Wanamaker Organ

Love Organ Music? Enter WRTI's Organ Crawl Contest!

WRTI Staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:39:14 +0000

WRTI has partnered with Longwood Gardens to offer you a chance to win tickets to Longwood Gardens’ first-ever Organ Crawl on Sunday June 23rd. Spend the day listening to some of the world’s finest organists playing some of the world’s finest organs during this unique event.

You’ll enjoy private, guided tours of the Wanamaker, Kimmel Center, and Longwood organs as you travel from location to location in a luxury motor coach. American Public Media’s PIPEDREAMS host, Michael Barone, will be your official host.

Wanamaker Organ Hour: From Bach to Sullivan

Jack Moore — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:02:50 +0000

Join Jill Pasternak and Wanamaker Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte in our monthly program, recorded at Macy's Center City, on the world-famous Wanamaker Organ. This month, it's works by J.S. Bach and Sir Arthur Sullivan, plus a composition by a Philadelphia favorite: organist Robert Elmore. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Elmore's birth. Sunday, January 6, 5 to 6 pm.

Program:

Welcome Christmas with the Wanamaker Organ: Dec. 2nd at 5 pm on ENCORE!

Jack Moore — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 10:55:21 +0000

Jill Pasternak and Macy's Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte welcome the Christmas season with beautiful organ music on Sunday, 5 to 6 pm. The broadcast, recorded on the Wanamaker Organ at Macy's in downtown Philadelphia, features a full hour of music for the holiday.

Peter Richard Conte performs "Silent Night" live at Macy's downtown:

http://youtu.be/L5cS_pOfTlA

PROGRAM:

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme … J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

I saw three ships come sailing in … Geoffrey Bush (1920-1988)
arr. by Colvin Randall

Two settings of ‘In Dulci Jubilo’ (In Sweet Rejoicing)
Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The Holy Boy … John Ireland (1879-1962)

March of the Wooden Soldiers … Victor Herbert (1859-1924)
(from Babes in Toyland) transcribed by Peter Richard Conte

Winter’s Night … Frederick Delius (1862-1934) Transcribed by Robert Hebble

Ii est né, le divin Enfant … Henri Büsser (1872-1973)

Two settings of ‘Orientis Partibus’
Thomas Matthews (1915-1999)
Arthur Wills (b. 1926)

Away in a Manger … Keith Chapman (1945-1989)

For unto us a child is born (from Messiah) … G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
w/Philadelphia Brass (from "Christmas in the Grand Tradition" on Gothic Records)

Hallelujah, (from Messiah) … Handel
(From the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s ‘Random Act of Culture’ at Macy’s, Oct 2010)

Wanamaker Organ Hour: Nov. 4th at 5 pm on ENCORE!

WRTI Staff — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:10:46 +0000

WRTI's Jill Pasternak and Macy's Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte present a special program of gorgeous organ works this month, including:

Mussorgsky: Night On Bald Mountain
Chopin: Military Polonaise
Liszt: Consolation No. 5
Gilbert and Sullivan: Music from “Patience”
Widor: Andante from Symphony No. 2
Vierne: Carillon de Westminster from “24 pieces de fantaisie”

Join us on Sunday, November 4th, 5 to 6 pm.

Wanamaker Organ Hour: October 7th at 5 pm on ENCORE!

WRTI Staff — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:37:24 +0000

Join WRTI's Jill Pasternak and Macy's Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte as they present a variety of performances of great works including Dudley Buck's Concert Variations on 'The Last Rose of Summer', Gabriel Faure's Nocturne from Shylock, and Sowerby's Comes Autumn Time.

As a special treat, they'll reprise a live performance from our June 2012 Organ Day - Wagner's Siegfried's Funeral March and Immolation Scene. Sunday, October 7th, 5 to 6 pm. Tune in!

Wanamaker Organ Hour: Talented Organ Students in the Spotlight, August 5th on ENCORE!

Jack Moore — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 11:54:00 +0000

This month's show features some truly outstanding young talent playing the Wanamaker Organ. It's the second of two shows featuring students of Alan Morrison from the Curtis Institute of Music. This is an annual collaboration between Curtis and Macy's, which offers the students a week-long workshop with Peter Richard Conte at the Wanamaker Organ, exploring the Symphonic School of organ repertoire, performance, and registration.

Wanamaker Organ Hour: July 1st at 5 pm on ENCORE!

Jill Pasternak — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:12:55 +0000

WRTI's Jill Pasternak and Macy's Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte are joined by Alan Morrison, chair of organ studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, and four of his students: Thomas Sheehan, Bryan Anderson, Caroline Robinson, and Patrick Kreeger on Sunday, July 1st, from 5 to 6 pm.

Mr. Sheehan and Mr. Anderson will perform a number of works, including Seth Bingham's Roulade, Richard Wagner's Overture to Tannhauser, and Julius Reubke's Sonata on the 94th Psalm.

Wanamaker Organ Hour: May 6th at 5 pm

WRTI Staff — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:52:00 +0000

It's a special hour of organ music featuring Peter Richard Conte performing works by Bernstein, Elgar, and Jongen on the massive Wanamaker Organ on Sunday, May 5^th from 5 to 6 pm . Mr. Conte is the Grand Court Organist of the Wanamaker Organ, Macy's Philadelphia. Your host is WRTI's Jill Pasternak.

PROGRAM:

Leonard Bernstein: Candide Overture
(transcribed for organ by Peter Richard Conte)

Wanamaker Organist Peter Richard Conte--The Curtis Institute of Music--Renaissance Wind Band Piffaro

Jim Cotter, Susan Lewis and David Patrick Stearns — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:40:00 +0000

Jim Cotter speaks with Peter Richard Conte, the Grand Court Organist of the Wanamaker Organ. Conte is the soloist in a concert with the Symphony in C orchestra, which is part of the organ's centennial celebration.

Susan Lewis profiles the Curtis Institute of Music, a vanguard in the training of classical musicians since 1924.

David Patrick Stearns takes us to where East Meets West - a concert series by the Renaissance wind band Piffaro.

Kile Smith Recommends...

Kile Smith — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:37:00 +0000

Listen

A Grand Celebration: The Philadelphia Orchestra Live with the Wanamaker Organ at Macy's Center City

The Historic Grand Court Concert

Peter Richard Conte, organist. Rossen Milanov, conductor

You're careful - Indiana Jones careful - not to touch anything. You tip-toe over cables and ducts and around wooden stairways and you see them everywhere. The pipes. Pipes thick as elms that rise two storeys. Pipes small as pencils, tin pipes, wood pipes, round and square pipes, growing, it seems, out of the fractals of corners, advancing on you...and the astonishing realization is that there are people here who know exactly where every pipe is.