The year 2020 marks the bicentennial of the birth of César Franck. In commemoration of Franck’s immense contribution to the organ repertoire, Dexter Kennedy will be celebrating Franck’s music during the 2022 concert season. 

The music of César Franck was decidedly ground breaking for its time, establishing a seriousness that had not been seen in the French organ school since the Baroque period. Highlighted by poetically lyric, expressive melodies and ingenious motivic development, these works are befittingly placed at the pinnacle of the organ repertoire and charted the course for the French organ school of the 19th and 20th centuries.

As the winner of the Grand Prize of Interpretation at the Chartres International Organ Competition, Dexter Kennedy has established himself as “one of the leading organist of our times” (Iceland Monitor) and a prominent performer of the French organ repertoire. The works of Franck are ideally suited to showcase the performer’s “grand style musicality” (The American Organist).

Mr. Kennedy will be offering this project in four variants:

    1. Complete major organ works across two individual programs, either on consecutive days   or on the same day (afternoon performance and evening performance) 

    2. Franck Highlights (Single program).

    3. Unknown Franck: A combination of beloved favorites as well as lesser known works and transcriptions.

    4. Franck and the Ste. Clotilde Tradition: A survey of works by Franck and his successors at the Basilica of Ste. Clotilde in Paris, which include revered composers such as Jean Langlais, Charles Tournemire, Gabriel Pierné, and Ermend Bonnal 

Combinations and/or hybrids of these four offerings can be arranged on an individual, custom basis. Please contact Michael Ging of Seven Eight Artists (michael@seveneightartists.com) or Dexter Kennedy directly to discuss alternate programmatic possibilities.