SU Organist Kola Owolabi to Present Recital Sept. 3

Kola Owolabi

Kola Owolabi, Syracuse University organist and associate professor of music in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), will present an organ recital on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 8 p.m. on the historic Holtkamp organ in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College.

The program will include works by J. S. Bach, Leo Sowerby and Petr Eben. Eben’s “Four Biblical Dances” will feature narration by the Rev. Bruce Webster of Kirkville United Methodist Church in Kirkville, N.Y.

Free and accessible parking is available in the Q-1 lot; additional parking is available in the Irving Garage. Campus parking availability is subject to change; call 315-443-2191 for current information.

At SU, Owolabi teaches courses in organ, improvisation, continuo playing and Baroque chamber music; plays for weekly chapel services and special events; and coordinates the Esther Drake and John Vincent Malmgren Concert Series at Hendricks Chapel. He is also the dean of the Syracuse chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

A native of Toronto, Owolabi holds a bachelor of music degree from McGill University in Montreal, a master of music degree from Yale University and a doctor of musical arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. In 2002, he was awarded second prize and the audience prize at the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance.

Owolabi is a published composer and has received commissions from the Royal Canadian College of Organists and the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. His solo organ composition “Dance” has been selected for this year’s Royal Canadian College of Organists National Competition, where all of the finalists will perform the composition.

As a solo recitalist, he has performed across Canada, the United States, Mexico and Jamaica, appearing at such venues as St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City; Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Massachusetts; Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.; and the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. He also performs regularly as organist and harpsichordist with the Miami-based, Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire and Firebird Chamber Orchestra.

For more information about the concert, contact Owolabi at 315-443-5043. For Setnor Auditorium concert status updates, contact the Setnor School at 315-443-2191.