Music at Pilgrim

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Music at Pilgrim

Information and news about the sacred and recital music programs of Pilgrim Uniting Church, Adelaide, South Australia.

The Pilgrim musicians present traditional choral worship services every Sunday at 11am, with a choral eucharist on the first Sunday of the month. The choir also sings monthly evensongs, and there are numerous special services throughout the year, including an orchestral mass for Easter Sunday, Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve, an ANZAC Day Evensong, a Service of Remembrance for All Souls’ Day,

and a number of Bach cantata services featuring the Adelaide Cantata Band. Lunchtime organ recitals take place on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month, and Pilgrim also hosts a visiting organist of international renown each year, with past guests including Olivier Latry, Shin-Young Lee, John Scott, Thomas Trotter, Daniel Roth and Simon Preston. Keep up to date with all of this by liking and following this page!

17/06/2026

Vincent Dubois, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris: organ recital this Sunday 21 June 2:30pm

The centrepiece of Vincent’s recital will be the Sonata on the 94th Psalm by Julius Reubke (1834-1858).

This astonishing work occupies a special place in the organ repertoire, something akin to Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto, or the Paganini Caprices for violin. In terms of its sheer depth and breadth of musical language, it is difficult to describe or compare. You simply have to have heard it if you want to understand the faraway look in organ music lovers’ eyes, when in hushed voices they mention its name.

Along with Liszt’s “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam”, which Thomas Trotter played for us so brilliantly on his 2023 visit, the 94th Psalm can be considered one of the two pinnacles of romantic monumentalism in organ music. It is no coincidence that Liszt was Reubke’s teacher. Both compositions have acquired the kind of status more associated with myth and legend than a volume tucked away in someone’s organ music library.

The mystique of the 94th Psalm is only multiplied by the tragically early death of its composer. Reubke died of tuberculosis at the age of just 24.

Come along for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear this amazing work live, by one of the world’s most talented living organists.

Tickets $40 / $30 at the door or online https://www.trybooking.com/DKJVR

Photo credit © Klara Beck

15/06/2026

Organ recital 2:30pm this Sunday 21 June: Vincent Dubois (Notre-Dame-de-Paris)

We’re excited to announce Vincent Dubois’ program for his recital at Pilgrim this coming Sunday:

J.S. Bach (1685-1750): Prelude and fugue in a minor BWV 543

César Franck (1822-1890): Cantabile

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Danse macabre (transcr. E. Lemare)

Julius Reubke (1834-1858): Sonate “The 94th Psalm”

Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
Prelude and fugue on the name Alain op. 7

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Rigaudon, Menuet, Toccata from Le tombeau de Couperin (transcr. V. Dubois)

Improvisation

Vincent is at Pilgrim as part of our International Organist Series.

Tickets $40 / $30 at the door or online https://www.trybooking.com/DKJVR

Photo credit © Klara Beck

10/06/2026

Organ recital: Vincent Dubois, 2:30pm Sunday 21 June

Not going to make it to Paris this year? No problem, we’re bringing a little treat, right from the heart of Paris, all the way to Adelaide, just for you!

If France has a spiritual centre, it’s Notre-Dame, where a defining component of cathedral life is organ music. For centuries, France’s greatest keyboard musicians have accompanied the service plainchant, and enriched the liturgy with stunning improvisations on the famous organ perched high on the western wall, just below the most famous rose window in the world.

Vincent Dubois has been an organiste titulaire at Notre-Dame since 2016, and is acclaimed worldwide for his extraordinary virtuosity and improvisational brilliance.

His recital, featuring works by Bach, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Reubke, Duruflé, and Ravel, promises to be nothing short of breath-taking. Don’t miss it!

Tickets $40 / $30 at the door or online https://www.trybooking.com/DKJVR

Photo credits: view from the SE Atoma, CC BY-SA 2.5; view of western façade Sanchezn, CC BY-SA 3.0; view through the bridge of Saint Michel Romanceor, CC BY-SA 3.0, all via Wikimedia Commons; the rose window Christian Dumolard in Pastan, E. (2022) It ought to be Mary: Themes in the western rose window of Notre-Dame of Paris, Different Visions: New Perspectives on Medieval Art 8; view of façade from the NW thanks to the Turner family.

08/06/2026

Free Lunchtime Organ Recital: 1pm Thursday 11 June

In town on Thursday? Pop into Pilgrim at 1pm for a colourful half-hour lunchtime organ recital performed by our Organist and Choir Director Peter Kelsall on South Australia’s largest pipe organ.

Pilgrim’s Free Lunchtime Organ Recitals take place at 1pm on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays of every month, March – 1st half of Dec.

