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S. Wayne Foster, organist 
S. WAYNE FOSTER, ORGANIST Stewart Wayne Foster is the winner of the first Dallas International Organ Competition in 1997, held at the Meyerson Symphony Center, which carried the largest prize ever awarded to an organist competitor. Not only did an international panel of distinguished judges award Mr. Foster the top prize, but the capacity audience in attendance also voted to give Mr. Foster the “Prize of the Audience.” Other prizes awarded to Mr. Foster include: first place in the Undergraduate Organ Playing Competition sponsored by First Presbyterian Church in Ottumwa, Iowa in 1986; winner of the American Guild of Organists’ Regional Competition in Augusta, Georgia in 1987; second place in the Open Organ Competition in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1987; finalist in the 1988 American Guild of Organists’ National Organ Playing Competition; and first prize in the William Hall Pipe Organ Competition held in San Antonio in 1996. In 1990, Mr. Foster was awarded admission to L’École Normale Supérieure de Musique de Paris. Out of nine applicants of different nationalities, Mr. Foster was chosen to occupy one of the two spaces available during the 1990-91 academic year and was admitted to the class of Suzanne Chaisemartin, herself a student and disciple of Marcel Dupré. After a year’s study he received the highly-coveted Diplôme de Concertiste by playing a major recital in the Church of St. Augustine in Paris after which the jury awarded Mr. Foster the Premier Prix de Virtuosité. From 1991–1995, Mr. Foster performed regularly in Paris and the French provinces. During his time in Paris he was Assistant Organist of the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. In 1995, Stewart Wayne Foster returned to the United States to pursue a Master’s degree in harpsichord and early music at the University of North Texas in Denton, where he studied with Dr. Lenora McCroskey. As a winner of the Dallas Competition, Mr. Foster has been featured as orchestral soloist and solo recitalist in numerous appearances in concert halls and churches throughout the United States. He performed the world premiere of “Lux Perpetua” by the Pulitzer Prize winning composer Samuel Adler with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as part of his competition prize. In July 1999, he performed a solo recital to great critical acclaim in Chartres Cathedral as part of the International Organ Festival held there every summer. His first CD recording of French Symphonic Organ Literature was released in January 2000 on the Towerhill label. In addition to his career as recitalist, Mr. Foster is Organist in Residence at First Congregational Church, Los Angeles.
Program Notes Brian Sawyers composed “Rising Sun” in 1999 in response to a request made by his friend, Peter Biachhi, who was at that time an assistant organist at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. The result is an electrifying work that combines innovative textures and rhythms in a free-form style. Sawyers derived much inspiration for this work from the Hazel Wright Memorial Organ of the Crystal Cathedral, for which he is a curator. He composed “Rising Sun” with a large organ in mind, but also believes the work can be successfully performed on smaller instruments as well. The title also reflects the imagery of the Crystal Cathedral bathed in varying degrees of sunlight throughout the day. The rhythmic impetus of “Rising Sun” is a lilting Scottish dance motive, and the only recognizable theme is that of the Westminster Chimes, heard in fragments throughout. For more information about Brian Sawyers and his organ music, contact sun@razzody.com. In this 300th anniversary year of Dietrich Buxtehude, we can find many reasons to celebrate the life of a truly inventive composer that go beyond the decisive influence he wielded on the young Johann Sebastian Bach. His numerous preludes and toccatas are studies in contrast, even though they all exhibit the same musical characteristics of the early Toccata—rhapsodic, improvisatory free sections mixed with fugal passages. What could easily become contrived is instead molded into musical drama by his ability to weave these two elements together in unexpected ways. Praeludium in G Minor, BuxWV 149 undeniably counts as one of his greatest masterpieces. Its thematic unity, formal rigor, and virtuosic imagination would suggest a work from his later years. Prelude and Fugue on Sine Nomine also pairs free, rhapsodic sections with strict fugal writing. The tune Sine Nomine is undoubtedly the most widely sung tune of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) and is most strongly connected with the hymn “For All The Saints” by William Walsham How (1823-1897). A native of Kennewick, Washington, Bruce Neswick holds degrees from Pacific Lutheran University (graduating magna cum laude) and the Yale University School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music. A fellow of the American Guild of Organists, Mr. Neswick has served the guild as a chapter dean, regional coordinator of education, member of the national nominating board and the national improvisation competition and as a convention performer. He is under management with Philip Truckenbrod Concert Artists and currently serves as Canon Precentor for the Episcopal Cathedral in Atlanta, Georgia. The eight organ sonatas of Alexandre Guilmant occupy an important place in French Symphonic organ repertoire. What sets them apart from the symphonies of Widor and Vierne, and the larger works of Franck, is Guilmant’s avowed neo-classicism at a time when the organ world around him seemed destined to forget the past. Through his own performances and his numerous editions, he promoted the music of Gabrieli, Palestrina, Merulo, Frescobaldi, Byrd, Scheidt, Muffat, Froberger, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Bach, Dandrieu, and Clérambault. This musicological affinity is seen in Guilmant’s compositional style by his choice to write in the genre of the sonata or classical suite, and often avoiding the orchestral textures favored by Widor and Franck. The Fifth Sonata in C Minor, op. 80, was written in 1894, performed by the composer for the inauguration of the Schola Cantorum organ in 1902, and is generally regarded as one of his most successful compositions. SWF, 2007
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