Music for a Cathedral Space
The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Series
2022–2023 Season
The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart – Richmond, Virginia
Very Rev. Anthony Marques, Rector of the Cathedral | Daniel Sañez, Artistic Director
We are excited to present the inaugural concert of the season!
The Dedicatory Concert of the Cathedral's new Choir Organ will be presented on Fri, Sep 23, at 7:30 p.m., performed by Richmond's own Bruce Stevens, Instructor of Organ at the University of Richmond.
Please visit richmondcathedral.org/concerts for a complete schedule and to reserve tickets! We are grateful for your presence and support and hope to see you here for all of these events.
Thank you!
The Music for a Cathedral Space Concert Series is made possible
by the generosity of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
Recital Program
Friday, September 23, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.
Bruce Stevens, Organist
Moderato, from Tre Tone-Stukker, op. 22, no. 1
Niels Gade
(1817–1890)
Partita on “Jesu, meine Freude” (Chorale with nine variations)
Johann Gottfried Walther
(1684–1748)
Benedictus, op. 59, no. 9
Max Reger
(1873–1916)
Fugue in G Minor (“Little”), BWV 578
Chorale Prelude on “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” BWV 645
Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685–1750)
Allegretto, from Sept Improvisations, op. 150, no. 4
Camille Saint-Saëns
(1835–1921)
Dialogue sur les mixtures, from Suite Brève
Jean Langlais
(1907–1991)
Andante sostenuto, from Symphonie Gothique, op. 70
Charles-Marie Widor
(1844–1937)
Scherzo, from Dix pieces pour orgue
Eugène Gigout
(1844–1925)
Organ Sonata 3 in G Major, op. 88
1. Pastorale
2. Intermezzo
3. Fugue
Josef Rheinberger
(1839–1901)
Bruce Stevens has received accolades for his “artistic organ playing” in which “discretion, cleanness, clarity, and stylistic awareness are tempered by purely musical values…one of the few who is able to achieve expressivity in the romantic sense via agogic stresses and to do it without sentimentality.” (American Record Guide, 9/10, 2001) He is active as a recitalist in the U.S. and Europe and has performed recitals for 23 annual national conventions of the Organ Historical Society, for several regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, and for national conventions of the American Institute of Organbuilders.
After receiving music degrees from the University of Richmond and the University of Illinois, Stevens moved to Europe for three years of organ study, first in Copenhagen with Finn Viderø and Grethe Krogh and then in Vienna with Anton Heiller. Mr. Stevens was a finalist in the AGO organ performance competition as well as in other competitions held in Los Angeles and Fort Wayne. He has recorded seven discs for Raven Recordings, including a series of CDs devoted to Josef Rheinberger’s organ sonatas played on various historic American organs.
Mr. Stevens is Instructor of Organ at the University of Richmond and director of Historic Organ Study Tours (HOST), which he founded in 1994 to further the study of historic organs throughout Europe. He served as Organist and Choirmaster of St. James’s Episcopal Church in Richmond for 12 years and Organist of Richmond’s Second Presbyterian Church for 16 years.
“Stevens’s phrasing and rubato are engaging
with a sense of cantabile always prevailing.”
(Choir & Organ, Nov.–Dec., 2017)
“His playing is masterly.
His interpretations are solid.”
(American Record Guide, Nov.–Dec., 2017)
