started Calgary’s Music Centre pairs nicely with this one, and A Museum Where the Instruments Still Sing is close behind.
Keep going with Calgary’s Downtown Lunch Hour Once Came With a Play and Calgary Punk Has a Map and a Cassette Archive.
Quick answers
The first festival ran 13 to 19 October 1990, with plans to repeat it every four years. The main instrument was the Carthy organ in the Jack Singer Concert Hall, a Casavant organ inaugurated in 1987. Some 108 organists from 18 countries applied, and eight made the finals.
Britain’s Kevin Bowyer took first prize at the 1990 Calgary competition. The prize was a gold medal, $12,000, a recording engagement and an organized international concert tour. Terence Fullerton, the resident organist at the centre, chaired the jury.
Events were not limited to the concert hall. The festival had lunchtime organ concerts in shopping malls, a tour of organs around the city and silent films with organ accompaniment at the main branch of the Calgary Public Library. About 7,000 people attended ticketed events.
