In the video below, Fred plays his transcription of Marche Characteristique from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite... a concert excerpt (1996) from his engagement at Stanford University's (Palo Alto, California) Memorial Church.
NEWScurrent to 14 September 2012
Fred is in the music studio now through mid-October. There is one new original composition in the works, a commission from Third Baptist Church of St. Louis, Missouri. It is an extended choral anthem for choir, organ and brass, based upon the hymn-tune "Germany." Fred has just finished a virtuoso organ transcription of the symphonic tone poem "España" by Emmanuel Chabrier, which will likely be premiered by Fred in concert sometime in 2013.
THREE H'S CONCERT IN PORTLAND, MAINE was a rousing success. TAKING A FINAL BOW ON AUGUST 20.
From left to right: Thomas Heywood, Frederick Hohman, and Felix Hell, receiving a standing ovation at the conclusion of The Three H's Concert at Portland, Maine's Merrill Auditoriium, with the Kotzschmar console, organ case and bust of Herman Kotzschmar under the center tower of the organ's façade.
The Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ (www.foko.org) celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the municipal organ commonly known as the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ, located in Portland, Maine, City Hall Auditorium (now known as Merrill Auditorium), with a six-day event from August 17 to August 22, including 5 gala evening concerts, and daytime activities including an all-day "performathon," workshops and masterclasses.Monday night's concert on August 20 was designated as the "Classical" event, featuring Frederick Hohman, Thomas Heywood and Felix Hell in a triple-recital billed as "The Three H's."
ONE MORE CLOSE-UP PLEASE. From left to right: Frederick Hohman, Thomas Heywood and Felix Hell, on the bench of the Kotzschmar Organ following the Three H's Concert on August 20 at Portland, Maine's Merrill Auditoriium.
Photos courtesy of Russ Burleigh. For more details about the 2012 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Kotzschmar Organ and its promising future, visit: www.foko.org.
THE THREE H'S program was the only concert in the week-long 100th Anniversary of the Kotzschmar Organ celebration week to be broadcast live over Maine Public Radio (The live broadcast pre-empted the Pipedreams broadcast normally heard over Maine Public Radio on Monday nights), with Maine Arts! TV host Suzanne Nance and Pipedreams radio host Michael Barone providing on-site concert commentary and artist interviews just offstage. The Three H's concert was also covered by Maine Public Television, and a video digest of The Three H's concert, edited to fit broadcast time constraints, airs on MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 17, 2012 at 10 P.M. Eastern time, over Maine Public TV, with archiving of the program on the Maine network's website: mpbn.net .
NEWFrederick Hohman videos posted at YouTube! Just posted are Fred's performances of two movements from Louis Vierne's Second Organ Symphony. The performances were recorded for the Midnight Pipes tv series, which Fred hosted from 1996 to 2001. These segments, recorded in Denver in June, 1998, on the occasion of Fred's appearance in an evening concert for the 1998 Nat'l Convention of the Organ Historical Society, were never completed and never aired, and are only seen for the first time now, some 14 years later. Here are the links:
Also, see Fred performing his own 1989 organ solo composition, The Homecoming, in his most recently posted YouTube video. This video was made in 1999, intended for inclusion in the Midnight Pipes television series, but the segment never aired. See it here for the first time:
Just confirmed! Fred is to return for his ninth appearance at METHUEN MEMORIAL MUSIC HALL in SUMMER 2013.
Methuen is north of Boston, near I-93.
Please mark your calendars now! It's just a year away: WEDNESDAY, 26 JUNE 2013 at 8:00 P.M.
Fred will be the featured organist in the re-dedication of the organ at
THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH in SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI
in late February, 2013. This instrument is currently in the re-building process at the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas.
A Gala Sunday afternoon concert, plus a workshop for organists on the following Monday, are planned. Fred has also been commissioned to compose a choral anthem for the occasion, with the premiere of the work given by the Third Baptist Church choir, organ and brass, during the re-dedication concert. More details to be posted here soon.
Frederick shall appear in recital on Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 4:00 p.m. on the new Opus 52 Jaeckel pipe organ at First Lutheran Church of Duluth, Minnesota, bringing a varied program with highlights from the best of the Baroque, Romantic and Contemporary schools.
• FRED's ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS - Two newly-published works now available in SCORE and on audio CD. Fred's newest organ work - completed on 7 September 2011 and premiered on December 4, 2011 (see below) - entitled "VARIATIONS ON KIRKEN" is available in printed score from ZAREX SCORES (Item ZS 1007. USD $20). Each printed score is shipped with a CD audio disc containing Fred's recording of the work. Also just published, another original work dating from February, 1989, entitled"THE HOMECOMING,"is available inprinted scorefrom ZAREX SCORES (Item ZS 1008. USD $20). Each printed score is shipped with a CD audio disc containing Fred's recording of the work.
• FRED's LATEST AUDIO CD - SOAR ABOVE THE ALL-WIDOR ALBUM -RECEIVES HIGH MARKS from one of America's most experienced and discriminating of music critics in Jan / Feb 2012 issue of The American Record Guide. To see the entire review, link here. "This sampler is not only well played, but the instrument heard ... combines French and German qualities into a very pleasing sonority. ... Hohman plays with authority and ease ... High marks for this practical addition to the Widor collection." These good words follow even stronger praise from a critic writing of the new album in a recent issue of The Diapason.
• 600,000 VIEWS AND STILL COUNTING!
FRED's YouTube VIDEO of the famous WIDOR TOCCATA has now well surpassed 600,000 VIEWS ON YouTube. Link here to see it! To purchase the CD audio disc containing the audio of the performance heard in the popular YouTube video, link here.
