CONCERT ORGANIST
As an internationally sought-after concert organist, Frank has performed in distinguished German churches, as well as played some of the finest organs in the world. Alongside close encounters with iconic instruments such as St. Sulpice in Paris, Riga Cathedral and the Mormon Tabernacle Salt Lake City, his career features an impressive instrumental versatility gained through concert tours to France, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Russia, India, Israel, South America and the USA.
Frank Scheffler’s solo concert career spans an unusually large repertory across all musical periods, with particular emphasis on the entire body of organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Mozart’s organ works, the entire body of organ works by Maurice Duruflé, as well as the great symphonic organ works of the Romantic period. An intense involvement with classical Modernism has led him to performing numerous organ cycles of organ works by Olivier Messiaen and a large part of the organ works by Jehan Alain. Frank’s repertoire is enhanced by world premieres of contemporary works composed for him by Georg Wötzer (Stuttgart) and Franklin D. Ashdown (USA).
As a solo organist, Frank Scheffler has played with numerous symphony orchestras, performing organ concerts by Rheinberger, Poulenc and Guilmant. The concert-going public also knows him as the accompanist of the solo trombonist of the Hessischer Rundfunk public broadcaster, Prof. Oliver Siefert, as well as of the ‘Queen of Klezmer’ Irith Gabriely. Over his twenty years as the organist of Bad Nauheim’s Dankeskirche he has performed for a quarter of a million people. Add to this live recordings for television and radio, amongst them the musical arrangement of the inaugural service in honor of church president Dr. Volker Jung, watched by an audience of some 100,000 people. Several CD recordings illustrate Frank’s musical career, with his recording of the Reubke sonata receiving online accolades as ‘Best Organ CD 2002’. In 1998, Frank was awarded a prize at the International Organ Week Nuremberg, one of the most important German organ competitions, and in 2012 he was chosen as the ‘Featured Artist’ of the American Guild of Organists (AGO).
COMING SOON
SELECTION OF GUEST ORGANIST CONCERTS
| 2019 | Ring Church Wiesbaden Concert featuring Franz Liszt ‘Ad nos’ Concert playing the new Klais organ; master class at the University performing works by Reger (incl. the choral fantasy ‘A Mighty Fortress’) |
| 2018 |
University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar Concert as part of the IPV New Music Symposium, Protestant Christ church in Lima, Peru St. Peter’s Church Giessen |
| 2017 |
St. John’s Church Giessen |
| 2015 | Monastery Church Alpirsbach Night of Organ Music, playing works by Bruhns, Franck and Duruflé (Suite op. 5) on the Winterhalter organ, with light installations and transportation/cushioning of the organ (due to restrictions in the listed church) |
| 2014 | Frauenkirche Dresden Concert playing the Kern organ as part of the ‘Dresden Organ Cycle’, with works by Bach, Vierne (2nd Symphony) and Messiaen |
| 2013 | House of Culture St. Petersburg/Russia Concert forming part of a cultural exchange as organist and conductor performing works by Bach, Mendelssohn and Russian composers, by invitation of Prof. Olga Stupnewa and the Rozhdestvo Choir |
| 2012 | St. Gertraud’s Church Frankfurt/Oder Concert playing works by Bach and Reger (op. 46) on the Sauer Organ |
| 2012 | Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square Salt Lake City/Utah/USA Organ concert by invitation of the American Guild of organists (AGO): ‘Featured Artist’ as part of ‘Super Saturday’, performing works by Bach, Schumann, Reubke |
| 2012 | University of Utah, School of Music Salt Lake City/Utah/USA Concert playing works by Bach, Widor (6th Symphony) and Dennerlein on the Lively Fulcher Organ, by invitation of the School of Music’s Alexander Schreiner Organ Endowment |
| 2011 | St. Boniface Church Giessen Solo organist at the fundraising concert for the New Eule organ, organ concert by Poulenc, ‘Organ symphony by Saint-Saens, amongst others |
| 2010 | Organ concert playing works by Flemish Baroque composers on the historic church organ, dating from 1717 |
| 2009 | Municipal Church Friedberg Induction of the President of the Protestant Church Hessen/Nassau, arrangement of the organ part at the simultaneous live television public service broadcast by HR and ZDF, watched by an audience of some 100,000 |
| 2007 | Jacoby Church Göttingen Concert playing works by Raison and Widor as part of the Organ Week celebrating the re-inauguration of the Ott Organ |
| 2006 | Frauenkirche Dresden Concert playing the Kern Organ during the ‘Dresden Bach Cycle in front of a 2,000-strong audience in this iconic church razed to the ground by Allied bombs during WWII |
| 2004 | Shimla Cathedral/India Baroque music concert as part of a church twinning exchange with the diocese of Amritsar/Northern India |
| 2003 | Auditorium of the Brigham Young University Provo/Utah/USA Concert by invitation of Prof. Doug Bush, featuring works by Bach, Petr Eben, Franck, Widor |
| 2002 | St. Sulpice Paris/France Concert on the Cavaille-Coll organ, playing works by Mendelssohn and Schumann |
| 2001 |
Riga Cathedral/Lavia Tallinn Cathedral/Estonia |
| 2000 | Johann Sebastian Bach International Organ Festival Warsaw/Poland Concert of works by J.S. Bach |
| 1998 | St. Clara Church Basle/Switzerland Organ concert playing works by Maurice Duruflé & Jehan Alain |
| 1997 | Auditorium of the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart Concert playing Reger’s op. 57 ‘Inferno’ & world-premiere of Gegenstück (Counterpiece) by composer Georg Wötzer |
| 1996 | Winchester Cathedral/England Concert playing works by Bach & Vivaldi, also Widor’s 2nd Symphony |
| 1995 | St George’s Church Stuttgart German premiere of Jean Guillou’s ‘Rhetoric of Fire’ as part of the Church Music B examination |
