Concert I

The organs at St. Nikolai have been restored - a new concert series at the start of autumn puts the instruments in the spotlight.

As a prelude to the performance of "Elijah" on 4 October, Mahela Reichstatt (Schleswig Cathedral), Magne Draagen (St. Michaelis Hamburg) and Volkmar Zehner will perform the major organ works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: the three Preludes and Fugues op. 37 and the six Sonatas op. 65. The programme is rounded out by organ works of J. S. Bach, Norwegian Romantic masters, and Olivier Messiaën.

Volkmar Zehner received his first musical training in Emmendingen and studied Protestant church music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover from 1986 to 1993 (conducting with Prof. Heinz Hennig and Prof. Peter Winkler, further studies with Prof. Volker Hempfling, Prof. Jörg Straube and Prof. Cornelius Trantow), graduating with the Kirchenmusik-A diploma. He completed his organ training in Lyon (Médaille d'Or), Hamburg (Konzertexamen) and at various masterclasses.

From May 1995 to April 2013 he served as church musician at the Lutheran congregation of Hamburg-Volksdorf, and from 1997 also as Kreiskantor in the Kirchenkreis Hamburg-Ost. In 2011 the leadership of the North Elbian Church appointed him Kirchenmusikdirektor. Since April 2013 Volkmar Zehner has been cantor and organist at the Offene Kirche St. Nikolai in Kiel, where he directs the SanktNikolaiChor, performs oratorios, Bach cantatas and a cappella works from the early Baroque to the present day, and develops and organises the "Konzerte für Kiel" series. From Reformation Day 2019 to New Year's Eve 2023 - interrupted twice by Covid restrictions - he performed the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach in 19 concerts at St. Nikolai. In 2024 he was organist in residence at the Arnstädter Bach Festival / Thüringer Bachwochen at the Bachkirche, appearing in an organ recital, a musical reading with Prof. Dr. Michael Maul, and a Bach cantata service.