Olivier Latry, the internationally-renowned organist from Notre Dame Paris, is to play a Gala Concert on the great organ of Liverpool Cathedral on Saturday 29th June at 7.30pm.
He will present a mixed, popular programme in his own inimitable style, and the programme will include work by Louis Vierne (Carillon de Westminster, Clair de lune and Feux follets), Olivier Messiaen (L’Ascension) and Thierry Escaich (Evocation II), after which he will improvise on a submitted theme.
In 1985, aged 23, Olivier was awarded the post of one of four Titulaires des grands orgues de Notre-Dame, Paris, alongside Yves Devernay, Philippe Lefèbvre and Jean-Pierre Leguay. In addition to this role and his teaching positions, Olivier has an active career as concert performer, playing in more than forty countries across five continents.
Olivier has gained a reputation for performing music by his contemporaries. He is renowned for his performances of the works of Olivier Messiaen and has recorded the complete organ works of Messiaen for Deutsche Grammophon. He is also considered to be a distinguished improviser, in the tradition of an exceptional French line that runs from Charles Tournemire through to Pierre Cochereau.
The concert will raise money for Liverpool Cathedral’s £900,000 Organ Appeal, now in its fourth year and standing at £350,000.
Completed in 1926, the cathedral’s great organ is one of the supreme examples of the craftsmanship of Henry Willis & Sons, with 8 manual divisions and pedals, 199 drawstops, played from each of two consoles, and comprising the staggering total of 10,268 pipes. Built as the largest musical instrument ever conceived, the Grand Organ of Liverpool Cathedral is one of the greatest church organs in the world and the largest organ in the UK today.
Olivier said: “It has always been my wish to play on Liverpool Cathedral’s iconic instrument and I am delighted to be doing this at long last.”
Tickets available on the door price £15.00, concessions £10 (for groups of 10 or more, and for Patrons of the Organ on production of their membership card).
