New York City Organist to Perform at Baylor Feb. 11

by Richard Veit

Acclaimed organist John Weaver, who has been director of music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City since 1970 and head of the Organ Department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia since 1972, will perform a concert on Baylor University's McLane Organ at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, in Jones Concert Hall at Baylor University. His appearance at Baylor comes as part of the third annual "Eclectic Organ Conference" at the university.
The concert will feature music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck, and 18th-century English composer William Walond, as well as three of John Weaver's own compositions.
Opening the program will be one of Mozart's relatively few organ works, the "Adagio and Allegro in F Minor." The first half of the concert will conclude with Bach's "Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor," which will be preceded by Walond's "Voluntary in G Major."
Following intermission, Weaver will play Frank's "Choral No. 1 in E Major," one of three such works that he wrote toward the end of his life.
Among the pieces by John Weaver, "Prelude and Toccata on Two Southern Hymns" was written in 1994. It is based on "Beach Spring" and "Amazing Grace." A later work, dating from 1996, is Weaver's "Variations on 'Madrid'." He will also present a performance of his "Variations on Three Hymn Tunes" from 1994. This is based on "We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing," "Savior, again to thy dear name," and "For all the saints who from their labors rest."
The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 755-3991.