- Rodger Vine, Organist
- The Boston Choral Ensemble
Rodger Vine is a native of Pennsylvania and a 1971 graduate of Boston University. Following his graduation, he spent two years of intensive music study in France with several internationally-acclaimed organist/composers, including Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, Jeanne Joulain and Jean Langlais. In June, 1973, Maurice Durufle wrote: “Rodger Vine is very gifted for the organ, and is very serious in his work.” Madame Durufle later stated that he had developed into “a brilliant virtuoso with a volcanic technique.”
He made his American debut in January, 1977 at Old South Church in Boston, playing the complete organ works of Maurice Durufle on the occasion of Durufle's 75th birthday. Following that concert, a critic for the Boston Globe wrote: “Copious praise is due to organist Rodger Vine for transporting us Tuesday night into the very special world of Maurice Durufle.... Everything about Rodger Vine's performance suggested a top-class musicality, a ready sense of theater, and superb technical means. He seemed in control of everything.” Later that year he made his European debut at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to a full house.
Since that time, he has been invited to perform at every major church in Boston and in numerous venues in the United States and Europe, and has been selected as a competitor in major international competitions. His concerts in Boston have included more than 40 premiere performances, including works by Maurice Duruflé, Marcel Dupré, Jeanne Joulain, Julius Reubke (Piano Sonata), Earl Wild and Jeffrey Brody, among others. He has also performed on his secondary instrument, the piano, in numerous chamber music ensembles, after having studied from 1975 to 1979 with the late Julius Chaloff, Director of the Chaloff School of Music in Boston.
Active in the American Guild of Organists, he has been the coordinator of its annual “First Night” programs since 1983, and was elected to the Executive Committee in 1993.
In 1996, Rodger Vine was asked by the eminent Grammy Award-winning pianist Earl Wild to proof-read his transcriptions of Rachmaninov and Gershwin in preparation for their publication. To date, he has completed over twenty of these works.
Recordings of Mr. Vine's concerts have been heard over the years on both local Boston and national radio broadcasts.
