PASCAL ROPHÉ, Conductor

THIERRY ESCAICH, Organ

 

Paul Dukas: Polyeucte Overture

Thierry Escaich: Organ Concerto No. 3, Quatre Visages du Temps

Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor , Op. 78, Organ Symphony

 

It is by no means an exaggeration to call it sensational when speaking about the opportunity presented by the Saturday at Lisinski season opening. The first concert of the 2025/2026 season will feature the wonderfully talented and imaginative French organist, improviser and composer Thierry Escaich!

 

As for organist Escaich, it is enough to say that in 2024 he was appointed titular organist at the recently magnificently restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. As an improviser, Escaich is a successor and promoter of the unique French school of organ improvisation, which admits only the best into its ranks.

 

Because an improviser cannot be just an excellent musician. In addition to brilliant technique, he must be an imaginative and a thoroughly educated composer who creates works here and now, imprinting them only in the memory of listeners, not in the score.

About Escaich the composer, let us say this: we will finally have the opportunity to hear a masterpiece by an author whose list of works includes more than a hundred pieces, and who, unlike most organists, writes for all possible ensembles, nurturing an eclectic but thoughtful style. 

Escaich has composed operas, chamber works, solo concertos, he flirts with jazz, contemporary and popular music, but is also, thanks to his organ career, firmly anchored in Baroque motor rhythm and classical form.

 

As a soloist, he has performed with the most distinguished orchestras of today: the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, the  Orchestra of Paris, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, and as a resident organist and composer he has also collaborated with the Dresden Philharmonic.

 

Such a soloist is undoubtedly a challenge for the always spirited Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, whose inclination toward diverse musical expressions is always marked by well-prepared performances. And finally, they will all be brought together by maestro Pascal Rophé, a conductor who is an honour to have  in our midst and who should be listened to again and again in his inspiredly composed and interpreted concert programmes. We are certain that it is worth discovering what The Four Faces of Time, as Thierry Escaich titled his Concerto No. 3 for Organ and Orchestra, sounds like!