January 22, 2016
K-State organ students travel to Germany
David Pickering, associate professor of music, planned and directed a study abroad tour for Kansas State University organ students, studying organs in Berlin, Leipzig, Roetha, Naumburg, Dresden and Freiberg, Germany.
The group played 14 organs built over the course of 300 years, 1713-2013. Six of the organs were constructed from 1713-1755 by Gottfried Silbermann, close friend and associate of famed composer Johann Sebastian Bach. It is conjectured that Bach played at least three of these organs. Tour participants were able to play the stunning 1746 Hildebrandt organ at the Wenzelskirche in Naumburg, one of the most famous organs Baroque era organs in Germany. Bach is known to have inspected and played this organ; the original organ keyboards have remained intact for over 250 years.
Participants were able to immerse themselves in the culture completely by traveling by public transportation, eating in local restaurants, and visiting other sites of importance and interest, such as the Deutscher Oper, the German Historical Museum, and the Berlin Wall Museum, among others.