05/06/2026

Evensong 5pm tomorrow, Saturday 6 June

Australian composer Joe Twist has a written a masterpiece of the Evensong repertoire. Here is a snippet from our rehearsal of the Magnificat from Twist's Wi******er Canticles last night. Come along to hear the rest of it!

03/06/2026

International Organist Series: Vincent Dubois, Notre-Dame-de-Paris, recital 2:30pm Sunday 21 June

Vincent Dubois was appointed one of four titular organists of Notre-Dame-de-Paris in January 2016.

On 16 April 2019, Australians awoke to the news that the cathedral was on fire. Despite the horrifying images of the entire roof ablaze, and the sickening footage of the collapsing spire, followed by reports that the fire had been extinguished at the last moment, and that the entire gothic structure was on the verge of collapse, the organ miraculously escaped both the flames and the firefighters’ water cannons. Once the cathedral’s walls were secured, and the organ was removed for safety, all it needed was a thorough cleaning. On 7 December 2024 the organ once more resounded down the nave and amongst the Corinthian columns of the restored cathedral as it was brought back to life with the service of reawakening (reveil).

A gallery organ was first installed in Notre-Dame in 1403. There are still 12 pipes from this organ in the current instrument. In 1783 François-Henri Clicquot carried out major works, and the Louis XVI case was installed. In 1864 it was Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s turn to put his incomparable stamp on the instrument. Cavaillé-Coll had not long completed his rebuilding of the Saint-Sulpice organ, and the two are often compared. Whereas the Saint-Sulpice organ has been preserved as an authentic monument to the genius of Cavaillé-Coll, the Notre-Dame instrument has continued to evolve with successive restorations, resulting in an instrument which bears witness to the evolution of the organ from the middle ages until the present day.

Come along to Vincent Dubois’ recital for a taste of this extraordinary history right here at Pilgrim!

Tickets $40 / $30 at the door or online https://www.trybooking.com/DKJVR

Photo credits: full façade Frédéric Deschamps, Public domain; console and view from the side of the nave Cmcmcm1, CC BY-SA 4.0; close-up of the chamades Pufui PcPifpef, CC BY-SA 4.0; view from behind the altar Benchaum, CC BY-SA 3.0; and the view from the triforium Lionel Allorge, CC BY-SA 3.0, all via Wikimedia Commons.

01/06/2026

Evensong 5pm Saturday 6 June

Our June evensong will feature something a bit special: we’ll be singing a Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by Australian composer Joseph Twist.

Joe is one of Australia’s most in-demand composers, and is equally at home writing incidental music for the international hit children’s animation Bluey, concert pieces for famous symphony orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and choral works for the world’s leading choirs, such as the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge and Voces8.

His Wi******er Canticles, premiered in 2023 by the Choir of Wi******er Cathedral on the occasion of the Coronation of King Charles III, were an instant hit with our choristers. Despite being music of great originality and creativity, this setting nevertheless perfectly embodies the ideals of English cathedral music, and deserves to become standard repertoire in all quires and places where they sing evensong.

Come along this Saturday for some wonderfully colourful, confidently quirky, and above all richly beautiful music by Australia’s own Joe Twist.

27/05/2026

Organ recital: Vincent Dubois, Notre-Dame-de-Paris, 2:30pm Sunday 21 June

We are very excited to be welcoming Vincent Dubois to the Pilgrim organ console in just under a month. Vincent is one of the titular organists at Notre-Dame-de-Paris, along with Olivier Latry (who played at Pilgrim in 2018 and 2024) and Thierry Escaich (he must be next!). This will be Vincent’s second recital at Pilgrim, having performed here back in 2004, fresh from winning the Calgary International Organ Competition, for which a world tour was part of the prize.

Vincent Dubois is a musician of extraordinary ability – not to be missed!

Tickets $40 / $30 at the door or online https://www.trybooking.com/DKJVR

Photo © Klara Beck

25/05/2026

Free Lunchtime Organ Recital: 1pm Thursday 28 May

In town on Thursday? Pop into Pilgrim at 1pm for a colourful half-hour lunchtime organ recital performed by our Organist and Choir Director Peter Kelsall on South Australia’s largest pipe organ.

Pilgrim’s Free Lunchtime Organ Recitals take place at 1pm on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays of every month, March – 1st half of Dec.

13/05/2026

1pm tomorrow: Val Estrella, Free Lunchtime Organ Recital (Thursday 14 May)

Program
Litanies: Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
Berceuse: Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn (BWV 630): J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
L' Ascension: I. Majesté du Christ demandant sa gloire à son Père: Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Improvisation: Veni Creator

Come along for some wonderful music on South Australia’s largest pipe organ!

Address

12 Flinders Street
Adelaide, SA
5000

Website

https://musicatpilgrim.com/

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