1994 Walker at Exeter College Chapel, Oxford, England, UK

From sprightly Renaissance dances to grandious symphonies, this week’s show celebrates the many diverse elements which make organ music so remarkable, and a mirror of changes in western culture. Style, emotion, compositional and mechanical ingenuity all play a part in creating music of joy and contemplation, of restraint and exhultation. Whether in folk-song improvisation or anthem accompaniment, flashy toccata or rhumba-inspired trumpet voluntary, the pipe organ does it all. Listen to newly released compact discs from around the world in this sonic spectacular.

The sound of music creates a sense of place, but on this week’s show we fill that place with images and colors through works inspired by stained glass windows in churches and cathedrals. From the Rose Windows at the Sacred Heart Basilica in Paris, or the Church of Saint Ouen in Rouen expressed through works of Henri Mulet and Marcel Dupré, to the picturesque Tiffany windows at First Presbyterian, Topeka, Kansas, and some movements commissioned on their behalf from composer Dan Locklair, you’ll be amazed at the juxtaposition of these art forms. See the light and hear the colors - organ works on pictoral themes - as they resonate through Windows of Opportunity.

Music that stirs the soul and produces provocative evocations of scenes from Holy Week.

Our spirits find renewal in springtime through music for the Easter festival.

Christmas music from many lands is transformed by the colors of the pipe organ

…composers and performers from the global community offer up exotic musical gifts for this season of the Nativity.

…a summary salute to the memory of several composers who reached significant milestones in the first half of this year.

…a selective survey of some recent releases from a notable English label, with music from Durham, Ely, Oxford, York and Bristol.

…a bicentennial reflection upon the art of one of the most popular and powerful Parisian organists of the 19th century, Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely (1817-1869).