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The monumental Sauer organ of the Evangelical City Church in Sibiu—Romania’s largest and one of Central Europe’s most noble concert instruments—became the living voice of centuries when Viennese organist Dr. Erzsébet Windhager‑Geréd sat down at its console. The program bridges the spirit of French post‑romantic mysticism, Hungarian transcendentalism, and Romanian folk vitality: Maurice Duruflé’s Suite op. 5, Franz Liszt’s “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam”, and Béla Bartók’s Romanian Dances.
Her interpretation combines Viennese clarity with the emotional directness that marks musicians formed within the multiethnic soundscape of Transylvania. The result is at once intimate and monumental—a dialogue between past and present told through pipes and pedals.

Duruflé’s Sound Cathedral
The evening opens with Maurice Duruflé’s Suite op. 5 (1933), a composition that fuses the harmonic refinement of the French organ school with the resonance of Gregorian chant.
Windhager‑Geréd approaches the Prélude with measured grandeur, sculpting the long phrases while allowing Sauer’s shimmering flutes and mellifluous strings to breathe naturally. Her registration choices reveal deep familiarity with Duruflé’s tonal architecture: the Requiem‑like balance between mystical light and meditative shade.

In the turbulent Sicilienne, the listener can sense the Parisian elegance of Duruflé refracted through the warmer acoustics of Sibiu. The artist draws pastel colours from the upper manuals—celestes and nazards—allowing their oscillations to merge into a single, caressing motion.
The culminating Toccata, that notorious test of digital stamina and architectural imagination, is a masterclass in control. Rapid passages shimmer without aggressiveness; harmonic peaks emerge organically from the swirl. When the final pedal chords subside, the silence that follows is  almost physical—a collective intake of breath before the next act of transcendence.

Liszt’s Vision of Redemption
If Duruflé’s Suite builds an inner cathedral, Franz Liszt’s monumental Fantasy and Fugue “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” constructs a cosmic one.
The work originates from a chorale in Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète, yet Liszt transforms it into a metaphysical journey from darkness to revelation.

Bartók’s Folk Spirit Reimagined
After such transcendence, Béla Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dances” provides both release and homecoming. Far from a mere transcription, Windhager‑Geréd’s own arrangement for organ celebrates the rhythmic elasticity of the originals while exploring the instrument’s coloristic breadth. Each dance glimmers with character: the Brâul’s earthy humor, the Pe Loc’s melancholy drone, the Mărunțel’s ecstatic drive.

The concert also carries symbolic undertones. A Viennese musician of Transylvanian origin returning to play works rooted in the cultural landscapes of France, Hungary, and Romania: this mirrored the region’s complex legacy of shared heritage and mutual influence.

A majestic organ concert where virtuosity and history resonate in a breathtaking dialogue.

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Producer: Erzsébet Windhager-Geréd

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Duration: 50min
Date of premiere: 26.04.2026
Original title: ARS ORGANI VIRTVOSA
Austria