July 2002

Carillon composition competition

The fifth international Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition
will take place in 2003 in Mechelen, Belgium. It is the most prestigious
performance competition for carillonneurs. To complement this event, the Royal
Carillon School "Jef Denyn" in Mechelen, in conjunction with the city
of Mechelen and with the support of local carillon associations, has organized
a composition competition. The winning score will be performed by the finalists
in the 2003 Queen Fabiola Competition.

Wesley M. Vos 1940-2002

Wesley M. Vos, associate editor of The Diapason since 1967,
died on May 9 at his home in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He was 61. Dr. Vos also
was professor of music at DePaul University and served as organist for several
area churches. He died of complications from liver disease; in 1991, he had
undergone three liver transplants, the first two of which were rejected, and
the third of which prolonged his life by 11 years.

Cover

Austin Organs, Inc.,
Hartford, Connecticut, has installed a new Antiphonal organ at Christ Church
Cathedral, Hartford. The cathedral dates from 1828, and was subsequently
supplied with successive organs by Erben, Hook & Hastings, and Skinner.
Austin #2417 was installed in the chancel in 1965. At that time, preparations
were made in the console for an Antiphonal division to be placed in the rear
gallery, but nothing occurred until 2000 when a move was started to fit a
Trumpet in the rear gallery.

The pedagogy of organ performance must deal with the tension between playing technique and musical interpretation. On the one hand, all physical possibilities of playing ought to be developed, trained, and educated in a most intensive and versatile manner. On the other hand, musical interpretation demands a specially and carefully selected playing technique.

From Thursday March 7 through Saturday March 9, 2002, two concurrent events at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania vied for the attention of early-keyboard enthusiasts. In one of them, the fifteen semi-finalists of the fifth international harpsichord competition organized by the Southeastern Historic Keyboard Society competed for a place in the final round and more than $9,000 in prize money.

Friend, colleague, and mentor--Wesley Vos, associate editor of The Diapason since 1967--died on May 9 at the age of 61, from complications of liver disease. An obituary appears on page 6 of this issue, recounting some of the professional and personal events of his life--his birth and death dates, education, career history, etc. While these details provide a glimpse of a very full, though far too short, life, they fail to convey the depth and breadth of the man we knew and loved.