EDUCATION ABOUT THE HISTORIC ORGANS

KEYBOARD TRAINING

The IOHIO offers piano and organ lessons to young people from the towns with restored instruments, so that they may play the organs in their communities and thus help to create local awareness and appreciation. Our students come from Tamazulapan and Zautla to Oaxaca City for their weekly lessons, though sometimes we go to their communities to teach them directly on the organ. We also arrange opportunities for them to play restored organs in the city (in the Oaxaca Cathedral and the Basílica de la Soledad).

Every year the students present organ programs during celebrations in their towns, as well as during the IOHIO Festival. It is especially gratifying to the local people to hear the organs, a part of their history, being played by their own young people. The support of the students´ families is critical to the success of their organ study, and as soon as the IOHIO can count on similar support from other organ communities, the project will be able to expand.

TECHNICAL TRAINING

The training of local apprentices in organ documentation, conservation and maintenance projects (conservation) has been supervised over the years by organbuilder and U.S. resident Susan Tattershall. Thanks to her efforts, IOHIO personnel--researcher Ricardo Rodys, Oaxacan architect and carpenter David Antonio Reyes, and director Cicely Winter--may now work independently when Susan is not in Oaxaca. Organist Joel Vásquez and office assistant Deborah Polhemus Ruiz, who began their collaboration with the  IOHIO in 2009, are also being trained in conservation skills.

 In 2009, David spent several months in Mexico City helping out with the restoration project of the Gospel organ in the Mexico City Cathedral, under the supervision of the Gerhard Grenzing Organ Company. He and former IOHIO collaborator José Luis Acevedo will continue their apprenticeship in the Grenzing workshop in el Papiol, Barcelona, Spain, and will be trained to oversee the maintenance of the Mexico City Cathedral organ after its restoration.  

CONCERTS

The organs must be heard if they are to be appreciated, so the IOHIO presents concerts regularly by our own organists and students, as well as organists invited from other areas of Mexico or abroad. We also offer demonstration concerts for student and tourist groups. While our programs usually focus on the classical repertoire (16th – 18th century), they also promote Oaxacan folk music, sometimes in collaboration with the Oaxaca City Chorus and a percussionist. We always try to strike a balance in our programming between accessible and recognized music and the more serious repertoire, so as to attract people of all tastes to the organs and thus build up a local audience

Our most spectacular event is the International Organ and Early Music Festival, Oaxaca, Mexico, (festivals) which combines all our educational initiatives--concerts, publicity, lectures, field trips, master classes, exhibits, and student participation—into one marvelous week of organ activity. This highly anticipated event, held nearly every year, attracts organ and early music lovers from all over the world to hear the Oaxacan organs played by renowned Mexican and international artists.

PUBLICITY

Except for for organ concerts and festival activities, most of our work - practicing, teaching, research, analysis, and registering of data – takes place behind the scenes. For this reason, we recognize the importance of maintaining communication with the community at large regarding our activities. This we do through our brochures, newsletters, web site, interviews, talks in the communities, lectures, and television, radio, and newspaper coverage. A book about the Oaxacan organs is in process and will be published in 2010.

Click to view current IOHIO brochure.