He’s a classical music virtuoso, having already mastered the pipe organ, cello and piano, he has his sights set on playing some of the most famous organs in Europe before the year’s out – and he’s just 13-years old.
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This Sunday, May 6, from 2.30pm, patrons of St John’s Anglican Church will witness the talent of young Stephen Aveling-Rowe as he performs a special concert with the simple aim of delighting and inspiring his audience.
An accomplished performer on the “King of Instruments”, Stephen will play organ works by well-known composers as well as famous tunes from some lesser names.
He will also play on cello a selection of melodies from Baroque through to 20h century music, accompanied on the piano by his mother, Merilyn Aveling-Rowe.
While Stephen has never played in Mudgee before, he said he expected it would be “wonderful fun”.
“I’ve seen the building and the organ and it looks like it should be fantastic,” he said.
“The organ’s got a three manual mechanical action which makes me very happy.
“When they’re mechanical, you can play the pipes instead of having a switch play them and you open the valves yourself and get other sounds you wouldn’t always get out of it simply by the way you press the keys.”
Stephen’s concert in regional Mudgee will be a far cry from some of his more recent public performances, including several at the Sydney Opera House, as well as one particularly memorable gig at the Sydney Town Hall.
“They let me have the 64 foot stop on towards the end – there’s only two in the world and they play at around eight pulses per second,” he said.
“It doesn’t sound like a note so much as a rumble – it was magnificent.”
Stephen will continue his quest to play some of the world’s most “magnificent” pipes this September, when he travels to Europe to play medieval organs in Switzerland, Baroque organs in Germany, English organs in London and “Bach’s organ” in St Thomas Church in Lertzig.
“Bach wanted this organ made but it never got built until quite recently when they found the specifications in old church records,” Stephen explained.
“It’s a gorgeous organ and just what Bach wanted for himself, so I can’t wait to play it.”
Stephen’s visit to Mudgee has been organised in collaboration with the Mudgee Christian Education Association supporting a Special Religious Education Teacher at Mudgee High School.
Although the concert is free, any donations on entry will be divided between this local project and fundraising for Stephen’s trip to Europe.
“The whole idea of the concert is simply to inspire people to learn the organ, especially young people,” Stephen said.
“Hopefully I can offer some people some time out that will relax and energise them.”
