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This summer Robert will be returning to Germany for another extensive solo recital tour organised by Stefan Schwarz. Between the 3rd and the 15th of August he will be playing 10 recitals in Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Venues include the famous Schlosskirche Wittenberg and Meißen Cathedral as well as churches in Döbeln, Dresden, Erfurt, Dessau, Weimar and Schwarzenberg. For a special one-off organ duo recital in Templin Robert will be joined by guest artist Joseph Bradley (Organ Scholar at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin). Please see Robert's concert diary for detailed listings. All evening recitals will feature proud rock/bright sky, a new work by award-winning composer Bertie Baigent that was specifically commissioned for this tour, and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on 'God Save the King' or 'Heil dir im Siegerkranz', based on the tune of the English and the German national anthem (until 1918). Other tour repertoire includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Martin, Herbert Howells, Olivier Messiaen, Simon Preston, Naji Hakim and Noel Rawsthorne.  From 26th May until 30th June 2016 Robert will be playing the organ for all 41 performances of the York Mystery Plays 2016 at York Minster (with additional matinee performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays). The incidental music for this production was written by Dr Richard Shephard MBE.  On Wednesday 25th May 2016 at 1:10pm Robert will be playing a lunchtime organ recital at St. Helen's Church, York. The programme includes works by Bach, Howells, Martin and Reger. Robert's debut CD will be available for purchase after the recital.
Click here to download the full programme. Robert's debut CD The Franz Liszt Memorial Organ in Weimar (see the CD page for details) has recently been reviewed in The Organ and the Organ Club Journal:
"[T]he organ produces tones that are clean and exact, which is ideally exploited in those works where a clear texture is required, as in Liszt's ethereal reworking of Arcadelt's Ave Maria, or the crystalline lines of Pärt's [...] Annum per annum. [...] The rapid flourishes of Patrick Gowers's Occasional Trumpet Voluntary are fluid, and the premiere of the twenty-year-old Bertie Baigent's Bright spark is suitably luminous. [...] [Robert Pecksmith's] playing is accomplished and dependable." **** (four-star rating) Curtis Rogers, The Organ Magazine No. 375 (February-April 2016), p. 53 "Robert shows what this organ can do in a 62-minute programme featuring 12 works. He starts with Bach BWV 546, then Bright spark, a world première recording of Bertie Baigent [born 1995] of a work commissioned for the concert. [...] A very enjoyable recording, and especially pleasing to have a disc from a young player. - Well done, Robert. I would suggest a visit to the company website http://www.jubal.de - allow plenty of time." Organ Club Journal 2016/1, p. 66  On Sunday 20th March Robert will be accompanying a performance of John Stainer's oratorio The Crucifixion at the Central Methodist Church, York.
The choir will be conducted by John Bradbury and the two solo parts will be sung by James Brown (tenor) and Mark Wharfedale (bass). Singers who are interested in joining the choir are requested to bring a copy of the Novello score if possible. Please send an email to this address specifying the part you will be singing by 10th March 2016. The performance starts at 6:30pm, with a rehearsal at 2:30pm. Award-winning composer Bertie Baigent is currently writing a new piece for Robert: proud rock/bright sky will receive its world premiere as part of Robert's 2016 summer tour. Bright spark, shot from a brighter place, the result of Bertie's and Robert's first collaboration, was released on CD in spring 2015.  On 2nd November 2015 at 6pm Robert will be providing the organ accompaniment for a liturgical performance of Fauré's Requiem at the York Oratory. The performance will feature the choral scholars of St. Wilfrid's and St. Helen's, conducted by John Ridgeway-Wood.  The first two live recordings from Robert's summer tour are now online: Bach's Pièce d'orgue, played on the 1872 Ladegast organ in Köthen, and Alastair Putt's Toccata, played on the Jahn/Eule organ in Pirna. Please see the video page for more of Robert's live recordings. Peter Buske's detailed review of Robert's recital at the Friedenskirche in Potsdam (Germany) is published in today's edition of Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten.
Click here to read the full text. From 25th July until 9 August 2015 Robert will be playing eight recitals in Germany (see the concert diary for full details) and record a second CD. Recital venues include the St.-Jakobs-Kirche in Köthen with its 1872 Ladegast organ, the Friedenskirche in Potsdam, the Taborkirche in Leipzig, two churches in Berlin, the St.-Marien-Kirche in Pirna, the St.-Annen-Kirche in Annaberg-Buchholz and the Frauenkirche in Nuremberg. The recitals will feature works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Hubert Parry, Edward Elgar, Percy Whitlock, Healey Willan, Herbert Howells, Olivier Messiaen, Guy Bovet, Alastair Putt and Richard Gowers.  |
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