Organ Recital: James Wetzel March 1, 2026

Описание: Organ Recital: James Wetzel
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

The Sunday organ recital series returns for 2026 with a performance by James Wetzel of New York City. This program of English music, perfectly suited to the Alexander Organ, will warm your heart and delight your senses.

Our organ recital series features some of the finest organists playing one of America’s great organs. Grace Cathedral’s 7,466-pipe Aeolian-Skinner instrument, the Charles B. Alexander Memorial Organ (1934), is one of the first and finest American classic-style organs and is among the largest church organs in the West. Experiencing music in our gothic cathedral with its unique acoustics, soaring nave, and jewel-like stained glass windows is a feast for the ears, eyes, and soul.

Recorded on March 1, 2026.

Program
Cortège Académique
Sir Ernest MacMillan (1893-1973)

“Rhosymedre,” from Three Preludes
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Psalm Preludes, Op. 32, Set 1, No. 2
“But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)

Chanty, Salix, and Toccata, from Plymouth Suite
Percy Whitlock (1903-1946)

Benedictus
Alec Rowley (1892-1958)

Chorale-fantasia on Darwall’s 148th, “Ye holy angels bright”
Harold Darke (1888-1976)

About the Organist
Pittsburgh-born James D. Wetzel is the Director of Music and Organist of the Parish of Saint Vincent Ferrer and Saint Catherine of Siena on Manhattan’s Upper East Side where he directs the professional Schola Cantorum.  James previously served as Organist and Choirmaster of midtown’s Church of Saint Agnes and as Organ Scholar of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.  From 2011-2016 he was an adjunct lecturer in Hunter College’s music department and from 2010-2023 was Assistant Conductor of the Greenwich Choral Society in Connecticut.  He is the Dean of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, President of the Catholic Artists Society, and a board member of the New York Purgatorial Society.  A graduate of the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, his private teachers have included Paul Jacobs (organ) and Robert Page and Kent Tritle (conducting).

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