Piccolo Spoleto L’Organo Series

09/05/2026

ALEXANDER STRAUS-FAUSTO
This young artist brings a brilliant resume, blazing virtuosity, and a wealth of imagination to his recital on the newly restored organ at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church. A recent Yale graduate, he will also include several of his trademark orchestral transcriptions in his program.
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
10:00 AM 11:00 AM
First (Scots) Presbyterian Church

09/05/2026

JACOB CARL TAYLOR
Bringing French organ music by Dupre, De Grigny and Durufle (along with some Bach) to the rich sounds of Charleston’s most French-style organ, Dr. Taylor, now hailing from Alabama, holds degrees from Eastman, Indiana U, and Wheaton College. His program includes the gorgeously dreamy Prelude, Fugue and Variation of César Franck, and concludes with the seldom heard Entrée, Canzona, and Sortie of Marcel Dupre

Wednesday, May 27, 2026
10:00 AM 11:00 AM
St. John the Baptist

01/05/2026

L'ORGANO DRAWS NEAR! And as a unique centerpiece this year, an exciting and fun event! Don't miss it!!
For more info on the whole series, go to: lorganocharleston.org

14/02/2026

Great news! Our first blog post of the New Year, on our wonderful new website, brings exciting details of the dazzling team of performers selected to appear in the Holy City, Charleston, SC, May 25th to June 5th 2026, and on which wonderful organ they are playing.
READ ALL ABAHT IT, as they used to say... :-)

What an amazing lineup our new Committee Chair, Nick Quardokus, and his helpers have assembled for L’Organo 2026 FREE Organ Concerts: performers, instruments, and repertoire! Join us in Charleston for the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.

08/06/2025

Sara Carlson, from Bemidji in far-North Minnesota, playerd a splendid recital this time last week at the beautiful St. Clare of Assisi church on Daniel Island, with music of Dupre, Delande, Firmin Swinnen, Aaron Miller, and many others, as part of the L’Organo series of Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston, SC. A review of her recital, along with all the others in the series of 12, will be posted before the end of the month on the Charleston AGO website — check it out!

05/06/2025

Mussorgsky’s monumental “Pictures at an Exhibition” will be an appropriately spectacular closer to the 2025 L’Organo series of FREE concerts, as played on the grand organ of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church (405 King St, Charleston SC) by Thomas Heidenreich of Michigan at 10 am on Friday, June 6th. He begins his program with the festive setting of “A Mighty Fortress” by seventeenth-century master Michael Praetorius.

05/06/2025

Rosalind Mohnsen, doyenne of Boston organists, presents a New England-themed FREE L’Organo recital at 10 am on Thursday June 5th, at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul, 126 Coming St. (NB: there is free parking in the lot on the left; but don’t try and turn into it from the right lane, which has caused some problems; Coming St is one-way North.) She plays the lovely Gabriel Kney organ installed by Ben Hutto when he was organist there in the 1970’s (and was a founding spirit of L’Organo), in music of Henry Dunham, Gustin Wright, and H. Alexander Matthews, as well as Vierne, Richard Purvis, Morton Gould and Zsolt Gardonyi.

04/06/2025

Eddie Zheng, just graduated from Juilliard, brings his virtuosity once again to L’Organo to give a complete performance of the ever-popular 5th Organ Symphony of Widor - ending, yes, with THE Toccata! - on the ooh-la-la French-style instrument at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, in its glorious acoustic, at 10 am on Wednesday June 4th. This FREE concert begins with the evocative Cortège and Litany of Marcel Dupre.

02/06/2025

Canadian/US partnership: Brennan Szafron, born and raised North of the border, now teaching in Spartanburg, SC, performs American and Canadian works (along with Bach and Widor) for the first FREE recital of this L’Organo season on the mighty instrument at St. Matthew’s Lutheran church at Marion Square; 10 am Tuesday June 3rd.

02/06/2025

Rich Romantic Rheinberger starts Eastman student’s FREE recital on the splendidly English sounds of the Kenneth Jones tracker organ at St. Michael’s Church downtown, at 10 am on Monday morning, June 2nd. David Kraft’s other selections are by Franck, Langlais, Widor, Nagi Hakim, and Bach.

31/05/2025

CHANGE OF VENUE!! By now hopefully most people know that Laura Smith’s L’Organo recital has had to be moved, owing to rain damage a fortnight ago. Her program is still at the scheduled time of 3 pm Saturday May 31st, but now at John Wesley United Methodist Church, 626 Savannah Highway. We’re very grateful to the church, and to Laura for her flexibility. And yes, she’s still going to play John Williams’s “Star Wars Medley” — and we have sourced an adjustable organ bench so that she can be really comfortable at that console!!