Organ concert at Sainte-Catherine

Jean-David Waeber, organist and choirmaster at Sion Cathedral, gives an organ concert at Sainte-Catherine Church in Sierre.

It is on the occasion of his own birthday that the professional musician is offering this concert, as a gesture of gratitude to the music lovers of the Valais and his friends.

The programme focuses on Italy and the influence of its musicians in Germany during the Baroque period. The concert will open with two seventeenth-century pieces in a nod to the occasion: by Andrea Gabrieli, a piece on the song "Frais et Gaillard", and by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelin.
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck's famous variations on Mein junges Leben hat ein End. Johann Gottfried Walther, Johann Sebastian Bach's cousin, will be performing one of the organ concertos written on the model of the Italian masters. Two pieces by Bach also underline these influences: the famous Toccata, Adagio and Fugue BWV 564 and the lesser-known (but sublime) Aria variata alla maniera italiana BWV 989, which allows us to discover the various details of the organ. The programme closes with a later Italian piece from the early Romantic period: the Sinfonia col tanto applaudito inno populare by Padre Davide Maria da Bergamo (1791-1863). This piece, built around the German national anthem, is written in an operatic style that will underline the festive dimension of the event.

Jean-David Waeber studied organ with Jean-François Vaucher at the Conservatoire de Lausanne and then with Maurizio Croci at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne, while also studying literature at the University of Fribourg. After obtaining a Bachelor's degree and then a Master's degree in concert performance, he went on to perfect his early music studies at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan, studying mainly with Lorenzo Ghielmi. He obtained a diploma there. He has also attended
masterclasses in Switzerland and abroad. He also holds diplomas in fields related to organ music, such as singing, improvisation and choral conducting. He perfected his skills in choral conducting with Markus Utz at the Zurich University of the Arts. Jean-David Waeber regularly performs chamber music on the harpsichord and organ, and plays regularly with orchestras (Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre de Chambre de Fribourg, Ensemble Valéik, Orchestra della Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, etc.). As choirmaster of Sion Cathedral, he conducts a wide repertoire every month, ranging from Gregorian chant to his own compositions.