International concert organist and choral conductor Kent Tritle, organist of the New York Philharmonic, sits at the organ of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Tritle will perform a free concert for the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series Sept. 25 at SIU Carbondale’s Shryock Auditorium. (Photo credit: Maike Schulz)
September 04, 2026
SIU to host New York Philharmonic organist Kent Tritle in concert Sept. 25
CARBONDALE, Ill. — New York Philharmonic organist Kent Tritle, one of the nation’s leading choral conductors, will perform at Southern Illinois University Carbondale later this month for the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series.
The SIU School of Music performance is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, in Shryock Auditorium, home of the Marianne Webb Pipe Organ. The concert is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.
This is the 27th concert in the endowed series, established in 1990 by Webb and Bateman, both former SIU faculty members.
Tritle is a “tour de force musician” in New York City, said Lynn Trapp, the series’ principal artistic director since its inception. He described Tritle is a “luminary in the field of organ, choral and church music.”.
Tritle is director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He is also the Grammy-nominated music director of the Oratorio Society of New York — the esteemed volunteer chorus, and music director of Musica Sacra, New York’s elite professional chorus. He is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School’s vocal arts department.
A native of Spirit Lake, Iowa, Tritle has graduate and undergraduate degrees from The Juilliard School in organ performance and choral conducting. He has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He was featured in the WIRED video series “Masterminds,” an installment titled, “What Conductors Are Really Doing.”
In honor of Marianne Webb
Tritle said he’s excited to come to SIU Carbondale, “where the legendary Marianne Webb taught so many of the country’s leading organists during her tenure.” He will bring a program that spans more than 400 years of composition and believes there will be more than ‘something for everyone.
“The audience will come away with a sense of the breadth and scope of sound and emotion that this pipe organ brings,” Tritle said. “The organ is truly a majestic and yet ethereal instrument. It can take us to places that no other sound does- and be deeply moving as we travel the air waves together!”
Varied selections
Tritle’s program features works by Danish composer Dieterich Buxtehude, Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, Canadian composer Rachel Laurin, and French composers Jeanne Demessieux and César Franck.
The program will include:
- “Praeludium in E Major, Bux 141,” by Buxtehude.
- “Toccata Quinta,” by Frescobaldi.
- “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, BWV 647” and “Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548,” by Bach.
- “Omaggio Festivo, Op. 89,” by Laurin.
- “Twelve Choral Preludes on Gregorian Chant Themes, Op. 8: Ubi Caritas (Ricercare),” by
- “Grand Pièce Symphonique, Op. 17,” by Franck.
“I love the virtuosic challenges in this program, from the grandest piece ever written by Franck, the pinnacle of French romanticism, to the Baroque splendor of Bach and Buxtehude,” Tritle said. “I also like that we will hear so many different colors from the organ, in part due the ample timespan this music comes from.”
A unique opportunity
“This series is an opportunity for our students to experience the best organ performers in the world right here at SIU,” said Richard Kelley, director of the School of Music. “The endowment for this series makes it possible to host concerts that would be financially impossible otherwise. For the community, it is a unique experience since the stature of the organ in Shryock is unmatched in Southern Illinois.”
Trapp said he appreciates the efforts of Kelley and his staff for uniting to bring the series to SIU every two years.
“This indeed fulfills the dream and the intent of the Webb/Bateman endowment,” he said.
Distinctive series, distinctive organ
Webb came to SIU Carbondale in 1965 as a music faculty member teaching organ and piano and serving as the university organist. Under her direction, the School of Music initiated an annual organ festival, the first of its kind in the country.
She led an effort to renovate Shryock Auditorium, including the installation of a new 3,312-pipe, 3-manual, 58-rank Reuter pipe organ that she designed. The organ was named in Webb’s honor in 2001 — when she retired as professor emerita — though she continued to serve as visiting professor and distinguished university organist for 11 years. Webb passed away in 2013.
Bateman is a management professor emeritus for the College of Business and Analytics. He retired in 1995.
Webb also established the Southern Illinois chapter of the American Guild of Organists, which hosts one or two nationally or internationally known concert organists each year. The chapter covers Southern Illinois, southeast Missouri and western Kentucky.