International organists Isabelle Demers and Nathan Laube will be presenting public recitals at St John’s College Chapel this autumn, completing last term’s festival marking the arrival of the 2026 organ, which features 1889 pipework by the pioneering Victorian organ builder ‘Father Willis’.
Demers, a Canadian-American, is presenting the first recital of Michaelmas Term on Saturday 17 October 2026. She has appeared in recital throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada, and is a Professor of Organ at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal.
Her programme at St John’s includes Ernest MacMillan’s Cortège Académique, Elsa Barraine’s Prélude and Fugue in G minor, Rachel Laurin’s Sweelinck Variations, Franck’s Symphony in D minor (2nd movement), and a transcription of Stravinsky’s Firebird.
Laube is a concert organist and educator from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and a Beaufort Visiting Fellow at St John’s College this term. His recital is taking place on Saturday 21 November 2026.
It will include Jongen’s Sonata Eroïca pour Grand Orgue, Vierne’s Clair de la Lune, Whitlock’s Fantasie Choral no 1 in D flat, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C sharp minor (tr Vierne), and a transcription of Liszt’s D’Après Lamartine: ‘Méditations Poétiques’.
Christopher Gray, Director of Music at St John’s College, said Demers is an ‘extraordinary virtuoso’ famous for her technique, and for playing her repertoire from memory, while Laube ‘travels the world dazzling audiences with the sheer poetry of his playing, as well as the technical brilliance’.
With four manuals and 66 stops, the Chapel’s beautiful new Harrison & Harrison Ltd organ has a distinguished pedigree, being from the same stable as the iconic instruments Willis built for, among many others, the Royal Albert Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, and Truro Cathedral.
Restored, built and installed by Durham firm Harrison & Harrison Ltd earlier this year, and celebrated during the organ festival in May, it replaced the College’s previous 1990s neo-classical Mander organ. In a review of a recital by Olivier Latry, the renowned organist of Notre Dame Cathedral, The Church Times said the organ has ‘an exemplary English Romantic voice’ that ‘stole the show’.
“Both Isabelle and Nathan are among the very finest organists in the world today, and I’m honoured that we will be welcoming them to College,” said Mr Gray. “Do come and hear artistry of the highest level on our fabulous new instrument as it continues to delight and enchant in Chapel.”
Both recitals are open to all and take place in St John’s College Chapel at 8pm. Tickets are £20 each
