Composition Commission issued to Mark Andre

Orgelfreunde der Großen Strobel-Orgel e.V. (Friends of the Large Strobel Organ), Bad Frankenhausen, Germany

An organ brings the liturgy to life – just like the large church organ built by Julius Alexander Strobel in 1886, which can today be marveled at in the Lower Church at Bad Frankenhausen. Its refurbishment took the help of many bodies, in particular the regional church authorities and the land of Thuringia. However, many local people also took part in the numerous campaigns and fundraising activities to refurbish the organ. To reflect all this, a supra-regional and emotional reconsecration ceremony is now to be held for the new old instrument in the Lower Church at Bad Frankenhausen on June 23, 2019. To mark this occasion Mark Andre has been commissioned to write a composition for organ, that is being supported by the EvS Music Foundation. As one of the leading composers of our day Andre very much sees himself as a Protestant. Without attempting any kind of illustrative superficiality his works address basic biblical themes which are then shaped using the musical means of the Modern Age. Andre’s work aims to allow the audience to become acquainted with organ music in non-traditional forms and to approach religious themes from a new and unusual perspective.

Furthermore, the composition will be heard as part of the new ecclesiastical music festival “Tage neuer Kirchenmusik” and in the series "musica viva" of the Bayerischer Rundfunk at Munich’s Ludwigskirche October 6, 2018.

October 6, 2018
Pfarr- und Universitätskirche St. Ludwig, Munich, Germany

June 23, 2019
Unterkirche Bad Frankenhausen, Germany

Further information:
strobel-orgel.de