James David Christie to Give the 2008 Lownes Memorial Organ Concert on Sunday, February 3, 4:00 p.m., Sayles Hall

Acclaimed American concert organist James David Christie , the Boston Symphony organist and professor of organ at Oberlin College, will give the 2008 Edgar John Lownes Memorial Organ Concert on Sunday, February 3, at 4:00 p.m.,
in Sayles Hall on the Campus Green. Dr. Christie, who has performed and
recorded with many of the world's major orchestras, will perform works by Piroye,
Camphuysen, Böhm, van Soldt, Ropartz, Alain, Langlais, and Guilmant.
Additionally, he will offer one of his own compositions, titled Élégie, in memory
of composer Jean Langlais.

The event is free and open to the public. Sayles Hall is handicapped accessible.

Dr. Christie is considered one of the finest organists of his generation. He has performed around the world with symphony orchestras and period instrument ensembles as well as in solo recitals. He was the 1979 First Prize winner of the Bruges (Belgium) International Organ Competition; he was the first American ever to win First Prize in this prestigious competition and the first person in the competition's eighteen year history to win both the First Prize and the Prize of the Audience. Dr. Christie has served as organist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1978 and has performed and recorded with major symphony orchestras in Vienna, London, Stuttgart, Koblentz, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore,
New York, Boston, etc. He has given over 50 tours of Europe and has performed
often in Canada, Asia, Australia, and Iceland. He is music director of Ensemble Abendmusik, a Boston-based period instrument orchestra and chorus specializing
in sacred music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the New England School of Law for his outstanding contributions to the musical life of Boston and was recently awarded the New England Conservatory Outstanding Alumni Award. He has served on international organ competition juries in Paris, St. Omer-Wasquehal, Chartres, Biarritz, Amsterdam, Lübeck, Bordeaux, Dublin, Worcester, Calgary, Columbus, Dallas, Leipzig, Speyer, Erfurt, Tokyo, Kaliningrad, Lausanne, Boston, and Bruges. His students have been prizewinners in North America, Europe, Japan, and South Africa. Dr. Christie has recorded for Decca, Philips, Nonesuch, JAV, Northeastern, Arabesque, Denon, RCA, Dorian, Naxos, Bridge Records, and GM Records, and has received several awards for his solo recordings, including the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik and the Magazine d'Orgue: Coup de Coeur. He holds positions as the distinguished Artist in residence at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, and professor of organ at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, OH. He also serves as an adjunct member of the Wellesley College music faculty. His has previously held positions at Boston Conservatory, M.I.T., and Boston University.

The event is funded by the Edgar John Lownes Memorial Organ Fund and sponsored by Brown University's Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and Music Department. For more information, visit www.brown.edu/ocrl .

Photo provided by: ConcertArtists http://www.concertartists.com/JDC.html