St.

John of Rochester – Fairport, NY

September 14, 2018 @ 7:30pm
Louis Vierne Carillon de Westminster
(1870-1937) from 24 Pièces de fantaisie: Troisième Suite, Op. 54 (1927)

Johann Sebastian Bach “Erbarm’ dich mein, o Herre Gott”, BWV 721
(1685-1750)
Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565

Christoph Willibald von Gluck Mélodie d'Orphée (arr. Giovanni Sgambati)

(1714-1787)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Andante in F for a Small Mechanical Organ, K. 616

(1756-1791)

Eugène Gigout Toccata

(1844-1925) from Dix Pièces pour Orgue (1890)

Intermission
Max Reger Introduction & Passacaglia, Op. 59/5
(1873-1916)

Charles-Marie Widor Andante sostenuto

(1844-1937) from Symphonie Gothique (N°9), Op. 70

Jehan Alain Deux Danses à Agni Yavishta, JA 77 & 78

(1911-1940)
Pietro A. Yon Humoresque: “L'organo primitivo”
(1886-1943)
Louis Vierne Final
from Première Symphonie pour Grand Orgue, Op. 14
Noted by The New York Times for playing the organ with flair, French-American musician Daniel Brondel is
the Associate Director of Music at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, where he plays Masses each week that are
broadcast live on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. He is also the Associate Director of the Cathedral Choir, and he
manages the Organ Recital Series. He performs solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and
Europe, and has also appeared as soloist in piano concertos of Mozart and Rachmaninoff, and organ concertos
of Poulenc and Jongen. He recently accompanied the Sistine Chapel Choir during their visit to Saint Patrick’s
Cathedral, and he has collaborated with famous opera stars, including Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu,
Michael Fabiano, Isabel Leonard, Matthew Polenzani, Susan Graham, James Valenti, Danielle de Niece, and
Joyce DiDonato.

Mr. Brondel is the Artistic Director of The Salvatones, a new vibrant professional choral ensemble based in New
York City. He made his Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) debut in 2010 as narrator in a performance of Erik
Satie’s Sports et divertissements. He has also recorded and appeared regularly as countertenor soloist
(Schnittke’s Requiem and Bach’s B-minor Mass) with Grammy-Award-winner Paul Halley, and has sung with
the Gentlemen of the Choir of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. He has performed extensively in oratorios
of Bach and Handel, and in opera, notably the lead role of Oberon in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. Praised for a colorful timbre and an exceptionally wide vocal range, he is featured as solo sopranist in
Aural Borealis, a CD recording by award-winning Publick Musick. His first solo-organ album, The Glory of
the Organ, recorded at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in 2010 on the JAV label.

Daniel Brondel’s JAV recording of his improvised Organ Fanfare (2010) was featured on Pipedreams, a
national radio program of organ music. It is the first music selection of Program #1103: “Domestic Issues”
(2011), which focuses on new American organ recordings.

In 2005, Daniel Brondel founded the Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Singers, the first auditioned youth choir
at the Cathedral in over fifty years. The Young Singers performed in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI during
his visit to New York City in April 2008. Following a televised prayer service led by the pontiff, Mr. Brondel
was heard playing organ works of Bach for several minutes on the worldwide television broadcast. In October
2010, he played the organ at Saint Peter’s Basilica (Vatican) for the Mass that opened the 9th International
Festival of Sacred Music and Art.

Prior to his appointment at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, Mr. Brondel was the Director of Music & Organist
at nearby historic St. Malachy’s Church (The Actors’ Chapel), following in the legacy of famed
organist/composer Paul Creston. He also served as Director of Music at St. Anne Church, in Rochester, New
York, and as University Organist at the University of Rochester.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with David Higgs and improvisation with
Gerre Hancock and Rick Erickson, Mr. Brondel holds a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance. At
Eastman, he did further doctoral work in organ and musicology, and studied voice with Jane McCoy. Master
class teachers included Gillian Weir, Ludger Lohmann, Russell Saunders and Pierre Sancan. Mr. Brondel earned
a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance cum laude from Georgia State University, Atlanta, where he
studied piano with Geoffrey Haydon and organ with Sarah Martin. During his entire college career, he was a
singer and French-diction coach for the Grammy-Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and
Chamber Chorus, directed by Robert Shaw. Recipient of a grant from the Theodore Presser Foundation,
several prestigious academic fellowships, and winner of various piano competitions, Daniel Brondel also won
the First Prize at the 1996 Arthur Poister Competition and the Second Prize at the 1996 National Young Artist
Competition in Organ Playing of the American Guild of Organists in New York City.

A native of southern France, Mr. Brondel has lived in the United States since 1988.