Cornerstone

Name: Cornerstone
Start: 2025-06-14T19:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-06-14T21:30:00-04:00
Location: St. Hugo of the Hills

Cornerstone

June 14, 2025 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm St. Hugo of the Hills 248-644-5460 248-644-5460 View Venue Website

Tickets

Doors open at 6:30; There will be a pre-concert talk with James O’Donnell starting at 6:40.

Details

Step inside St. Hugo of the Hills for an evening that explores the musical building blocks at the heart of great compositions. World-renowned organist James O’Donnell, former Master of Music at Westminster Abbey, leads a powerful program featuring organ concertos by Handel and Poulenc. Joined by works from Saint-Saëns and Composer-in-Residence Hannah Kendall, Cornerstone reveals how composers embed structure, contrast, and emotion into the smallest musical ideas—each one a foundation for something extraordinary.

ARTISTS
James O’Donnell, organ
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Jennifer Frautschi, violin
Luke Henderson, violin, member of The Dolphins Quartet
Dillon Scott, viola, Sphinx apprentice
Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings
The Dolphins Quartet, Shouse ensemble
Members of The Paddington Trio, Shouse ensemble
Members of Trio Dolce, Shouse ensemble
Paul Watkins, conductor

Performance Sponsors: Poulenc Organ Concerto | David Nathanson
Piano Sponsorship: The use of pianos throughout the Festival is sponsored by Andrea & Woody Leung.

Program

— PRE-CONCERT TALK WITH JAMES O’DONNELL AT 6:40 PM —

Huw Watkins: Pièce d’orgue
(b. 1976)
O’Donnell

George Frideric Handel: Organ Concerto No. 5, Op 7 (HWV 310)
(1685-1759)
Allegro ma non troppo, e staccato
Andante larghetto, e staccato (Basso ostinato)
Menuet
Gavotte
O’Donnell, Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, Shouse Strings, Watkins

Hannah Kendall: Tuxedo: Crown; Sun King
(b. 1984)
Henderson

— INTERMISSION —

Camille Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75
(1835-1921)
Allegro agitato
Adagio
Allegretto moderato
Allegro molto
Frautschi, Vonsattel

Francis Poulenc: Organ Concerto in G minor, Op. 36
(1899-1963)
Andante
Allegro giocoso
Subito andante moderato
Tempo allegro, molto agitato
Très calme: Lent
Tempo de l’allegro initial
Tempo d’introduction: Largo
O’Donnell, Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, Shouse Strings, Watkins

Program Notes

There is a reverence verging on mania endowed upon the cornerstone. Its sacred affection has nothing to do with its structural support or the quality of materials or even its scale. It is, rather, the first site at which the blueprint becomes a reality, and it is from the position of the cornerstone that the remainder of the structure will be mapped. Its placement, then, is a kind of key: the position of all form can be traced back to the calculations of that single moment. Tonight we will be looking at small building blocks upon which a whole has been built. They’re not always easy to spot, but composers inevitably engrave their cornerstones with a certain quantity of hands-on love that helps them to stand out.

The twin organ concertos on tonight’s program deserve to be discussed in tandem, for that instrument is (at least logistically speaking) what draws this program together. Read More…

©Ty Bouque