Loreto Aramendi, Organist from San Sebastián, Spain Please note that this concert begins earlier than usual, at 7:00pm We are pleased to welcome Loreto Aramendi, international concertist and main organist of the Cavaillé-Coll organ (1863) of the Basilique of Santa María del Coro in San Sebastián, Spain. She brings her virtuosity and a delightfully varied program of organ music by Buxtehude, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, and Tournemire to the splendid organ and acoustic of St. James Cathedral. Ms. Aramendi has given numerous recitals at international festivals in the United States, Japan, Russia, Canada, Argentina and most of the European countries. Venues have included Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Auditorio Nacional of Madrid (Bach Vermut), Notre Dame of Paris, Moscow Cathedral, Hallgrímskikja in Reykjavik, Saint Patrick's Cathedral of New York, Westminster Cathedral, and the Stavanger Konserthus. In 2015 she published a double CD recorded on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Basilique of Santa María del Coro with works by Franck, Liszt, Brahms, and Tournemire, which received the 4 stars award from Choir & Organ magazine, and was acclaimed by The Sydney Organ Journal. She started her studies at the Conservatoire of San Sebastián where she obtained higher degrees in piano, harpsichord, organ, and chamber music with Loreto F. Imaz, Esther Mendiburu and Cristina Navajas. She studied organ at the National Regional Conservatoire of Bayonne with Bernadette Carrau and Esteban Landart, receiving the Gold Medal and the First Prize upon completing the Advanced Degree course. Entering into the National Higher Conservatoire of Lyon (C.N.S.M.D), she worked with Jean Boyer, Louis Robilliard and J. Von Oortmersen, obtaining the First Prize with Mention trés bien and her National Diploma of Advanced Studies with specialization in the organ.
