Calendar

A program of solo works for pipe organ exploring organ music written in France between WWI and WWII, during a period of great societal and artistic change in the country.

Valerie Hall has appeared in solo and collaborative musical roles across Canada as well as in the United States and Europe. A native of Winnipeg, she holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Church Music degree from Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois. Valerie is also an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Voice Performance.

Manuel Piazza is assistant organist and choir master at St Thomas’s Anglican Church, in Toronto. He studied organ with Martin Jean, improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart, and choral conducting with Dale Adelmann. He served as senior organ scholar at Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven, where he was mentored by Walden Moore, and as an organist for Yale Schola Cantorum, conducted by David Hill.

Manuel Piazza developed a passion for sacred music while attending St Michael’s Choir School as a chorister in Toronto, Canada. He completed his undergraduate studies in organ performance at the University of Toronto, where he studied with John Tuttle. Hhe served as choir director and organist at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, organ scholar at Trinity College ( University of Toronto ), organ scholar at St James Anglican Cathedral, and one of five organists of St Michael’s Cathedral Basilica. From September 2019 to July 2020, he was organ scholar at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, UK, where he played for Evensong three times a week, accompanying choristers under the direction of Christopher Gray.

Whilst living in the UK, he also taught theory and organ and performed with ensembles such as the London Sinfonia. After returning to North America, he won first prize in the 2021 Royal Canadian College of Organists National Organ Playing Competition and other awards such as the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Scholarship (RCCO), the Mary Baker Scholarship in Organ Accompanying (Yale ISM), the Julia R Sherman Memorial Prize for excellence in organ playing (Yale ISM), and the Aidan Kavanagh Prize for academic achievement (Yale Divinity School).

Join us for a fun-filled evening of spooky and scary music!  Come in costume!  More info to come.

A spectacular celebration of the iconic silent film Phantom of the Opera (1925) in its centennial year, featuring a score performed live by a 6-piece orchestra, 80-person choir from the Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs, and Vancouver Civic Organist Michael Dirk on the historic Wurlitzer organ.

Declared “glorious” by the New York Times upon its release, this 1926 action adventure film, shot entirely in two-colour Technicolor, marked a landmark achievement in the advancement of cinema as an art form. It features Douglas Fairbanks portraying a nobleman posing as the “Black Pirate” to seek justice for his father’s death and rescue a kidnapped princess.  Accompanied live by eminent Vancouver organist Edward Norman on the historic Wurlitzer organ.

Clara Bow’s role as the plucky shop girl in this 1927 box office hit brought her global fame and made her the first-ever “It Girl”. Bow is magnetic as Betty, who is enamored with the wealthy owner of the department store where she works and determined to catch his attention.  Accompanied live by Vancouver Civic Theatres organist Michael Dirk on the historic Wurlitzer organ.

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 film The Lodger was his first critical and commercial success. This haunting silent thriller tells the tale of a mysterious young man who takes up residence at a London boardinghouse just as a killer known as the Avenger descends upon the city. Accompanied live by organist Koos van Nieuwkoop on the historic Wurlitzer organ.