“Rising Stars” a live organ recital
presented by
the American Guild of Organists – Westchester Chapter
Sunday, Oct 18 at 4pm
Organists Eddie Zheng and Daniel Ficcari will bring the beautiful organ at St. Pius X to life with a program including the works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Karg-Elert and others. The recital will be just over an hour in length and is free of charge. To maintain COVID-19 limited occupancy and safety protocols, reservations and masks covering nose and mouth are required.
Reservations can be made at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084ba4ab2dabfc1-rising or by calling the parish office at 914-725-2755. Once your reservation is confirmed, please arrive 10-15 minutes before the performance to allow time be safely seated while social distancing. Reservations for late arrivals may not be honored. No walk-ins, please.
This performance will also be live streamed and recorded.
PROGRAM:
Mendelssohn – Organ Sonata No. 4 in Bb Major, Op. 65
J.S. Bach – Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532
Eddie Zheng, organist
Fanfare by John Cook
Ritornello alla Brahms from 33 Portraits, Op. 101 by Sigfrid Karg-Elert
Allegretto from Organ Sonata in E-flat, Op. 65 by Horatio Parker
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 by J. S. Bach
Daniel Ficarri, organist
OUR PERFORMERS:
Eddie Zheng, a native of New York City, is a student of Paul Jacobs at the Juilliard School. He attended the Juilliard Pre-College division for two years, studying with Matthew Lewis. Eddie has won several awards, including first place at the 2018 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition, the 2019 Brooklyn AGO Organ Scholarship Competition, and the 2019 AGO Quimby Northeast Regional Competition. In the summer of 2017, Eddie attended the McGill Organ Academy with Hans Ola Ericsson and the Oregon Bach Festival Organ Institute with Paul Jacobs. In addition to having performed in cities throughout North America, such as New York (St. Patrick’s Cathedral), Montreal (St. James United) and Eugene, Oregon (First United Methodist Church), Eddie has performed in China at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, Beijing Concert Hall, and the Beijing Golden Sail Concert Hall. He is currently the Organ Scholar/Music Intern at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, having served as the Associate Organist at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan and the 2018-19 Knock Intern for Sacred Music at Rye Presbyterian Church. When not playing organ, Eddie loves filmmaking, music production, and playing ice hockey.
Daniel Ficarri is a young American organist and composer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named one of the top “20 under 30” organists by The Diapason magazine, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Paul Jacobs. Ficarri’s performances have been featured by The New York Times in the “Week’s 8 Best Classical Music Moments” and in WQXR’s 2014 Bach Organ Marathon; he has played in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall under the batons of Marin Alsop, Itzhak Perlman, David Robertson, and James Gaffigan. In addition, Daniel has given recitals in many of the country’s great houses of worship, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
Ficarri’s compositional output includes a rich collection of colorful organ works, settings of sacred texts and poems for choir and solo voice, and instrumental music for piano and small chamber ensembles. Recent commissions include an organ fanfare for Choir & Organ magazine to commemorate the dedication of the Dobson Op. 93 organ at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, and a mystical five-movement suite for organ and narrator for the Paulist Fathers, written to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fr. Isaac Hecker. Much of Ficarri’s music is published by MorningStar and E. C. Schirmer.
An active church musician, Ficarri currently works as Organ Scholar at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, NYC. In 2015, he founded Sacred Sounds at St. Paul’s, a concert series promoting organ music in the Lincoln Center neighborhood and providing performance opportunities to young artists. Previously, he served as Organ Scholar at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, NY.