W&L Presents Faculty Recital with William McCorkle McCorkle will perform a selection of Bach’s works for organ on Oct. 20 at Lexington Presbyterian Church.

By Emily Innes
October 7, 2024

Washington and Lee University will present a faculty recital by organist and W&L lecturer William McCorkle on Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. at the Lexington Presbyterian Church, located at 120 South Main Street.

The performance is free and open to the public and no tickets are required. The recital will also be livestreamed at https://www.lexpres.org; you can connect to the livestream at 2:50 p.m. by clicking the “Live on YouTube” icon at the top of the church’s home page.

The program is titled “Ahh, Bach!” and will feature selections for the organ composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. The recital will include a sample of Bach’s hymn-based and freely composed works, along with ensemble music transcribed for the organ. A brilliant organist of the late 17th and 18th centuries and an authority on the design and construction of pipe organs, Bach remains the central figure of compositional and technical mastery in the organ world.

McCorkle will be performing on the famed Fisk organ in the Lexington Presbyterian Church. The opus 128 instrument was created by C.B. Fisk, Inc., one of the world’s most respected organ builders, in 2006 and its installation in the church was completed in 2007. Fisk instruments are known for their beauty of sound and their versatility in expressing music of different periods and styles.

A versatile keyboard artist, McCorkle has performed as organist, harpsichordist and pianist in solo and ensemble performances throughout the eastern United States and Europe. His research has centered on 17th- and 18th-century French and Italian vocal and keyboard styles, and he is well known for his expertise in keyboard realization.

McCorkle is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Amherst College and holds graduate degrees from Yale University, where he worked with organist Charles Krigbaum, harpsichordist Albert Fuller and tenor Blake Stern. As an Edward Poole Lay Fellow, he studied in Paris with master musicians Nadia Boulanger, Annette Dieudonné and William Christie.

For a full list of this season’s events and performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies and the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art in one energizing complex.