Fun Facts About Dean Billmeyer’s Holiday Organ Recital

Happy Anniversary! Dean Billmeyer has been a faculty member at the University of Minnesota for 40 years. He has established himself as one of the most highly respected teachers in the Midwest teaching courses in keyboard curriculum including Organ Literature and History, Continuo Realization, and Advanced Keyboard Skills.

Seems like old times. Some of the works you will hear in this program were the last pieces performed on the former Northrop stage—by Dean Billmeyer—before it was closed for renovation in 2011.

Be our guest ... Throughout the last 20 seasons, Billmeyer has appeared regularly as a guest artist with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His 2003 recording of Dominick Argento’s A Toccata of Galuppi’s with the Dale Warland Singers received a Grammy nomination.

Honoring the Winter Solstice. In addition to featuring holiday music from France and Germany, this program also references the themes of light and darkness with music by Max Reger and Alexandre Guilmant.

Personal connection. The program will include a work by Max Reger, a composer who Billmeyer has researched as part of his significant contributions in the field of organ. In 2016, Billmeyer annotated a volume of introductory organ works by Reger.