Organist Nathan Laube Performs a Sensational Program

By Micha Oostenbrink

The last Live at the Winspear organ recital of the season is coming up on May 14. Guest organist Nathan Laube will perform a program filled with variety – from organ staples to transcriptions of popular piano works.

With a reputation as being "one of the best organists of his generation in the United States,” Laube is a highly sought-after performer and pedagogue. His extensive performance career has taken him to North America, Europe, and Asia, and he is regularly called upon to inaugurate important organs across the globe. Laube is also Associate Professor of Organ at the Eastman School of Music. Since 2018, he has held the position of International Consultant in Organ Studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK. In addition to, teaching and performing, he is frequently asked to sit on juries at international organ competitions.

On May 14, Laube will treat the Winspear audience to two treasured works composed for organ – J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia (BWV 582) and the first movement of Charles-Marie Widor’s Symphonie pour Grand Orgue No. 5. These two pieces showcase the diversity of the instrument, with complex contrapuntal sections and varying musical textures.

In addition, Laube will perform his own organ transcriptions of two works that will be familiar to piano lovers – Mendelssohn’s Variations Serieuses and Liszt’s notoriously difficult Sonata in B minor. Gottfried Harrison Federlein’s organ transcription of Rachmaninoff’s well-known Prelude in G Minor will also add liveliness to the program. This is an exciting and rare opportunity to hear popular pieces presented in a new way on an entirely different instrument.

Whether you’re a fan of the organ, piano, or both, this performance will be sure to impress. Don’t miss Nathan Laube perform on the stunning Davis Concert Organ on May 14. Tickets are selling fast – book yours before they’re gone. Click here to buy your tickets.