New cathedral organist gives recital

Friday, Aug. 01, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — An organ recital by Dr. Gabriele Terrone was among the celebratory events honoring the Cathedral of the Madeleine’s Patronal Feast Day.

Terrone, who is from Italy, took up his post as the cathedral’s organist and assistant director of music on April 10. Previously, he was the titular organist at the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, and also had worked at basilicas of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, Santi Cosma E Damiano and Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. He holds a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Padova, and has studied at the State Music Conservatory in Perugia, the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome and the Hochschüle Für Musik in Lucerne. His teachers have included Juan Paradell Solè and Theo Flury, OSB. 

For the July 21 recital at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, he chose six pieces that ranged from the 16th to the 20th century, including two by one of his favorite composers, César Franck, “and then other pieces just to showcase the organ,” he said. He also performed “Grande Offertorio” by Gioachino Rossini “as an homage to my country and to present something which is not very popular here for organ music.”

He likes the style of the cathedral’s Eccles Memorial Organ, which contains 4,066 pipes, he said. “It is a symphonic organ with a British accent. You can play everything here.” 

In the three months that he has been in Utah, he hasn’t had much free time, he said, but after he gets settled he is looking forward to exploring the state. “I like the landscape,” he said.

Terrone also will be featured in the “Organ Fest VII,” which will be presented by Classical 89 Aug. 22 in The Cathedral of the Madeleine. The other organists for the concert will be from the Salt Lake Tabernacle – Richard Elliott, Clay Christiansen, Andrew Unsworth, Bonnie Goodliffe, and Linda Margetts. The concert is free; it will begin at 8 p.m. in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 309 E. South Temple in Salt Lake City.