Midnight Toccatas

When I attended Oberlin in the mid-1990s, it was a regular tradition among the organ students to hold a monthly ad hoc recital at midnight on a Friday. These recitals were collectively called the “Friday Night Organ Pump,” and it is a tradition that continues even today. At the time, I flirted with writing a toccata for one of these concerts, though I knew so little about the organ at the time that I didn’t feel confident enough to write anything worthwhile. With ‘Midnight Toccatas,’ I was finally able to manifest that idea into a challenging but, I hope, fun work for solo organ.

‘Midnight Toccatas’ is based on the names of Ruth and Clarence Mader, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Mader Fund, and was named the winner of the Fund’s 2022 Organ Composition Competition. It will be premiered in February 2023 in Los Angeles.