Organ Concert by John Wells  (Auckland City Organist)

Sunday 4 December 2011 at 2:30 pm  –  Admission FREE

Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall, The Edge

The concert is entitled “A Centenary Celebration” in recognition of the centenary of Auckland Town Hall.  Many of the composers have been chosen with that date in mind and for their great range and mood of the music.  For example, it is the centenary of the death of Guilmant, and of the birth of Alain.  It is also the 200th anniversary of the birth of Liszt and 300th of the birth of Boyce.  Lemare is included as he was a key figure in the development of the original 1911 Auckland Town Hall organ.

Dr Wells will talk during the concert of some of the pieces he will be playing. The programme will include music by Guilmant, Alain, Boyce, Liszt, Langlais, Lefébure-Wély and others.

There will be an interval of 15 minutes, and the concert should end at 4:00 pm.

Programmes will be available on the day, containing full programme notes on each piece: price $2.00.

This is a free concert, with sponsorship support from THE EDGE Public Programmes.
There will be a retiring donation / koha to support the continuing Town Hall Organ programme.

JOHN WELLS, Auckland City Organist and Auckland University Organist, has performed throughout New Zealand since 1970, and in many overseas cathedrals and concert halls.
He is a former Organ Scholar of King’s College, Cambridge and a graduate cum laude of Indiana University’s prestigious doctoral organ performance programme.
In 1998 he instigated the project to rebuild the Town Hall organ. He works as a recitalist, broadcaster, recording artist, teacher, examiner and composer. In 1989 he recorded the first organ CD made in New Zealand.  
He was commissioned to compose his Organ Symphony in C which he performed at the Inauguration Concert on 21 March 2010.  This is New Zealand’s most significant organ commission and composition.  This performance is included on a CD of the Auckland Town Hall Organ Inaugural Concert.  You can order a copy from this site, just click here.  
He has also recently recorded the first solo CD on the Klais organ for the Auckland Town Hall Organ Trust: for more details of this CD, and to order your copy, please click here.