The yearly ORGANIX music festival in Toronto featuring the grand pipe organ presents its sixth season in May. From May 2 through to May 30, 2011, organ enthusiasts will be thoroughly treated to concerts, events and personalities at several venues throughout the city.  ORGANIX was created by William O’Meara and Gordon Mansell in 2006 to build a new audience for the organ. Among those who look forward to May and ORGANIX, there is an excitement of hearing fine instruments and brilliant musicians perform rarely heard repertoire. There is an increasing audience each year, all of whom gain a heightened awareness of the organ and its vast solo or ensemble repertoire. The audience experiences unique music-making at a very high level, all within architecturally stimulating and impressive buildings. It is a total experience of space and sound, a combination ideally suited for presenting the King of Instruments.

Most ORGANIX concerts are free (a suggested $10 donation is welcomed). The two Friday evening concerts do have a general admittance price. However, we offer these free to those 18 years of age and younger!

Consider the Monday lunch-time series at Holy Trinity Church – Eaton Centre. This year we have programmed a variety of sounds from brass and organ (Andrew Adair and the ORGANIX BRASS ENSEMBLE, May 2), jazz organ (Alison Clark, May 9), Mexican organ repertoire (David Troiano, May 16), an advanced performance student (Sarah Svendsen, May 23) and strings and organ (Paul Jenkins, Larry Beckwith and the Unionville H.S. String Ensemble, May 30). We have added two Thursday noon concerts (Aaron Tan, May 19 & David Palmer, May 26) at Metropolitan United Church, Canada’s largest pipe organ. Our evening performances include a theatre organ concert in collaboration with the Toronto Theatre Organ Society at a castle (Jonathan Ortloff, May 2), an internationally acclaimed organist from Germany at Holy Trinity (Dr. Andreas Sieling, May 6) and finally, one of Canada’s finest choirs and organist at St. Thomas Anglican Church (Dr. John Tuttle, Elizabeth Anderson and the St. Thomas Choir, May 27). This festival has a Masterclass for organists (Dr. Andreas Sieling, May 7) and is open for all to watch and enjoy. The annual Doors Open Toronto event (May 28) is a fabulous opportunity for enthusiasts, pianists and organists to bring some music and have a go at playing one of the finest tracker organs in Canada. Have a look inside the organ and see the mechanisms that help make it all work!

Because of limited seating for what will likely be a capacity audience to the two Friday concerts, order your tickets early. You may do this by mail, by phone or through our ORGANIX website. With great music-making throughout the month, don’t miss out on an ORGANIX experience, from May 2 through to May 30!

To see the concert listings go to our events page: CONCERT LISTINGS

For more information, phone 416-571-3680 or visit the ORGANIX Website, www.organixconcerts.ca