1876 Cavaillé-Coll organ at Église Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Paris, France

Marie Bernadette Dufourcet has delighted audiences with her spectacular playing and proves herself to be yet another shining star in the galaxy of famous French organists. On our next Pipedreams program, she steps beyond the shadow of her equally talented husband, Naji Hakim, to demonstrate her own gifts as interpretor, improvisor and composer. In recordings made in Washington DC and Saint Paul, Minnesota, and a few done at her church, Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Paris where she is titulaire, Ms. Dufourcet establishes herself as not just your average wife and mother, sharing a cross-section of music from the past century. She is a supremely assurred player and composer, as demonstrated through recital recordings and perceptive commentary. Celebrate Marie Bernadette Dufourcet-Hakim, our special guest, who makes you want to shout Viva la France!, which we do, this week on Pipedreams.

Famous names may dominate the scene, but these often overlooked composers demonstrate a remarkable degree of individuality and imagination.