INTERVIEW: Promoting peace in Ukraine with organ music
Photo: Gail Archer will play a “Concert for Peace” at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Berger / Provided by AMT PR with permission.
Art has a unique way of offering necessary commentary on current events and global conflicts. Concerts, movies, TV shows, poetry and literature bring stinging awareness and sometimes harsh reality to the consuming public about the tragedies of war and strife in contemporary times. Just as resoundingly, art can showcase cultural beauty, a powerful tool that serves as a counterpoint to clouds of darkness. Although it might not seem like an obvious medium, organ music can be included amongst the variety of artistic responses to distressing news headlines — at least the music played by Gail Archer, a Harriman Institute professor at Columbia University and founder of Musforum, an international network of women organists.
Archer has been traveling to Eastern Europe for more than a decade, and she has become fascinated by the organ literature of the various countries in this part of the world. Years ago she began a project of recording music from Russia, Ukraine and Poland, and her musical expertise in the area is now being called upon during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. To address the war, Archer will offer a “Concert for Peace” on Thursday, Jan. 19 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. On the program that evening will be selections from Archer’s recent recordings, including works by Ukrainian and Russian composers.
“I have been recording Eastern European organ music for some time,” Archer said in a recent phone interview. “I have been traveling in Eastern Europe — Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech and Slovak republics, Hungary, the little countries in the north, Latvia, Lithuania and so forth — so I became interested in the organ music out there, which is not well known in Western Europe or in the United States. So in 2017, I recorded a CD called A Russian Journey because I had been out there playing concerts in Russia and asked my colleagues, ‘What is the organ literature out here? There are organs. Who is composing music for it?’ So I recorded a CD of their music first, and then I recorded a Ukrainian CD, Chernivtsi, which I recorded in the city of Chernivtsi. This is in the western part of Ukraine and fortunately has not been bombed to date, and then just last year I recorded a Polish CD called Cantius. St. John Cantius is a Polish saint, and there is a very large church in Chicago on Carpenter Street, St. John Cantius. And they have a great organ, a wonderful Casavant, so I recorded the Polish CD there in 2020.”
Archer said she is fascinated by Eastern European organ literature, especially because it’s not well known to American audiences. Ever since she began this recording project, a colleague of hers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral has been conducting a number of interviews to question the organist about her education and expertise.
“She knows that I’m interested in Eastern Europe, so she and I started talking about what we might do in the new year to draw attention to this terrible tragedy in Eastern Europe,” Archer said. “So we both came up with the idea, and so I’m playing a half Russian program and half Ukrainian program on Jan. 19. And we’re just advertising it as a ‘Concert for Peace.’ We want to do something positive in the midst of this tragedy and draw attention to the need for the end of the violence.”
Archer’s travels in Eastern Europe began in earnest in 2010. When she arrived, she found cultures that were tremendously interested in choir and organ music. In fact, she was pleasantly surprised to find dedicated audiences for the organ, which is not always the case in the United States.
“When you play an organ concert in Eastern Europe, the church or the concert hall is filled to capacity,” she said. “This is not true in Western Europe, and it’s not true in the United States. So I was in awe of the knowledge that the general public has about organ music and how interested they are in this instrument and in its literature, so I said, well, we need to spread the word here.”
Archer’s colleagues at Columbia University noted her expanding interests and elected her to join the Harriman Institute in 2017. At this academic institution, she works alongside political scientists, language experts and professors in the arts, all of them with a multidisciplinary fascination in Russian, Eurasian and East European studies.
“So I’m on the executive board of Harriman now with scholars who are deeply invested in the history and culture of Eastern Europe, so it’s by [this] interest that led to lots of good things,” said Archer, who, among other accomplishments, was the first American woman to play the complete works of Olivier Messiaen for the centennial of the composer’s birth in 2008, according to her biography. “I’ve been able to do charity concerts in this last year. I played in Philadelphia at the Ukrainian Cathedral and up in Winnipeg, Canada, for a Canadian foundation that was raising money for Ukrainian relief. I gave a Ukrainian concert at Columbia University last year, so I’ve been able to raise awareness and also raise money for Caritas, which is a Roman Catholic charity working in Poland with Ukrainian refugees. So my interest in Eastern European music has allowed me to do a lot of good for others.”
When Archer travels to Eastern Europe, she appreciates that her instrument of choice can be found in organ halls run by the local philharmonic. Poland, with its long Roman Catholic tradition, has many organs in churches, but in other countries in the region, where the Eastern Orthodox Church is the predominant religious faith, organs are often found in music halls.
“So there’ll be there a main organ in the main hall for the orchestra concerts, and then a chamber music hall for string quartets or small vocal recitals, violin recitals, and the organ will be there in the chamber music hall,” she said. “So the music I’m playing at St. Patrick’s is secular.”
The conflict in Ukraine has been difficult for Archer. She has many friends and acquaintances in the country who are now facing an uncertain future. This “Concert for Peace” will hopefully allow her passion for the region to inspire others to learn about the cultural richness of Ukraine and nearby countries.
“It has been terrible, but I’m delighted to report that I heard from my Ukrainian friends over this Christmas holiday,” Archer said. “They’re alive. They’re well. They’re surviving.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Concert for Peace, performed by Gail Archer, will take place Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Click here for more information. Admission is free. Donations are accepted. Audience members can also watch a livestream here.
