From January 1 until April 15 I spent most of my time in Ecuador. During that time I was on sabbatical from my position as Minister of Music at First Parish Church, UCC in Brunswick, and I deeply thank the church and its members for granting me this time of sabbatical rest and rejuvenation. While in Ecuador I spent time visiting and playing many of the 13 playable pipe organs in that South American country. I played six concerts while I was there. Two were in the beautiful city of Cuenca, and four were in the city of Quito. Both cities are in the Andes mountains and have been designated by the United Nations as an UNESCO World Heritage sites. There are two beautiful organs in Cuenca. They were built at the end of the 19th century by the French organ builder Neuville. I performed a concert on each of instruments and was interviewed on a local radio station. Both organs are in playable condition, although they need a great deal of care. They are both still hand-pumped and used for masses. One is in a convent church and the other in a parish church of the Assumption, both in the center of town. Other churches in Cuenca have remnants of organs built by the Neuville firm, but they are far from playable. The old cathedral, which is no longer a church, has Ecuador’s oldest instrument, built by an Ecuadorian in the 18th century. The organ is in a terrible state of repair, with much of the pipework severely damaged. However, the director of the old cathedral is very interested in restoring this instrument.
In Quito I performed three concerts in the 7th Annual International Festival of Sacred Music for Holy Week. The festival included over 40 concerts in 14 days by choirs, string quartets, and organists from Argentina, Ecuador, Spain, Cuba and the United States. They were played to capacity audiences and many were later broadcast on local television stations. The organ in the Metropolitan Cathedral was built in the early 1950’s by the German firm Walker and was in good mechanical condition. The organ in the incredibly ornate Jesuit church of the Compañia de Jesus was built by the Roosevelt Organ Company of New York in 1888. Although it is in need of a good restoration, this modest two-manual organ is incredibly beautiful. The American ambassador was in attendance for this my standing-room only concert.
The Ecuadorian people were most interested and gracious listeners at these Holy Week concerts, organized by the National Theatre and the ministry of culture. This summer I will be playing concerts in July in at the Catedral Basilica de Santa Maria in Girona, Spain, the Basilica of St. Mary in Matero, Spain and at the Cathedral Church in Dijon, France. Closer to home, I will play concerts in Freyburg’s New Church at 3:00 pm on June 15, Lewiston’s Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at noon on August 6, Brunswick’s First Parish Church on August 12 at noon and Bar Harbor’s St. Saviour’s Church at noon on August 8.
Music is truly the international language.