Peter Richard Conte will make his Seattle Symphony debut on the Watjen Concert Organ on Monday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. He will perform an eclectic program of works by Alexandre Guilmant, Louis Vierne, César Franck and Marcel Dupré, as well as his own arrangements of pieces by Fritz Kreisler, William Bolcom and Johannes Brahms.
Not many organists today offer a Bach Prelude and Fugue followed by a Strauss waltz or selections from Bizet's Carmen. Peter Richard Conte does. Known for transcribing programs of recognizable audience favorites for the organ, Conte performs and arranges everything from great opera arias and overtures to piano sonatas. He is currently the Grand Court Organist (since 1989) of the world-famous Wanamaker Organ, the largest fully-functioning musical instrument in the world, located in Philadelphia's Lord & Taylor department store.
When not touring, he performs on the six-manual, 28,000-pipe instrument twice daily, six days per week. Conte serves as Choirmaster and Organist of St. Clement's Church, Philadelphia, where he directs an 18-voice professional choir in music of the Anglo-Catholic tradition. He has been featured on National Public Radio and on ABC television's Good Morning America and World News Tonight. He produces a monthly radio show, The Wanamaker Organ Hour; was a featured artist at the American Guild of Organists' National Convention (2002), and at the International Organ Festival in Aosta, Italy (2004).
He has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, and with the Delaware and Allentown symphonies. Conte is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists, has served on the executive board of its Philadelphia Chapter, and has presented guild workshops on transcriptions and improvisation.
Conte studied at Indiana University, Bloomington, and was awarded the prestigious Performers' Certificate in Organ. During high school, he served as Associate Organist at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City, New York. -- www.seattlesymphony.org
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