Organ Music of Austria at St. Hedwig’s

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Karen Beaumont’s musical roots spread not only throughout southern Wisconsin but the Midwest, Canada, the U.K. and from coast to coast. If you attended St. James Episcopal Church anytime from late-1988 to early 2011, there’s a good chance you heard her playing the organ; likewise today if you happen upon All Saints Cathedral. Her busy performance itinerary includes numerous solo organ recitals; case in point an upcoming concert focused upon Baroque and early Classical Austrian organ music.

“Why? What’s the uniqueness, fascination or interest in this place and time?” I asked. “My grandmother was born in Austria,” Karen replied. “She missed it her whole life. The middle-European ethos resonates deeply with me.” In addition to actual Austrian composers on the program, there are also Italians. “Many Italians worked in Austria, as did composers from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany,” she explained. “The middle-European ethos was a fertile ‘middle ground.’ These Italian composers I am playing—Giovanni Valentini and Steffano Benardi—worked extensively in Austria.”

Native Austrian composers on the program are Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620-1680), leading music man at Emperor Leopold II’s court; organist and Kapellmeister of Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809); and composer, organist and cantor Christoph Straus (1575-1631). Unless you’re a true aficionado, these probably are not familiar names, but such is the charm of classical music: Though sometimes centuries old, there’s always something new to experience. Beaumont also performs a series of works from the Linzer Orgeltabulatur of 1611-1613, which she helpfully described as “a collection of dance works written for the clavierorganum—a portable keyboard instrument that had both an organ manual (keyboard) and a harpsichord keyboard.”

This free concert takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16 at St. Hedwig’s Roman Catholic Church, 1702 N. Humboldt Ave.