Thomas Heywood

Thomas Heywood plays a program of organ transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, with many popular Bach works that have not previously been heard as organ transcriptions. The featured organ is a 3-manual and pedal 1928-vintage Nicholson & Co. instrument (Worcester, England) which has most recently been updated and restored by Trevor G. Tipple of Worcester, located in the sanctuary of St Martin’s Church, Worcester.

Thomas Heywood plays a program of organ transcriptions and organ classics upon the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ at Merrill Auditorium, Portland City Hall, in Portland Maine. Internationally acclaimed organ virtuoso Thomas Heywood enjoys an outstanding reputation as one of the world’s finest concert organists. As the first and only Australian musician in history to live as a professional concert organist, Heywood is celebrated as “an acknowledged master” for his spoken introductions and truly unique ability to make the greatest music of all time come alive on the King of Instruments. He has an amazingly comprehensive repertoire of over 5,000 works. Not confined to the “organ world,” Heywood’s phenomenal success in reaching out to the vast concert-going public has made the critics boast that he “reincarnates Edwin H. Lemare,” the greatest concert organist of the twentieth century.

Australian organ virtuoso, Thomas Heywood, brings us a double historic find. The wonderfully-maintained 1873 Father Willis Organ at St Michael’s Church, Tenbury UK is essentially in the original tonal condition of 1873, and the same mechanical condition as it was when rebuilt in 1916. The music is from the catalog of organ works of The Rev. Frederick Scotson Clark (1840-1883). The CD is packaged with a 24-page full-color booklet, with lots of photos, essays on the composer, church and organ history, and samples of vintage scores.

E se al nome di “Shakespeare” rispondesse, più che l’identità certa di un genio indiscusso, un tessuto di relazioni e di lavoro comune? Il Sir Thomas More è forse l’esempio più lampante di tutto ciò; scritta a più mani da noti drammaturghi del tempo come Anthony Munday, Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker e Thomas Heywood, quest’opera conserva l’importante impronta di Shakespeare, il quale intervenne nella revisione del testo con una scena molto significativa, che risuona ancora oggi come un monito a riconoscere la libertà di coscienza e il diritto all’asilo degli immigrati “economici”, o di altra natura. L’accoglienza dell’estraneo/straniero/alieno, e dunque dell’altro punto di vista, e il rispetto delle differenti dinamiche della coscienza individuale non possono che essere la cifra di quell’uomo libero che è stato Thomas More, condannato a morte da Enrico VIII sulla pubblica piazza per essersi rifiutato al giuramento richiesto dal re, che tanto lo aveva amato..

Thomas Heywood plays a program of organ transcriptions and organ classics upon the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ at Merrill Auditorium, Portland City Hall, in Portland Maine. Internationally acclaimed organ virtuoso Thomas Heywood enjoys an outstanding reputation as one of the world’s finest concert organists. As the first and only Australian musician in history to live as a professional concert organist, Heywood is celebrated as “an acknowledged master” for his spoken introductions and truly unique ability to make the greatest music of all time come alive on the King of Instruments. He has an amazingly comprehensive repertoire of over 5,000 works. Not confined to the “organ world,” Heywood’s phenomenal success in reaching out to the vast concert-going public has made the critics boast that he “reincarnates Edwin H. Lemare,” the greatest concert organist of the twentieth century.