The Church of the Transfiguration
"The Little Church Around the Corner"
One East 29th Street, New York
212-684-6770 + Fax 212-684-1662

Felix Hell Performs Felix Mendelssohn 





Felix Hell will perform the complete organ works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in a series of three successive concerts (Sunday through Tuesday, February 1 – 3, 2009) to celebrate the composer's 200th birthday. The concerts will take place at 7:30 P.M. at the Church of the Transfiguration ("The Little Church Around the Corner"), a national landmark, at 1 East 29th Street in Manhattan. Tickets are $20 (2 for $30 or 3 fot $40) and $15 (seniors over 62 and students under 18). Reservations: (212) 684-4174.











 
The 23 year old German organ virtuoso Felix Hell is a phenomenon in several ways. Hailed as “most well known young concert organist worldwide” (Dr. John Weaver), and “undoubtedly one of the major talents of the century” (Dr. Frederick Swann, AGO president), he “sets standards that many established and honored older players would struggle to equal” (Michael Barone in “The American Organist”). 


A liturgical organist since the age of eight, Felix has concertized in Germany and abroad since the age of nine, has already performed more than 550 recitals in his native Germany, as well as abroad since the age of nine, concertizing in countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Latvia, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Russia, and the USA, where he performed more than 400 recitals in 44 states. 






The Arnold Schwartz Memorial Organ and Concert Series





 
Mrs. Marie Schwartz made it possible for Transfiguration to commission one of the finest pipe organs recently built for a New York church. Designed and built by the C.B. Fisk company of Gloucester, Massachusetts, the Arnold Schwartz Memorial Organ (Opus 92) was finished and dedicated in 1988. It is a tracker, or mechanical-action organ, designed largely in the 18th century North German tonal style but with an extensive 19th Century French Cavaillé-Coll type swell division. This is an instrument eminently fit to perform the organ literature of all periods, as well as presenting and accompanying traditional Anglican liturgical music.




Excerpts from Reviews


The Boston Globe, November 12, 2004:


A young organist of staggering virtuoso gifts, Felix Hell, put the instrument through its paces in a recital that ended with Liszt's majestic ''Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H." Hell's playing of this great work was magnificent in the breadth of its conception and the finesse of its detail -- not to mention the thunderingly majestic climaxes summoned by flying fingers and feet. 



New York Times, October 11, 2005:


Felix Hell captured Fox's exuberance in a richly embellished, dramatic, big-boned account of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor and a high energy Dupre Prelude and Fugue. 




stereophile, February 2007:


FELIX HELL. Organ Sensation. 
Reference Recordings RR-101 CD. 
...Hell's technique reminded me of Glenn Gould's ability to articulate each note so that it stood clearly on its own, regardless of the tempo. Liszt's Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H allows Hell to reveal the rich palette of orchestral color and warmth of the Schoenstein organ...He also shows a profound understanding of the organ literature, and an ability to communicate lyricism through the massive instrument. 




For further information, visit his Web site:


http://www.felix-hell.com/index.shtml