Olivier Eisenmann

Olivier Eisenmann (2014)

Olivier Eisenmann (born June 7, 1940 in Zurich ) is a Swiss concert organist .

Life

Eisenmann received piano lessons from his father, the composer Will Eisenmann , and from Sava Savoff at the Lucerne Conservatory, as well as organ training from the monastery organist Eduard Kaufmann in Lucerne. At the same time, he studied German, history and Swiss history as well as German literature at the University of Zurich and graduated with a doctorate in 1971.

Then he was inland editor for the Luzerner Neuesten Nachrichten from 1971 to 1976. After that, Eisenmann taught history part-time until 2004 at the grammar school of the Zug Cantonal School. He was a founding member and board member of the International Society for New Music (IGNM), Central Switzerland section. He gave lectures on organ music at university institutes, a. a. in Herford, Sydney, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, and led masterclasses, e.g. B. at the Conservatory in Parma; also published in specialist journals and newspapers. He received the "Weggiser Rose" from the community he lived in as an award for his cultural activities.

He made concert tours first as a pianist in Switzerland (regular radio recordings with first recordings for the studios in Geneva, Basel and Bern), Germany and Israel, then as an organist: he played organ concerts in almost all European countries, in the cathedrals of Brussels, Bruges, Trier, Aachen, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Fulda, Erfurt, Dresden and Passau, in the ministers of Bonn, Ulm and Bern, Munich, Bratislava, Prague, Krakow, Ljubljana, Budapest and Lucerne (Hofkirche) and in the cathedrals of St. Gallen, Lausanne, Geneva, Barcelona, ​​Seville, Rotterdam, Bourges, Dijon, Gdansk, Warsaw, Vienna, Salzburg, Graz, Dublin, Edinburgh, Chester, York, London, Lincoln, Copenhagen, Oslo, Turku, Helsinki , Tampere and in almost all Swedish domes.

Olivier Eisenmann performed at the International Music Festival in Lucerne at the KKL and at the Festival d'Avignon as well as at international organ festivals in Rome, Naples, Verona, Turin, Palma de Mallorca and in Wittenberg, in the cathedrals of Ghent and Antwerp, in Bonn and Oliwa (Poland), Vilnius, Minsk (Belarusian State Philharmonic), Moscow, Ufa, Nizhny Novgorod, Yalta, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Montevideo and Buenos Aires as well as in the Mexican cathedrals of Morelia and Guadalajara. He also made concert tours in the USA, he played in New York, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Seattle etc., in Mexico City , Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic States. He has performed as a soloist in concerts by the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie (e.g. in the Tonhalle Zurich), the German Bach Orchestra, the Orchester de la Suisse Romande, the State Philharmonic Košice (Slovakia) and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Singapore.

Radio and television recordings were made in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Slovenia, Brazil and Singapore.

Twelve long-playing records and eleven CDs with first recordings of works by Otto Barblan, Ermend Bonnal, Hans Studer , Josef Garovi , Will Eisenmann, Linus David and Hansruedi Willisegger have been released. His sound recordings mainly contain music from the 19th and 20th centuries, especially from the (late) romantic epoch in Germany (Mendelssohn, Rheinberger, Reubke, Liszt, Reger, Karg-Elert), France (Boëllmann, Franck, Dubois, Saint -Saëns) and Scandinavia (Sandvold, Lindberg, Olsson).

He also devotes himself intensively to Swiss organ music from Forchhammer, Honegger, Frank Martin to the present day as well as literature for flute and organ. Several recordings were made with the flautist Verena Steffen, the life partner.

Eisenmann lives in Weggis (Canton Lucerne).

Discography

LPs (selection)

• Armida WE 123: "Will Eisenmann": Haiku I, op. 64 and Haiku II, op. 83 for soprano and piano. Kathrin Graf, soprano, Olivier Eisenmann, piano. Piano works: Variants, op.71, Ballade, op.78b, Ballade, op.57a, Suite of Opposites, op.51. Olivier Eisenmann, piano.
• Swiss pan 10014: "Swiss organ music": Otto Barblan (Chaconne on BACH, op. 10), Will Eisenmann (including Prelude, op. 197), Arthur Honegger, Linus David (cycle I). Olivier Eisenmann.
• Pan OV-97 (Pan-Verlag Vleugels): "Musique pour Grand Orgue": César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Will Eisenmann, Ermend Bonnal ("Paysages euskariens"). Olivier Eisenmann at the organ of the cath. Parish church Gerliswil-Lucerne.
• Pan OV-65005 (Pan-Verlag Vleugels): “Organ music of the 19th century”: Léon Boëllmann, Julius Reubke (sonata “The 94th Psalm”). Olivier Eisenmann at the organ of the Marktkirche Wiesbaden.

