Russian organ virtuoso Daria Burlak will make her Minnesota debut in a recital at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
The free recital is sponsored by the university’s Music Department and is the next performance in the department’s Organ Artist Series. The events calendar on Minnesota Public Radio’s website described Burlak’s recital as “a '!!wow!!' program for connoisseurs ... a rare, exotic treat.”
Daria Burlak
Her program will feature modern music from the French symphonic organ school, including works by Alain, Messiaen, Pierné, Tournemire and Florentz.
A rising star in the organ world, Daria Burlak was born in 1986 in Vladivostok, Russia. A specialist in solo and chamber music piano performance, as well as organ performance, Burlak began piano lessons as a youngster in Moscow. She later studied at the Cologne Conservatory of Music where she received undergraduate and graduate degrees in organ and piano performance.
While this marks Burlak’s first tour in the United States, she has given piano and organ recitals in Germany, France, Holland, Sweden, Lithuania and Russia. She performed several times in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall and at international festivals such as the Internationale Orgelwoche Nürnberg – Musica Sacra and the Orgelfestival Limburg. Her performances have been broadcast by Radio France, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Radio of Russia. Burlak won the sixth International Mikael Tariverdiev Organ Competition and in 2007 was the youngest soloist at the International Organ Competition Ville de Paris.
St. Thomas’ chapel organ was installed in 1987 thanks to a donation from alumnus Robert Asmuth. Built by Gabriel Kney of London, Ontario, the organ is a three-manual instrument with 41 stops of 56 ranks, with a total of 2,787 pipes. It is used for worship, teaching and concerts.
Its dedicatory recital was played by Swedish organist Hans Fagius on Sept. 20, 1987. Since then, the university’s Organ Artist Recital Series has become one of the premier pipe-organ concert series in the Twin Cities.
The Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas is located on the eastern side of the university’s campus, near the intersection of Cleveland and Laurel avenues. For more information call (651) 962-5850 or visit the Music Department’s website.
