International Organ Summer in Hallgrímskirkja 

Saturday 17. August at 12:00 – 12:30

Johannes Geffert, concert organist from Bonn, Germany

Performing pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, Robert Schumann and Andreas Willscher.

Tickets 2500 ISK

International Organ Summer in Hallgrímskirkja 

Sunday 18. August at 17:00 – 18:00

Johannes Geffert, concert organist from Bonn, Germany

Performs pieces by Pablo Bruna, Antonio Vivaldi, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saens and Felix Mendelssohn Barholdy. 

Tickets 3000 ISK

About Johannes Geffert

Born 1951 as son of a highly recognized organist and director of church music, Johannes Geffert was brought up in the traditions of his profession. He studied with Michael Schneider and Nicolas Kynaston. 

From 1974 until 1979 Geffert was organist in Aachen and conductor of the Aachen Bach society, where he founded the Festival “Aachener Bachtage”. 1980 he was appointed director of church music at the Kreuzkirche Bonn, the largest church in former capital of West Germany, there he was also organist titulaire of the city’s concert hall “Beethovenhalle”. 

As a professor for organ and improvisation at the State Conservatory of Music in Cologne from 1997 until 2015, and he was also head of the department for protestant church music. 

Johannes Geffert has performed at many international organ festivals in 

Europe, Japan, South America, and in the United States. His CDs have achieved highest acclaim. In numerous competitions for organ playing he has been asked to be a member of the jury. In 1991 he founded the “Johann Christian Bach-Academy”, an orchestra for performances with period instruments. As an editor he supervised a series of publications with romantic organ music by American and British composers, and he has published some of his own Liszt transcriptions for organ with Schott and written articles on musical issues in various magazines. Geffert is honorary Vice-President of the British Organists Association IAO and board member of the Beethovenhaus Bonn. 

Programme:

Saturday August 17th at 12 pm

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750 
Toccata and fugue in d-minor BWV 565 

George Friedrich Händel 1685-1759 

From: Concerto Nr. 13
‘Cuckoo and Nightingale’ 

Larghetto Allegro 

Robert Schumann 1810-1856 
From: 6 studies in canonic form op. 56 4. ‘Innig’ (heartfelt) 

5. ‘Nicht zu schnell’ (not too fast) 

Andreas Willscher 1955- 
‘My Beethoven’ a concert rag for organ 

Sunday August 18th at 5 pm

Pablo Bruna 1611-1679 
Tiento de secondo tono sobre la Letania de la Virgen 

Antonio Vivaldi 1678-1741 
Concerto in a-minor Adagio 

Allegro
organ transcription J. S. Bach 

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827 
Adagio F-Major
From Suite for a mechanical clock WoO 31 

Franz Liszt 1811-1886 
Legend I ‘St. Francis preaching to the birds’ organ transcription by J. Geffert 

Camille Saint-Saens 1835-1921 
Fantasie II in D flat – major op. 101 

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy 1809-1847 
Overture to the sacred Drama ‘Athalia’ 

transcription by W. T. Best 1826-1897