Music Prof James Kosnik to Perform Organ Recital at Harvard University

Kosnik has been on the ODU music faculty since 1982. Photo by Chuck Thomas

Old Dominion music professor James W. Kosnik will perform an organ recital at Harvard University on Nov. 21.

The recital, on the iconic university's Flentrop organ, is part of the Harvard Organ Society's Thursday Lunchtime Recital Series. Performers listed on the fall 2013 performance calendar hail from across the country and as far away as Cologne, Germany.

Kosnik will perform four selections, including "Prelude & Toccata on Veni Emmanuel," a pipe organ composition by Adolphus Hailstork, Eminent Professor of composition in ODU's music department.

"It is a thrill for me to showcase the talent and achievements of my Old Dominion colleagues," Kosnik said.

Other selections to be performed by Kosnik include: "Toccata II in D Minor," by Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667); "Piece d'orgue," BMV 572, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1908-1992); and "Le Dieux Cache" from Livre du Saint Sacrament, by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992).

Kosnik, who joined the ODU faculty in 1982, has been a church organist for 50 years.

The Harvard Organ Society consists of a diverse group of students interested in organ music, whether they play, are actively studying the instrument or simply enjoy the music of "the king of instruments," according to the group's website.

The society was founded as a Harvard College undergraduate organization in the 1950s, but lay dormant for several years before being revived and renewed in 1995. The group sponsors the Thursday Lunchtime Recital Series as well as a "celebrity series" that includes world-famous concert organists.