PROGRAM

Chaconne in E Minor, BuxWV 160
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
orchestrated by Carlos Chávez
re-transcribed for Organ Solo by AJE

Flower Duet, from Lakmé
Léo Delibes (1836-1891)
transcribed for Flugelhorn & Organ by AJE

The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship, from Scheherazade
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
transcribed for Organ Duet by AJE

Vilja Leid, from The Merry Widow
Franz Lehár (1870-1948)
transcribed for Flugelhorn & Organ by AJE

Carillon de Westminster, from 24 Pieces de Fantasie
Louis Vierne (1870-1937) 

Nessun Dorma, from Turandot
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
transcribed for Flugelhorn & Organ by AJE

From Pines of Rome
     iv. Pines of the Appian Way
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
transcribed for Organ Duet by AJE

Copies of DUO, the newest CD release by the Conte-Ennis Duo, recorded on the Wanamaker Organ and featuring much of the repertoire on today’s program, are available at the back of the Grand Court after today’s concert, and online from Raven Records.

Bios

Peter Richard Conte is an organist whose nearly-unparalleled technical facility, brilliant ear for tonal color, and innovative programming style have made him one of the most sought after “orchestral” organists of this era. In 1989, he was appointed Wanamaker Grand Court Organist, the fourth person to hold that title since the organ first played in 1911. Mr. Conte is also Principal Organist of Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, and, since 1991, Choirmaster and Organist of Saint Clement’s Church, Philadelphia, where he directs an 18-voice professional choir in an extensive music program in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. 

Mr. Conte is highly regarded as a skillful performer and arranger of organ transcriptions.  He has been featured several times on National Public Radio and on ABC television's "Good Morning America" and “World News Tonight.”  For eleven seasons, his monthly radio show: “The Wanamaker Organ Hour”, aired on Temple University Radio (WRTI). Mr. Conte performs extensively throughout the United States and Canada under the management of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, and has appeared as a featured artist at American Guild of Organists’ National and Regional Conventions.  He has performed and recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra, including an historic recording of Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante in the Wanamaker Grand Court. 

Peter Richard Conte has served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Organ at Rider University's Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ, where he taught Organ Improvisation.  He is the 2008 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington.   In 2013, the Philadelphia Music Alliance honored him with a bronze plaque on the Avenue of the Arts’ Walk of Fame.  His numerous recordings appear on the Gothic, Raven, JAV, ProOrgano, DORIAN and DTR labels.

Andrew Ennis has quickly gained wide recognition throughout Philadelphia and the East Coast as a trumpeter, flugelhornist, organist, music educator, and church musician.  He began his trumpet studies at age eight, and is a graduate of Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in instrumental music education, specializing in trumpet. His teachers have included David Bilger (longtime principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra) and Bryan Appleby-Wineberg (professor of trumpet at Rowan University). He serves as organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden, NJ since 2016 and has been a music educator for the past 12 years. He is now transitioning his career to open a tennis pro shop to serve the Southern New Jersey area.

Mr. Ennis appears in duo performances as both flugelhornist and duo organist with Peter Richard Conte throughout the country, including on the Wanamaker Organ; other duo performances include Shreveport, Hanover, Boston, Chicago, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Woolsey Hall at Yale University, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and the Spreckles Pavilion in San Diego. 

Mr. Conte and Mr. Ennis released their first CD, My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice, on the GOTHIC label, the first-ever commercial album to exclusively feature music for flugelhorn and organ. That album received a Critics’ Choice Award from the American Record Guide. As a duo organist, Mr. Ennis also arranges and performs with Peter Conte large-scale transcriptions of symphonic works such as Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and Stravinsky’s Round Dance of the Princesses from The Firebird. Mr. Ennis and Mr. Conte now have a second album entitled ‘Duo’, released on the Raven label featuring additional music for flugel and organ along with organ four hands.