For six years, the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series has been bringing truly world class musicians to Carbondale, and this year the series is bringing a world-renowned English organist.

Thomas Trotter, a virtuoso organist, will be playing in Carbondale tonight to tickle the ivories on the mammoth Reuter Pipe Organ at Shryock Auditorium as part of his U.S. tour.

These are truly world-class musicians, Pansy Jones, campus coordinator for the Distinguished Organ Recital Series, said. They have really busy schedules. We have to start negotiating contracts two years ahead of time.

Advertisement

Bob Hageman, publicity coordinator for the Distinguished Organ Recital Series, said the recital series is designed to bring a wide array of the best organists in the world to Carbondale.

Each of these musicians does something unique on the organ, which is the king of instruments, he said. Thomas Trotter’s specialty is orchestration.

Trotter has won many honors as both a concert performer and as a recording artist. His recording of the music of Franz Liszt, recorded at Merseburg Cathedral, won the 1995 Franz Liszt Grand Prix, and his recordings of Messiaen and Mozart were part of Gramaphone’s Critic’s Choice lists.

But his greatest achievement was being appointed Birmingham City Organist in 1983.

He is the youngest person ever to hold that position. He’s a very young man, Hageman said. It usually takes many, many years to master the organ.

Trotter is certainly not the first world-class organist to be brought to the area by the recital series, and he certainly won’t be the last. Last year Olivier Latry, organist from Notre Dame Cathedral, performed, and next year Thomas Murray, organist for Yale University, will be the featured artist.

Thomas Murray holds the same position at Yale that Marianne Webb holds here at SIU, Hageman said.

Advertisement*

Marianne Webb is the resident organist for SIUC and the co-founder of both the Distinguished Organ Recital Series and the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman endowment that provides for the expenses of the recital series. She also is a professor at the School of Music.

Lynn Trapp, one of Webb’s students, is the resident organist at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis and one of the artistic directors for the recital series. Hageman said Trapp will come from Minneapolis to speak at the pre-concert dinner.

The pre-concert dinner, which cost $12, required registrations to be made by Wednesday. The free concert begins at 8 tonight in Shryock Auditorium.

The Reuter pipe organ was custom built for SIUC under the direction of Webb.

It was installed back in 1971, and then in 1990 they rebuilt the console and updated it with electronic features, Hageman said. But it’s by far not the first organ that SIU has had. The organ has been part of the University since forever. When this was Southern Illinois Normal University the day would begin with everyone meeting in assembly hall and singing hymns while someone played the organ.

The free concert begins at 8 tonight in Shryock Auditorium.

For more information on the show, call 453-2466.