South-west talent on display at sixth annual Warrnambool Organ Festival

The piece, Mass in D by Czech composer Antonn Dvokak, will be conducted by Patrick Burns and is just one in many standout performances anticipated for the sixth annual WOF from August 23 to 25.

"As part of the organ festival we have a major concert which is the Saturday evening of the festival, which follows on from last years' tradition," conductor Patrick Burns said.

"The artistic director of the festival Louise Keast came up with the idea to have an actual choir as part of the organ festival, which in the history of music there was a long tradition of organs and choirs - especially in churches - working together for a long time.

"She wanted to bring that element back, so this year we are doing a mass by Czech composer Antonn Dvokak which is his Mass in D.

"It was a piece that was written towards the end of his life. Really it's one of those works rarely performed but it's a beautiful work and very approachable for community-based choirs.

"This piece itself runs for about 45 minutes, based on the Latin mass. The first half of the concert is a piece by Pergolesi called the Stabat Mater which is quite a well-known work of his for two soloists, which will be Louise Keast and Sally-Anne Russell."

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They have been rehearsing on the weekends for about six weeks.

The WOF will have five separate events over the three days.

The performance on the Friday night will be a gala dinner at the City Memorial Bowls Club featuring the Warrnambool Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mario Dobernig, with special guest Sally-Anne Russell and the WOF Chorus from 7.30pm.

On Saturday 24 from 10.30am to 12pm there will be a free hands-on open organ workshop run by guest organist Thomas Heywood at St Joseph's Church Warrnambool, open to anyone.

The main event will be the performance by the WOF Chorus on the Saturday night at St Joseph's Church, starting 7.30pm.

Two events will close off the festival on Sunday, the first at St Joseph's Church Warrnambool from 1.30pm where there will be a chamber music for strings performance by Invictus Quartet.

The last, also at St Joseph's will be a concert organ spectacular starting 2.30pm performed by Thomas Heywood.

In 2014, the inaugural Warrnambool Organ Festival was held to showcase the pipe organs that reside at many of the local churches in Warrnambool.

The festival has expanded each year since, with concerts held at St Joseph's Catholic Church, the Warrnambool Uniting Church, Christ Church, St John's Presbyterian Church, the Lutheran Church and Mozart Hall.

All tickets can be booked via trybooking.com or at the door.

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