The leap from improvisation to composition

The March 2024 issue of Het Orgel was devoted to improvisation. It included a contribution by Jean-Pierre Leguay, the now 86-year-old organist emeritus of Notre-Dame in Paris. The organ teachers at Codarts Conservatoire in Rotterdam, Christian Schmitt and Zuzana Ferjenčíková, organised a masterclass with Maestro Leguay, at which current and former students of Codarts and German conservatoires could perform both improvisations and repertoire. This followed a recital at the Bamberg Philharmonie, where Leguay and Ferjenčíková performed both repertoire and four-handed improvisations on organ and piano.