Organist Hector Olivera to perform at Valpo

Concert organist Hector Olivera will perform a recital at Valparaiso University’s Chapel of the Resurrection on Friday, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. Olivera will play on the University’s 103-rank Schlicker-Dobson Reddel Memorial organ — one of the most spectacular and versatile instruments in the Midwest.

Since entering the Buenos Aires Conservatory as a child prodigy at age six, Olivera has become one of the most sought after and revered international concert organists of the present time.

The Times Reporter describes an evening with Olivera as “an event, a happening, a joyful celebration of the sheer power and pressure that a true virtuoso like Hector Olivera can unleash in a concert hall.”

Born in Buenos Aires, Olivera began playing the pipe organ when he was 3. At age 5 he played for the legendary Eva Perón; at 12 he entered the University of Buenos Aires and by 18 had performed for heads of state and celebrities throughout Latin America. When offered a scholarship at the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York, he moved to the United States. Three years later, Olivera’s outstanding professional concert career was launched when he won the AGO’s National Improvisation Contest.

Olivera has performed solo concerts throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia, and Central and Latin America and as guest soloist with prominent symphony orchestras worldwide.

Whether in a prestigious venue like Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, Constitution Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, or in conjunction with a celebrated event like the Olympic games or the Classical Newport Music Festival, the most sophisticated and demanding organ aficionados claim that Olivera is ‘one of the greatest organists in the world today.’

For more information, please call the campus box office at 464.5162. Visit valpo.edu/about/maps-directions for directions to campus and for parking information.