Organ Concert at St. Devota's Church

On 11 December, after several months of reconstruction “works”, the great organ in the Cathedral will be “made” public during a majestic opening concert.

20 tonnes, 4 pianos, 79 stops and some 7000 pipes were installed and brought into harmony with one another in a little more than 6 months by the manufacturer Thomas, under the auspices of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

As part of celebrations for the festival of St. Devota, on Wednesday 27 January the Department of Cultural Affairs is presenting an organ concert by Jan Willem Jansen, who graduated from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague as a soloist.  He will perform works by Bach, Scheidemann, Bertoni and extracts from the "Organ Book of Toulouse."

At the Conservatory of Toulouse, Jan Willem Jansen was the teaching associate of Xavier Darasse.  He was a co-founder of the department of ancient music at this establishment and, with Michel Bouvard, is responsible for the new "Organ and Harpsichords" higher education department.

He has performed with the best European Baroque ensembles, including La Chapelle Royale, Paris, Le Collegium Vocale, Gand (led by Philippe Herreweghe) and Hesperion XX (led by Jordi Savall).

Jan Willem Jansen is also organist for the Ahrend organ at the Musée des Augustins and the Notre-Dame de la Daurade Basilica in Toulouse.

For the "Toulouse Organs" Festival in 1997, he made a recording for the "Tempéraments" collection, Bruhns' complete organ works, as well as cantatas by the same composer performed by Le Parlement de Musique, conducted by Martin Gester.  In 1998, he recorded Cabanilles on the historic organ in the church of San Pablo, Zaragoza.

The concert will take place at St. Devota's Church at 4 p.m., in collaboration with the In Tempore Organi association and the Parish of St. Devota.  Admission is free.

Further information:  +377 98 98 83 03