Performing in the (B)eyond Classics series Mendelssohn & Pärt, Sarah and Julian joined Simeon on Thursday! Watch the interview here!

 

A program designed and ideally suited to the intimate surroundings of Westminster United Church and its magnificent Casavant Frères organ. The WSO will welcome back Sarah Svendsen who will show it off in Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, a lookback to J.S. Bach. Mendelssohn too was deeply interested in the music of Bach and infused much of Bach’s spirit and mastery in the uplifting Reformation Symphony.

Past laureate of the Royal Canadian College of Organist’s (RCCO) National Organ Playing Competition, organist Sarah Svendsen is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and co-founder of/performer in Organized Crime Duo. Sarah specializes in the performance of Canadian organ works and has performed in Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. In September of 2016, Sarah made her symphonic debut as soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO), for which her playing was reviewed to be “greatly virtuosic” by Chronicler musical, La Liberté. Svendsen is scheduled for a return appearance with the WSO in November, 2019.

Sarah is an avid supporter of organ education. She serves on the RCCO National Strategic Planning Committee as well as the RCCO National Communications Committee, and is a 2018/2019 RCCO Traveling Clinician. She is an adjudicator and an organ instructor, and she is also heavily involved in the organization of the RCCO’s annual Summer Organ Academy. Sarah is a regular guest artist for Toronto DARE Arts, which is an inner-city arts education program. She is also well-known for giving child-friendly educational organ outreach concerts and workshops.