Your Organs of Warmth

Feeling cold and dreary? Hang out here for a while

Friday will be decent, Saturday it starts to rain and Sunday looks like it will be downright frigid, giving us an unfortunate sneak peek of what lies ahead in the seasonally-affected-disorder of a Montreal Winter.

If warmth is what you crave when the sun and the heat fade, you could stay in bed (lucky you), you could hunt down a sauna (luckier, less lazy you) or you could seek out the warmth of vibrations that keep resonating even as they fade from memory (luckiest, least lazy you).

The way to make this last, likely most satisfying option a real thing is to get as close as possible to the beast of the instrumental jungle, the pipe organ(s) located in a few special, sometimes sacred places around town. A pipeload of events organized in conjunction with the Canadian International Organ Competition are happening this weekend.

Your organ safari could begin with a glimpse of the epic-sounding future of the pipes on Friday night. Three organ alphas (not necessarily males), all international competition winners under 30 – Alcée Chris, Thomas Gaynor, and Joshua Stafford – get their organ motors running at Notre-Dame Basilica, beginning at 7:30.

If Friday’s triple-dip isn’t enough, Saturday offers a double feature at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. Acclaimed prizewinner Christian Lane performs a concert at 3 pm followed by an epic concert with Jonathan Oldengarm pumping the pipes in remembrance of the Great War at 7:30.

Sunday wraps up the weekend with a two-pronged pipe attack:  at 10 am, a sneak-peek of the appropriately titled “Pipe Dream”, a documentary that chronicles the 2017 Canadian International Organ Competition (I confess I’d choose that over waking up for church). Then at 5 pm enjoy a bonanza of organ music by French composer François Couperin in a concert that features the organ performer with the weekend’s best name, Jean-Willy Kunz.

Anybody attending all of these events who complains that they haven’t been sufficiently warmed up by the epic sounds should seek medical attention for low spiritual body temperature.

Gala concert Friday at 7 pm, Notre-Dame Basilica
Saturday concerts at 3 pm & 7:30 pm, Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul
Sunday documentary preview at 10 am, Schulich School of Music
Sunday Couperin concert at 5 pm, Salle Bourgie (1339 Sherbrooke West)

For a complete list of Canadian International Organ Competition events, click HERE