3/2/2009 1:24:26 AM - Boston Organist wins first prize in prestigious Bach competition
BOSTON ORGANIST WINS FIRST PRIZE IN PRESTIGIOUS BACH COMPETITION; CELEBRATION HOMECOMING CONCERT NOVEMBER 14
Celebrated organist Bálint Karosi performs an all-Bach concert on Friday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, 299 Berkeley Street in the city’s Back Bay.
The centerpiece of the program is the New England premiere of a newly discovered Bach choral fantasy: “Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält” (BWV 1128). The piece was discovered in the archives of the State Library of Halle, Germany in April 2008.
Admission is free. Free-will donations will be accepted at the door to aid the restoration of the 200-year-old organ of the Mencshely-Nagyvazsonyi Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary.
Mr. Karosi was awarded the first prize in the 16th International Johann Sebastian Bach competition for organ on July 18 in Leipzig, Germany. He was the first American-trained organist to earn this honor. The competition is one of the world’s most prestigious organ competitions in the field of historically informed interpretation, as well as the interpretation of works by J.S. Bach.
The Nov. 14 program also features the competition-winning pieces Prelude and Fugue in Eb (BWV 552 or “St. Anne”), the Trio Sonata in C Minor (BWV 526), and chorale preludes from the third part of the “Klavierübung.”
A citizen of Hungary, Mr. Karosi, 29, studied clarinet, composition and organ at Budapest’s Liszt Academy and at the Conservatoire in Geneva. He was awarded the artist diploma and a master’s degree in early music performance at Oberlin College, where he studied with James David Christie.
In September 2007, Mr. Karosi became Minister of Music at The First Lutheran Church of Boston. The church is home to the Richards, Fowkes & Co. Opus 10 (2000), a mechanical-action organ built in a historical style especially suitable for Bach and his German and Dutch predecessors.
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