International organ concerts in Freiburg Minster

This series of organ concerts has been an integral part of Freiburg's summer cultural life for over 90 years. The unique organ installation in the wonderful space of the cathedral is a magnet for outstanding international performers and organ enthusiasts from all over the world. The symbiosis of space and sound inspires and fascinates performers and listeners alike - creating very special sound experiences and thrilling concert experiences.

Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Prelude in D BuxWV 139

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Partite diverse sopra "Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig", BWV 768

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
From "Bach's Memento":
Marche du Veilleur de Nuit
Sicilienne
Mattheus Final

Jörg Josef Schwab (*1976)
Improvisation - Drei romantische Skizzen als Hommage à Wolfgang Seifen
Danse macabre
Andante cantabile
Marche impériale

Jörg Josef Schwab was born in Illertissen (Bavaria) in 1976. After organ lessons with Winfried Bönig, he studied school and church music at the Freiburg University of Music (diploma) from 1997. He completed his postgraduate studies in church music (A examination) and organ improvisation (concert examination) at the University of Music in Mainz. Further organ studies took him to the Berlin University of the Arts (diploma in organ improvisation) and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (artistic organ playing, bachelor's and master's degrees). His teachers include Klemens Schnorr, Gerhard Gnann and Jacques van Oortmerssen, as well as Alfred Müller-Kranich, Hans-Jürgen Kaiser and Wolfgang Seifen in the field of improvisation.
He has won prizes at several organ improvisation competitions (2001 in Schwäbisch Gmünd "Festival Europäische Kirchenmusik" and in Bad Homburg "Orgelfestival Fugato", 2005 in Fulda "Orgelimprovisation im Gottesdienst", KdL and ACV).
From 2006 onwards, he worked for two years as a regional cantor in the diocese of Trier, based in Oberwesel, and also taught the subjects "practical school piano playing" and "organ improvisation" as a lecturer at the Mainz University of Music.
From 2008 to 2013, Schwab was cathedral organist at Essen Cathedral. In this role, he was also the artistic director of the "International Organ Cycle" there and was responsible for the coordination of all of Essen's cathedral music in addition to the musical organization of the numerous church services.
He has been the cathedral organist in Freiburg since October 2013. His duties in the cathedral parish and in various city pastoral formats (c-punkt Münsterforum) also include directing the renowned Saturday lunchtime concert series "Orgelmusik zur Marktzeit" at Freiburg Cathedral.
Concert engagements as an organist and improviser have taken him to numerous German cathedrals and cathedral churches and repeatedly to other European countries (Italy, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary).

Copyright: Erika Ehret