Next week, the Spreckels Organ Society will kick off its 37th San Diego International Summer Organ Festival at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park.
The free festival will feature nine Monday evening concerts from July 7 through Sept. 1.
While the accompanists this season will vary from week to week — including this season an opera singer, an orchestra, a silent film and a rock band — all of the concerts will showcase the Spreckels Organ, the largest open-air musical instrument in the world. This summer event is also billed as the largest organ festival in the United States.
Visitors walk past the Spreckels Organ Pavilion at Balboa Park. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Austin pipe organ was donated to the city in 1914 as a gift from industrialist brothers John and Adolph Spreckels and constructed as part of the new Balboa Park for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.
An organ concert in the illuminated pavilion kicked off the exposition at midnight Dec. 31, 1914, and it has been played continuously ever since. Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, organ concerts were recorded at the pavilion and shared on YouTube, to avoid missing a year in the 110-year performance streak.
Over the years, the number of pipes and wind-driven percussion instruments in the organ building has nearly doubled to 5,017 pipes, but the basic structure of its unique “electro-pneumatic” wind chest system has never changed.
San Diego Civic organist Raul Prieto Ramirez. (Courtesy of Spreckels Organ Society)
The festival is programmed each year by Raúl Prieto Ramírez, who is the artistic director of Spreckels Organ Society and San Diego’s official Civic Organist.
“There is truly something for every music lover,” said Prieto Ramírez said, in a statement. “It’s all here. The society is proud to present an explosion of styles, sounds, colors, and cultures in the heart of Balboa Park.”
“With such a large variety, our focus is on serving the community,” he said. “Nowhere else can a family take their kids to gain exposure to the purest of art forms, broaden their musical awareness, expand their musical joy, learn about new repertoires and hear new and old styles far from mainstream.”
All of the festival’s Monday-night concerts will be 90 minutes long and will begin at 7:30 p.m. Below is the schedule. More details can be found online at spreckelsorgan.org/summer-organ-festival.
July 7: Organist Joshua Stafford presents ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ ‘Carmen Fantasy’ and more
Stafford’s connection to the Spreckels Organ comes as the director of sacred music and the Jared Jacobsen chair for the organist of the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y. Jared Jacobsen served as San Diego Civic Organist from 1978 to 1984. In 2016, Stafford was awarded the first prize of the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and Yale School of Music.
July 14: Organist Richard presents virtuosity from the U.K
Hills is acknowledged as one of the world’s leading contemporary theater organists, and is also one of the few musicians to have mastered the divide between the classical and theater organ. In 2010, he was named Organist of the Year by the American Theatre Organ Society. He made his solo debut at the BBC Proms in 2013, returning to the Proms as an organ soloist in 2015 season and appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony and John Wilson Orchestras during the 2019 Proms season.
July 21: Organist Ken Cowan presents Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre, Elgar Sonata and more
Cowan is one of North America’s top concert organists, praised for his performances, technique and imaginative programming. He performs frequently in concert venues and churches in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. He is professor of organ and head of the organ program at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston.
July 28: Organist Ahreum Han presents ‘From Johann Sebastian Bach to Scott Joplin’
Han returns to the San Diego International Summer Organ Festival after a unique debut in 2021 when a major thunderstorm rattled the pavilion. A native of Seoul, South Korea, Han has performed internationally in the United States, Asia and Europe.
Soprano Alisa Jordheim will perform ‘Arias, Lieder, American Songbook and Musical Theater’ on Aug. 4 at the San Diego International Summer Organ Festival at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. (Alisa Jordheim)
August 4: Soprano Alisa Jordheim presents ‘Arias, Lieder, American Songbook and Musical Theater’
San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez will accompany this solo recital by the operatic soprano, whose recent appearances with San Diego Opera included roles as Despina in “Così fan tutte” and Gilda in “Rigoletto.” Jordheim is returning to the Spreckels after performing there with the San Diego Opera Chorus last December.
August 11: Organist Chelsea Chen presents ‘Saint-Saëns finale from Symphony No. 3, Super Mario Fantasia and more’
This San Diego native’s playing was described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and possessing “lovely lyrical grandeur.” A Fulbright scholar and graduate of Juilliard and Yale University, she has performed at Singapore’s Esplanade, Hong Kong’s Cultural Centre, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and Los Angeles’ Disney Hall. She currently serves as artist-in-residence at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.
August 18: An Organ and Orchestra Celebration
San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez will be joined by an orchestra conducted by Alejandro Gómez Guillén and concertmaster/violinist Jeff Thayer. The concert will feature four organ and orchestra concertos composed by Prieto Ramírez, Bach, Parker and Poulenc.
August 25: Not-So-Silent Movie Night
Balboa Theatre organist Russ Peck will accompany the silent films of Laurel & Hardy in this popular annual concert and movie event.
September 1: The Beatles 60th San Diego Anniversary
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Beatles one and only San Diego concert in 1965, the Spreckels Organ Pavilion Classic Rock Band will perform with the with the pipe organ some of the Fab Four’s greatest hits. The concert will also feature video projections on the face of the pavilion to take it back to the way it looked in 1965. Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez will perform with singers Chloe Lou, Lauren Leigh and William Fleming, guitarist Ben Zinn, bass player Harley Magsino and drummer Richard “T-Bone” Larson.
San Diego International Summer Organ Festival
When: 7:30 p.m. Mondays, July 7 through Sept. 1
Where: Spreckels Organ Pavilion, 2125 Pan American Road, Balboa Park, San Diego
Admission: Free (donations welcomed)
Online: spreckelsorgan.org