Michael T.C. Hey, organ

Globally-Known Organist and Native Milwaukeean, Michael T. C. Hey

Returns Home for a Very Special Performance

Saint John’s On The Lake, 1840 North Prospect Avenue in Milwaukee is delighted to showcase the exceptional talents of  Michael T. C. Hey at the Inaugural Recitals of the New Chapel Organ, Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. Admission is free. Limited parking is available on the south side of building. (See page 2 for event music selections which highlight this state-of-the-art instrument.)

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Michael Hey graduated from the accelerated five-year degree program at The Juilliard School where he received both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in organ performance under Paul Jacobs. 

Described as “scintillating” and “tremendously virtuosic”(The Straits Times, Singapore, 2016), concert organist Michael Hey has been increasingly visible on U.S. and international concert stages. In September 2017, he received first prize in the First Shanghai Conservatory of Music International Organ Competition, held at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Theater.

 Not exclusively a solo organist, Hey enjoys a varied career that includes collaborations with other musicians, solo piano recitals, improvising, and transcribing works. Among many notable accomplishments, Hey has performed with renowned soloists including soprano Renée Fleming, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. In 2016, he recorded an anthology with baritone Tim Krol entitled Robert Franz: Ordinary Man, Extraordinary Songs. Lately, he has been performing duos for organ or piano with violinist Christiana Liberis.

In 2015, Hey was appointed Associate Director of Music and Organist of the famed Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, where he plays at services throughout the week. (Learn more about Michael Hey at www.michaelhey.com )

The purchase of this organ was made possible thanks to a special philanthropic campaign, “Make a Joyful Noise” created to raise the funds necessary to replace an outdated Chapel Organ. This new organ, which was blessed and dedicated earlier this month, was produced by the Allen Organ Company of Macungie, Pennsylvania, and installed by John Pankau of Brook Falls Organ & Piano Company. (www.allenorgan.com) The new organ is a state-of-the-art Allen three-manual, 50-stop digital organ featuring the latest in technology to provide the spectrum of pipe-like sound required for a range of historical and modern organ repertoire, coupled with high-quality speakers to deliver undistorted sound.

Every note that is played on this organ, and every different stop that is selected to be activated by that note, represents the highly sophisticated “sampling” (recording) of an actual individual pipe from a specific organ. Although this organ has just 50 stops, the sounds from each stop can be drawn from six different “suites” of pipes sampled from organs around the world, exemplifying several regional styles and builders of different time periods, including in addition to Allen Classic: American Classic (Aeolian Skinner), English Cathedral (Henry Willis), French Romantic (Cavaillé-Coll), German (Arp Schnitger), and (Neo-Baroque) Schlicker. Additionally, a “library” of over 250 other stops and sounds (such as bells)

provides as many as eight more choices on the organ at any time. 

These musical selections were specifically chosen to showcase the organ’s capabilities:

Symphony No. 6, Op. 42, No. 2 (Allegro) -- Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 -- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cortege et Litanie, Op. 19, No. 2 -- Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)

Roulade, Op. 9, No. 3 -- Seth Bingham (1882-1972)

Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 -- Edward Elgar (1821-1906) / arr. Edwin Lemare (1865-1934)

Pavane pour une infant défunte -- Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) / arr. Michael Hey (b. 1990)

Pageant -- Leo Sowerby (1895-1968)