For the pipe organ's inaugural concert, Brian Parks will play concert works intended to demonstrate the stylistic and expressive range of this unique instrument, including:  J.S. Bach’s monumental Prelude and Fugue in E-flat (“St. Anne”) which invokes the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past”; and three transcriptions of orchestral works arranged by the organist: John Williams’s film score to the Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve from the early 1980s (including different villains’ motifs, the love theme, and the iconic title music); Maurice Ravel’s Bolero; and Dimitri Shostakovich’s haunting second movement from his Second Piano Concerto.

Mr. Parks will also collaborate with an ensemble comprised of members of the Atlanta Youth Symphony and Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras on a G. F. Handel organ concerto, highlighting the organ’s potential in chamber settings.

Finally, Mr. Parks will deploy Opus 39’s capacity to be a powerful tool for newly composed music. He will play an original piece written as a tribute to one of his teachers, the late Alvin Lucier (1931-2021). This concert will weave together musics  spanning the 17th-21st centuries, something possible thanks to the ingenuity, craftsmanship, and artistry of its builders, the Glatter-Götz firm of Pfullendorf, Germany. Thanks be to God.