Baycourt will host one of the world's most well-known concert organists, Hans Uwe Hielscher in a concert on the Wurlitzer organ on March 1.

Hans will play music by famous composers Irving Berlin, Albert Ketèlbey and Scott Joplin, whose works have become staple compositions and are much loved throughout the world.

'Hans is a classical organist who regularly plays at a Wiesbaden Cathedral in Germany, since 1986,” says Louise Creighton of the Tauranga Theatre Organ Society.

'He has taught at the University of Redlands, California so he is also very proficient with American Theatre Organ music styles”.

Hielscher was born in Germany and studied church music at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold (University of Music Detmold, Germany) and learnt how to play the carillon (musical instrument housed in a bell tower) in Utrecht, Netherlands. From 1969 to 1979 he was a church musician. Since then, has been the organist and carilloneur at the Marktkirche (Lutheran church) in Wiesbaden, Hanover. He initiated a series of free, weekly recitals where he and guest organists performed seasonal music. Hielscher has played more than 2,500 organ concerts worldwide.

Hielscher will play music by:

Irving Berlin – an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. His music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook.

Albert Ketèlbey – an English composer, conductor and pianist, best known for his short pieces of light orchestral music.

Scott Joplin – dubbed the "King of Ragtime Writers". During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces. One of his first pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the classic rag. 'Don't miss the chance to hear this talented international artist perform here in Tauranga” says Louise.

Say It With Music will play at Baycourt on Wednesday, 1 March at 7pm in the Baycourt Addison Theatre. Tickets are on sale and available at the box office on Durham St or online at ticketek.co.nz

Prices:

Adult: $29.00. Child (under 14 yrs.): $10.00. Concession, Senior and Unwaged: $27.00. Student, Tertiary and Secondary: $10.00. Tauranga Theatre Organ Society & Friends of Baycourt: $25.00 (present membership cards).

The Baycourt Wurlitzer is a 2/10 Wurlitzer Model H Opus 1482. It s a theatre organ consisting of an organ console that rises from beneath the stage. The organ is connected to hundreds of pipes, a piano keyboard, a xylophone, castanets, bells and drums. There are only four Wurlitzer / Wurlitzer based Organs in New Zealand.

Tauranga's Wurlitzer was shipped from the US in 1926 for installation in the De Luxe Theatre in Wellington.

In 1959 the Wurlitzer was sold to Eddie Aikin a theatre organ enthusiast who installed the instrument in a former honey-packing shed south of Tokoroa. It was later moved to the school hall of Tokoroa High School. Ill health forced Mr Aikin and his organisation to sell the Mighty Wurli by tender. It was sold to the Tauranga Twenty Thousand Club and then gifted to the people of Tauranga.

With the support of the Tauranga City Council, the society installed the instrument in the Tauranga Town Hall in 1972. The Mighty Wurli again featured as a concert instrument for many local and overseas artists.

When the old town hall was demolished in 1986 the Wurlitzer was disassembled and relocated to the recently constructed Baycourt Community Arts Centre, where it was playing again in 1988.