• A WARM WELCOME AND REUNION AT LYONS, NEW YORK. On December 4, Fred returned to the sanctuary of First Lutheran Church in Lyons, New York (about midway between Rochester and Syracuse), to play a solo organ recital including the premiere of his latest original work: Variations on Kirken. The new work is dedicated to Pastor Arthur C. Sziemeister (pictured below with Fred and the newly-published score of the work), in honor of Pastor's 53 years of continual service as pastor to the parish of First Lutheran Church of Lyons. Fred served as organist-choirmaster of First Lutheran Church in Lyons from 1975 to 1979. The December 4 program also included works by J. S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Charles-Marie Widor, and a Tchaikovsky transcription. The encore was the Noel de Saintonge by Dandrieu.
• ORGAN DEDICATION: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. On December 18, Fred was the guest of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Melrose Park (greater Chicago), Illinois, its priests, Fr. Claudio and Fr. Fernando, and parish organist Ann Nabor, as he offered a Dedicatory Organ Recital celebrating the installation of the all-digital Royal Classic II organ by Wicks Organ Company. The instrument, manufactured to Wicks' specifications in Italy, is a two-manual and pedal instrument, with integrated digital voice synthesizer. The recital opened with two seasonal works, an Improvisation on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Fred's extended arrangement of the classic Franz Schubert melody "Ave Maria." The program concluded with three movements of Fred's transcription of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and the first and last movements (the Theme with Variations and the famous Toccata) from Widor's Fifth Organ Symphony.
• PORTLAND, HERE HE COMES... AGAIN! FRED has been selected along with a handful of other noted concert organists, including Fred Swann and John Weaver, to be featured in concert during the week-long 100th anniversary celebration of the Kotzschmar Organ, to be held in mid-August, 2012 at Portland, Maine's Merrill Auditorium (City Hall Auditorium). In his concert, Fred will be joined by two other virtuosos, sharing a program with Felix Hell and with Australian virtuoso Thomas Heywood. More details soon! The event will mark Fred's 13th appearance for the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ (FOKO). The place to be next August is PORTLAND, MAINE. Mark your calendars now!• A FOND FAREWELL TO THE SCHWEITZER COMPETITION. This past September (2011), Fred concluded a remarkable 14-year term serving as the permanent juror and festival artist of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival and Competition / USA. Fred had been with the ASOF / USA since its inception, with annual sojourns to the First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, Connecticut, for the event, held the weekend after Labor Day weekend each year. The ASOF / USA is scheduled to continue in 2012, with a new permanent juror to be announced, and continuing under the leadership and direction of founding festival competition organizer, David Spicer.• PRODUCING FOR KEN COWAN In October (2011), Fred was the producer / engineer for the young and "in-demand" concert organist Ken Cowan, as he recorded a new organ solo album - for release on the Pro Organo label - on the recently restored organ of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New York City. The album is set for release on April 27, 2012.
Chris Nagorka of Kanawha Organ Works is pictured below with the console of his Opus 1, and with Frederick Hohman after the May 15 recital. The recital was played in recognition of the 20th year of Kanawha Organ Works and the 14th year since the dedication of the Opus 1 instrument at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in St. Albans, West Virginia. The recital, by Mr. Nagorka's request, was the exact same program as Fred played 14 years earlier at the original opening of the organ.
In early May, Frederick was at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, just off Times Square in New York City, when he served as music producer for a new double-CD set of Organ Works of César Franck, as performed by organist David Enlow, entitled PATER SERAPHICUS. David Enlow is an associate professor of organ at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, and is gaining in popularity as a touring recitalist. His new double-CD of Franck will be released on the Pro Organo label later in 2011. A post-recording session celebration was enjoyed by all on the rooftop patio (atop the parish hall of the church) that adjoins the apartment of the organist and director of music of St. Mary the Virgin, James Kennerly. Pictured raising a celebratory toast in the photo below, from left to right, are David Enlow, James Kennerly, Larry Trupiano (organ technician), Frederick Hohman, and Leon Giannakeff (associate sound engineer).
A day of fine organ-playing, including organ classics from the baroque to the 20th-century, was experienced by Frederick Hohman and two co-jurors at the 2011 Arthur Poister Competition. Six contestants competed for two cash prizes during the day long event on April 9. Dr. Will Headlee who has been associated with the competition faithfully for over 30 years, served as competition host and moderator.
A fine time and standing ovation at Mahtomedi. For his March 27 concert at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi (Twin Cities), Minnesota, Fred was eloquently introduced by none other than the voice of "Pipedreams" (radio series from Minnesota Public Radio / American Public Media) Michael Barone; Mr. Barone was there to make a digital audio recording of the program for possible future broadcast. Fred's latest CD "SOAR ABOVE"was launched at the event, and Fred personalized CDs with autographs for fans after the performance. The organ was the 108-rank, 7310-pipe, Casavant (1927) / Schantz (2001). The program was: Finlandia (transcription) of Sibelius; Festive Trumpet Voluntary in E, Clarke-Hohman, Two Dances to Agni Yavishta / Litanies, by Alain, Allegro cantabile (Symphony 5) and Allegro (opening movement Symphony 6) by Widor; Concert Tarentella Op 90, by Lemare; Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (transcribed by Hohman), by Franz Liszt; Let's Dance (Benny Goodman Band Theme), and Moonlight Serenade (Glenn Miller Band Theme), arranged by Hohman; and Toccata from Suite, Opus 5 by Duruflé.
