The American Guild of Organists (AGO), an organisation dedicated to the promotion of organ playing and education of organ and choral music, has declared June 2008-2009 'The International Year of the Organ', with events planned all over the world to celebrate it.

The Guild has named October 19 'Organ Spectacular' day, and invited Bermuda to join other countries around the globe in what is billed as "the world's largest organ concert".

Wesley Methodist Church, with its newly restored and enhanced organ, is the chosen venue, and the featured artist is Dr. Charles Callahan, who is one of America's leading organists, and also a composer.

The programme will also include the combined choirs of Wesley and the Ensemble Singers. Lloyd Matthew, who is a member of the Brooklyn chapter of the AGO and the organist at Wesley, is delighted that Bermuda will be an 'Organ Spectacular' participant. "There are at least 250 events organised worldwide for October 19, and Wesley also has reason to celebrate because of the restoration and digital enhancement of its organ this year. We feel it is fitting for the church to have a celebration as a way of saying 'thank you' to the people who have given to the organ restoration fund, as well as joining the international celebration of this instrument," he said.

Mr. Callahan's programme will include Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in d minor', Cesar Franck's 'Cantabile' and 'Piece Heroique', and Charles Wesley's 'Air and Variations', as well as two of his own compositions: 'Two Hymn-Tune Preludes' and 'Two Pieces: Aria and The Rejoicing'.

The combined choirs will sing 'Hallelujah' from Beethoven's oratorio, 'The Mount of Olives', and the 'Te Deum Laudamus in B flat' by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. The concert will begin at 4 p.m. Admission is free, but donations will be welcomed.

Born in 1959, Dr. Callahan is one of America's leading organist-composers. A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Catholic University of America.

Well-known as an improvisateur, he made his debut in this realm at the International Eucharistic Congress in 1976. He has collaborated with many of America's leading conductors as both composer and organist, and has worked with noted stage and screen personalities in both theatre and the concert hall. Orchestras, choirs, chamber music ensembles and soloists worldwide have performed compositions by Dr. Callahan. He has been commissioned to compose music twice by Harvard University.

In recognition of his service to the church, and his commissioned compositions for Papal visits to the US, in 1999 he was awarded the Papal Honour of Knighthood in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

In addition to compositions and performances, Dr. Callahan is a noted educator and author; his two books on American organ building have become standard reference works. He is frequently in demand as a consultant for organ projects, and his work in this area includes significant instruments for the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, St. Agnes Cathedral, Long Island, New York; All Saints Church in Buffalo, New York; First United Methodist Church in Beaumont, Texas; and his alma mater, the Curtis Institute.

The Dean of the Bermuda Chapter of the American Guild of Organists is Reginald Rawlins.