One of the most colourful musical personalities of our age takes his seat at the world-renowned organ of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall. He will demonstrate technical skills that push the boundaries of the instrument, his extraordinary talent as a composer in mapping out all known (and some hitherto unknown) tones and sound combinations of the organ, and his advanced knowledge of the art of musical arrangement and the various tricks of improvisation. Jean Guillou was a student of Dupré, Duruflé and Messiaen at the Conservatoire de Paris. In a career spanning many decades, he has won international renown as an organist, pianist and composer alike, and has also engaged in noteworthy literary activities. Beginning this concert with Mozart’s Fantasy in F minor, a work originally composed for mechanical organ (musical clock), Guillou will perform one of his own large-scale compositions, the almost half-hour Alice in Organ Land. Composed for organ and narrator, with a text written by Guillou himself, the work is based on Lewis Carroll’s fairytale nonsense novel. In this adaptation, Alice and the various surreal figures around her seek a way back to themselves through the physical and virtual labyrinth of the organ. The second half of the concert features Guillou’s own transcription of a work by Mussorgsky that is always a rewarding subject for arrangers, before finishing with some improvisation.

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