CDs (selection)

• Duraphon HCD 441: "Evening Music for St. Michael Zug": Nicolaus Bruhns, JS Bach, Franz Liszt (Prelude and Fugue on BACH and Variations on the Basso continuo "Weeping, Lamenting, Worrying, Feeling" by JS Bach), Will Eisenmann (Fantasy III, op.106). Olivier Eisenmann at the organ of the Catholic parish church St. Michael in Zug.
• Duraphon HD 432: "Sacred music by Linus David", u. a. Quatre Antiennes for flute (Verena Steffen) and organ (Olivier Eisenmann)
• Vleugels LC8715 OV-75016: "The Organ of Romanticism": Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Max Reger, Léon Boëllmann (Suite Gothique, Fantaisie, op. Posth.). Olivier Eisenmann on the organs of the Hofkirche Luzern and the Marktkirche Wiesbaden.
• Vleugels LC8715 OV-75019: «Swiss organ music»: Otto Barblan (Variations on BACH, op. 24), Theophil Forchhammer (four chorale preludes), Arthur Honegger (Fugue et Choral), Frank Martin (Passacaille), Josef Garovi (Toccata e Fuga , 1957), Will Eisenmann (Fantasias I, op.45 and II, op.76). Olivier Eisenmann at the organ of the Bern Minster (recording by Radio DRS Studio Bern).
• Violet LC 08900: “Organ concert in the Cologne Cathedral”: Live recording of a concert with Olivier Eisenmann: Frank Martin, Josef G. Rheinberger, Arild Sandvold, Will Eisenmann, Hansruedi Willisegger.
• Violet LC 08900 Order code: 200.062: “Concert spirituel”: Live recording of Olivier Eisenmann's organ concert in the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne in Cahors on the historic “Stoltz” organ from 1860 on the occasion of the 4th “Festival de l'Eté” musical »in the Lot Valley in southern France with works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Théodore Dubois, Camille Saint-Saëns, César Franck, J. Ermend Bonnal and JS Bach.

• Violet LC 08900 order no. 200.066: "Organ concert" Live recording by Radio DRS 2 of a concert with Olivier Eisenmann on the new Rieger organ in the Catholic. Parish church Menzingen (Canton Zug): Félix-Alexandre Guilmant, Otto Rehm, Dezsö Antalffy-Zsiross, Hendrik Andriessen, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Oskar Fredrik Lindberg.
• Violet LC 08900. Order code: 200.072: “Organ sounds from Weggis”: Live recording of the organ concert by Olivier Eisenmann on the Graf organ: Works by Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Niels Wilhelm Gade, Gustav Adolph Merkel, Carl Reinecke, Josef Bohuslav Foerster and Jean Françaix.
• Violet LC 8900 order no. 200.059: "Organ and Flute", rarities from Scandinavian Romanticism and Swiss Modernism: Oskar Lindberg, Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, Otto Olsson, Arild Sandvold, Hans Studer , Josef Garovi, Will Eisenmann, Heinz Wehrle. Olivier Eisenmann at the Voit organ of the Heidelberg City Hall, Verena Steffen, flute.
• aurophon AU 32128 CD: "Concert music for flute and organ": Johann Ludwig Krebs, Johann Wilhelm Hertel, Johann Christoph Kellner, WA Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Josef Rheinberger, Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, Franz Lachner. Olivier Eisenmann at the new Goll organ in Hochdorf (Canton Lucerne), Verena Steffen, flute.

Web links

• Olivier Eisenmann , Freundeskreis Kollegiorgel Schwyz

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jürg Röthlisberger: Orgelage Zug: Olivier Eisenmann & Verena Steffen as interpreters. June 18, 2019, accessed October 19, 2019 .