Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

Tea & Pipes
Tuesdays at 4:30 pm
Heavenly music on the restored E.M. Skinner pipe organ by University Organist Thomas Weisflog and guests, with tea and biscuits. Free and open to the public. For more information, call the Chapel's Front Desk at 773.702.2100.

Vierne 2012: Six Symphonies, Six Cities - Christopher Houlihan
Friday July 6 and Saturday July 7, 7:30 pm
Free

Celebrated young organist Christopher Houlihan performs Louis Vierne’s six symphonies in six major North American cities (New York, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Dallas) to commemorate the composer, a marathon of travel and performance beginning on June 2, the anniversary of Vierne’s death at the console of his beloved organ at Notre Dame de Paris.

Here at Rockefeller Chapel, Part I, Friday July 6, will comprise Symphonies I, III, and V; and Part II, Saturday July 7, Symphonies II, IV, and VI.

We are delighted that Rockefeller Chapel is on the Vierne 2012 itinerary, not least because Vierne dedicated his Symphonie VI to Lynnwood Farnam, noted master of the organ who played the inaugural recital of Rockefeller’s E.M. Skinner organ in 1928, just days after the Chapel itself was dedicated.

Nathan Laube in recital
Monday July 9, 7 pm
Tickets $20 at the door

The Organ Historical Society proudly presents Nathan Laube in recital at Rockefeller Chapel, as part of its Chicago 2012 convention. For more details, visit organsociety.org.

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L’été de Vierne (The Summer of Vierne)
On the 75th anniversary of the death of French organist and composer Louis Vierne (1870–1937), Rockefeller Chapel presents a joyful summer of celebration of Vierne’s music, with the Messe Solennelle performed by the Chicago Chorale, directed by Bruce Tammen; selections including the Carillon de Westminster at the annual Alumni Weekend gala concert; and a two-night performance of the complete Organ Symphonies by visiting organist Christopher Houlihan on his six-city Vierne 2012 tour.

Chicago Chorale: Voices Aloft
Sunday May 13, 3 pm
Pre-concert lecture by Dean Elizabeth Davenport, 2 pm in Ida Noyes Hall
The Chicago Chorale, conducted by Bruce Tammen with university organist Thomas Weisflog at the organ, sings Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle, in a program also featuring two ethereal a cappella works, J.S. Bach’s double choir motet, Komm, Jesu, komm, and Arnold Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden. The Messe Solennelle of 1899, one of the grandest works of the golden age of French organ composition, draws upon the full romantic glory of Rockefeller Chapel’s recently restored E.M. Skinner organ. A heartfelt and sincere work, it utilizes all the sonic fireworks of which both organ and choir are capable, filling the Chapel with sound! Tickets at chicagochorale.org, $35 reserved seating, $25 general, $20 students; or $40 reserved and $30 for general admission at the door.

Rockefeller Gala Concert: The Art of the Bon Mot
Saturday June 2, 4:30 pm (carillon begins 4:20 pm)
Free, no tickets or reservations required
The fifth annual Rockefeller gala concert, an hour-long concert of classics, takes on a Parisian theme this year. The University of Chicago Motet Choir’s Art of the Bon Mot is complemented by French wine and delicious pâtisserie snacks! Motet Choir offers selections from the chanson repertoire, from Debussy to the present day, including works of Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc, and Paul Hindemith, and contemporary American composer Morton Lauridsen’s fêted Les Chansons des Roses. These masterful short-form choral works utilize the poetry of, among others, Paul Éluard, Guillaume Apollinaire, and Rainer Maria Rilke.

And on the very anniversary of the death of Louis Vierne (June 2, 1937, at the organ console of the Cathédrale de Notre Dame, where he was just completing his 1,750th recital), university organist Thomas Weisflog plays Vierne’s famous Carillon de Westminster (mirrored on the carillon with Robert Byrnes’ Westminster) and the beautiful Adagio from Symphonie III. University carillonneur Wylie Crawford and assistant carillonneur James Fackenthal complete the festivities with arrangements for carillon of works by Jean-Joseph Mouret, Erik Satie, Francis Poulenc, and Gabriel Fauré, concluding with Robert Lannoy’s charming Ballet des Petits Canards (Ballet of the Ducklings).