Renowned virtuoso releases Kotzschmar Organ CD

It's the gift you've been looking for... Krazy 'bout Kotzschmar!

We all have at least one of these people on our shopping lists – we know them well, we love them dearly, but have no idea what to give them this holiday season.

Enter Krazy 'bout Kotzschmar!, a new CD from renowned – and mood enhancing – Australian organ virtuoso Thomas Heywood. He recorded the CD on the mighty Kotzschmar Organ in Merrill Auditorium this year, just one day after his appearance at the Friends of Kotzschmar Organ summer series. Frederick Hohman, of Pro Organo, produced the CD.

"Anyone who is a fan of the Kotzschmar Organ or Thomas Heywood would love to have this recording," said Kathleen Grammer, executive director of Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ. "This is also the perfect gift to introduce lovers of music to the Kotzschmar Organ."

Heywood, whom Grammer describes as an "energetic, talented and fun" performer, has developed an extensive repertoire of over 5,000 works. His solo concert organ arrangements of the most famous classical and romantic music are published for world-wide distribution.

His schedule includes tours of the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom, dazzling audiences from the iconic St. Paul's Cathedral in London to San Diego, California. Since 1992 when he released Australia's best-selling organ recording at 18 years old, Heywood's many CD and video recordings have all been popular sell-out successes. Born into a Melbourne musical family in 1974, Heywood was acknowledged to be a child prodigy, giving his first public performance at age five.

Heywood's extraordinary success in reaching out to the concert-going public has critics claiming that he "reincarnates Edwin H. Lemare," the greatest concert organist of the 20th century and Portland's municipal organist from 1921-23.

The Kotzschmar Organ was a gift to the City of Portland by publishing magnate Cyrus Curtis. It is named in memory of Hermann Kotzschmar, a German native and extraordinary musician, who lived in Portland from 1849 until his death in 1908. He is remembered for leading the city in its musical awakening and development.

To purchase Krazy 'bout Kotzschmar!, and for more information on Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, click here.