Housatonic — How far would you be willing to travel on foot to hear a recital from one of the world’s greatest organists? How about 250 miles, the approximate distance 20-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach walked in the winter of 1705, from Arnstadt to Lübeck, in order to study the technique of his chief keyboard idol, Dieterich Buxtehude?
That would be asking a lot, even if the recital were to be performed on an historically important pipe organ like the Wm. Johnson & Son, Opus 805, the organ installed at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in the village of Housatonic. But if “one of New York’s finest organists” (New York Times) were at the console, then maybe you’d be willing to travel a few miles to Housatonic at 2 p.m. on February 11 in order to study the technique of an organist by the name of Renée Anne Louprette.
If so, then you’ll be happy to know that joining Ms. Louprette on February 11 is George Stauffer, Distinguished Professor of Music History at Rutgers University, who will give a talk about the program, which features Baroque masters of the organ, especially those who most influenced J. S. Bach before he eclipsed them all. Chief among them would appear to be Dieterich Buxtehude, but all the organists on this program influenced the young Johann Sebastian in one way or another.
This program is co-presented by the Berkshire Bach Society and the Berkshires Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
J. S. Bach has been the star of countless organ recitals, and he is naturally the headliner of this one. But Bach had his own stars—a constellation of organists he idolized, studied, and imitated. There were many, and here are just four of the most important:
- Nicolaus Bruhns (1665-1697)
- J.A. Reincken (1643-1722)
- Georg Böhm (1661-1733)
- Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637-1707)
The first time I heard Renée Anne Louprette perform on organ, I was struck by the clarity of her playing. It was unusual. There is much else about Louprette’s technique that’s worth mentioning, but without clarity, all is naught. Especially with a pipe organ in a very large room.
Renée Louprette holds a Diplôme Supérieur in organ performance from the Centre d’Études Supérieures de Musique et de Danse de Toulouse. Since 2019, she has been Assistant Professor of Music at Bard College, where she directs the Bard Baroque Ensemble and serves as College Organist. She has taught at the Manhattan School of Music, the University of Hartford, and at Montclair State University. In her two-decade career as a choral conductor, Louprette has directed music at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Trinity Wall Street, Unitarian Church of All Souls, the Church of Notre Dame, and various other professional choirs in the greater New York City area. But New York is just her home base. She has performed throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, including at Westminster Abbey, and in 2018 made her solo debuts at the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. She has made European festival appearances in Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, and France and performed Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane, Australia. Louprette’s own commissions include works by George Baker and David Briggs.
Hear Renée Anne Louprette perform (and George Stauffer discuss) a program of Bruhns, Reincken, Böhm, Buxtehude, and Bach at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, 1089 Main Street, Housatonic, Saturday, February 11, at 2 p.m.
All seats are $35. Berkshire Bach Member discounts apply. Purchase tickets here.
