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Sunday, January 24 • 3:00 pm

Organ Recital with Ian Watson
Location TBA

Music from the source.

Concerto in G, BWV 592 after Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar
Concerto in A minor, BWV 593 after Vivaldi
Fugue in D minor, BWV 539b after BWV 1001 for solo violin
Concerto in C “Grosso Mogul,” BWV 594 after Vivaldi
Concerto in D minor, 2nd movement, BWV 974 after Marcello
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542  

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

WinterFest closes at the source: the music of J. S. Bach. In this all-Bach organ recital, Ian Watson brings listeners into one of the most powerful sound worlds ever created, where dazzling counterpoint, spiritual depth, and architectural grandeur meet in a single instrument.

Watson is a musician of extraordinary breadth: an acclaimed conductor, period-instrument specialist, virtuoso harpsichordist, organist, and pianist. Associate Conductor of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, he has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras and early-music ensembles, and was invited by Sir John Eliot Gardiner to serve as assistant conductor, organ and harpsichord soloist, and continuo player for the landmark Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. His lifelong relationship with Bach’s music gives this recital a particular authority, imagination, and depth.

A former organist at St. Margaret’s, Westminster Abbey, appointed at just 19, Watson brings both brilliance and lived experience to the organ repertoire. Bach’s organ music can thunder, dance, pray, and astonish, often within the span of a few measures. In Watson’s hands, this Sunday afternoon recital becomes both a culmination and a homecoming: a final WinterFest encounter with the composer whose imagination continues to shape everything Bach Charlotte does.

Ian Watson, Organ

Concert Duration: Approximately 70 minutes without intermission​

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