Music to Renew and Inspire

by Paolo Bordignon on March 18, 2022

The weeks ahead will be filled with musical offerings at St. Bart’s, both in worship and in concert. These events include the moving and beautiful liturgies of Holy Week, and the triumph of Easter, as well as a special Holy Week concert, our next organ recital, and St. Bartholomew’s Choir appearing on PBS Great Performances.

This Sunday at 4pm, I have the joy of offering a recital of organ music by the greatest composer for the instrument: Bach. St. Bart’s has a long tradition of free organ recitals in Lent and we’re thrilled to present these again. A Holy Week concert also returns on Monday, April 11 with François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres for 2 sopranos, harpsichord, and viola da gamba. Our Chapel is an ideal venue for this piece, which is at the pinnacle of Baroque vocal repertoire. Don’t miss it. Full program and ticketing information here.

Then next Sunday at 11am, as a part of our Choral Feast series, St. Bartholomew’s Choir will offer Ralph Vaughan Williams' transcendently beautiful and serene Mass in G Minor.

Just before Holy Week, PBS Great Performances will air its episode of Now Hear This about composer Amy Beach on Friday, April 8. The show visited the organ at St. Bart’s and filmed St. Bartholomew’s Choir singing repertoire by Beach, who composed much of her sacred music for the parish, her spiritual home for many years.

At the center of what we do is liturgy, including the extraordinary music brought to us in Lent, Holy Week, and the great Easter Triduum. There are so many wonderful reasons to come to St. Bart’s for renewal and refreshment, and to let great music restore and inspire us. I hope you can join us.

Paolo

About the Author

Paolo Bordignon

Paolo Bordignon is Organist & Choirmaster of St. Bartholomew’s Church and harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic. He previously served St. Bart’s as Associate Director of Music and Director of the Choristers for eight years.

In 2019-20, he performed with Camerata Pacifica, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the MET Orchestra Musicians, the All-Star Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Festival appearances include Aspen, Bard, Bridgehampton, Grand Tetons, Mostly Mozart, and Palm Beach, as well as New York Fashion Week. He has collaborated with Renée Fleming, Sir James Galway, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Midori, and Itzhak Perlman. He has appeared on NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, NPR, the CBC, and on Korean and Japanese national television.

Paolo has performed organ recitals at venues such as St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and St. Eustache in Paris, and he has been a frequent recitalist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including a 10-recital residency.

Born of Italian heritage, Paolo’s early musical training was at St. Michael’s Cathedral Choir School in Toronto. He studied at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music before earning a doctorate from the Juilliard School. He is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

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