Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields

Sergio de Pieri

Born in Treviso, Italy, well-known organist Sergio de Pieri emigrated to Australia in the 1960s and was chiefly responsible for reviving local interest in the organ and its true repertoire. He was organist at the Basilica of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, Chief Study Organ Lecturer at the University of Melbourne and still regularly performs throughout Australia, Europe, USA and Canada.

Laura Cantagalli

Laura Cantagalli was born in Florence and studied music at the Venice Conservatoire including organ studies with Sergio de Pieri. She completed further studies at the Geneva Conservatoire, organ with Lionel Rogg and vocal studies. Laura is now organist at the Eglise Reformee de Courtelarty, one of the rare churches that has two organs the same size.

Rosalie Bonighton

Rosalie Bonighton was employed as a 'house composer' by music publishers Kevin Mayhew, Ltd (UK), and had an extensive list of publications with them. She was also the organist of St. John's Anglican Church, Soldiers Hill, Ballarat.

John O'Donnell

John O’Donnell, Director of Ensemble Gombert, studied at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music in Sydney and at the University of Durham. After performing Bach’s complete organ works in 1974, he built an international reputation as an organist and harpsichordist.

Ryoko Mori

Ryoko Mori was born in Tokyo, Japan. From an early age she studied piano and soon developed an interest in the organ. She studied organ at Ferris University, and the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. She also completed further studies at Baylor University, in Dallas, Texas.

Rhys Boak

Rhys Boak is a Melbourne organist and accompanist, active as a recitalist on historic instruments and with Australian choirs. He is organist and manager of music at St Michael's Church, Melbourne.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer and organist of the late Baroque. His sacred and secular music for choir, orchestra, organ and solo instruments remains among the foundations of the Western concert and church repertory.

Marco Enrico Bossi

Marco Enrico Bossi (1861–1925) was an Italian organist, composer, improviser and teacher, best known for his organ music and for the lasting standards he set for organ study in Italy.

Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707) was a Danish-born organist and composer of the middle Baroque, long based at Lübeck. His organ works remain central to the standard repertoire.

César Franck

César Franck’s music carries the weight and colour of the Romantic organ loft into symphony, chamber music and song. The Violin Sonata, Symphony in D minor, organ Chorales and Pièce héroïque, and the serene Panis angelicus remain central to the repertoire he shaped.

Jean Langlais

Jean Langlais wrote organ and sacred choral music of rich, complex harmony and overlapping modes, shot through with an earthy Celtic folkiness that sits beside Franck, Tournemire and the mid-century French school.

Felix Mendelssohn

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. His works include symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and chamber music.

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger composed sacred choral works and a large organ repertoire. His music joins Romantic warmth with clear counterpoint, from the motet Abendlied to sonatas and intermezzos for the instrument.

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann (1810–1856) was a German composer and music critic of the early Romantic era. His piano works and songs remain among the most enduring of the period.

Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Sigfrid Karg-Elert wrote extensively for organ and harmonium in a late-Romantic vein touched by impressionism and expressionism. His chorale preludes and atmospheric pieces such as Harmonies du Soir still turn up on recital programmes.

Georg Muffat

Giovanni Battista Pescetti