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Hartness Organ Series presents Douglas Cleveland Nov. 5

Photo by Deborah Spencer

Last updated October 20, 2015

By Tina Underwood

Photo by Debora Spencer

Photo by Debora Spencer

Furman University will present a concert with organist Dr. Douglas Cleveland Thursday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. in Daniel Memorial Chapel on campus.

The event is part of Furman’s 2015-16 Hartness Organ Series and Sound Quality Concert Series. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for students.

Cleveland’s program, performed on Furman’s Hartness Organ (C.B. Fisk Opus 121, three manuals, 42 stops) will include works by Mozart, Franck, Jongen, and two contemporary composers, Pamela Decker and David Briggs.

Cleveland gained international prominence when he won first prize in the 1994 American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition. Since then he has given recitals in 49 of the United States, and has been invited to perform in such venues as Westminster Abbey, Berlin Cathedral, Stockholm Cathedral, Moscow Conservatory, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, Minato Mirai Concert Hall in Yokohama, Japan, the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, and the Cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland.

His performances with American symphony orchestras have included the Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Northwestern University Symphony and, for an audience of 3,000, the National Symphony at the Washington National Cathedral.

Cleveland has performed at several international festivals, including the Festival Vancouver, the Moscow International Organ Festival, and the International Organ Festival in Reykjavik, Iceland. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio and on the BBC.

Cleveland’s performances have drawn widespread critical acclaim, with The Charleston (WV) Daily Mail praising his “keyboard wizardry” and the Chicago Tribune writing, “In Douglas Cleveland’s hands, the organ seemed to squeeze the air into towering sculptures.” The Milwaukee Sentinel-Tribune describes Cleveland as “…a stunning organist…(who) plays with precision, technical facility, great musical instincts, and best of all, a bold sense of drama.”

Director of Music at Seattle’s historic Plymouth Congregational Church, Cleveland has served on the faculties of St. Olaf College and Northwestern University, where he received the Searle Award for Teaching Excellence. He is currently the John Delo Faculty Fellow in Organ at the University of Washington School of Music.

More information about Douglas Cleveland may be found here. Or contact the Furman University Music Department at (864) 294-2086, or email the department at FurmanMusic@furman.edu. Tickets may be ordered by calling the same number, or purchased online at this link.

 

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