Sietze de Vries (b. 1973) received his first organ lessons from Jaap Niewenhuijse at the music school in Gouda. At the municipal conservatory in Groningen, he studied with John Beeftink, Jan Jongepier (improvisation) and Wim van Beek. In 1994, he was awarded the pedagogy diploma (Docerend Musicus summa cum laude as the last pupil of Wimvan Beek in this subject. He was awarded the performance diploma (Uitvoerend Musicus) in 1996 at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where Jos van der Kooy was his teacher. He also studied improvisation and church music.

Sietze de Vries is very active as concert organist in the Netherlands and abroad. His concert tours and master classes have taken him to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, England and the United States. He has also won fifteen different prizes in various national organ competitions, in the areas of both repertoire and improvisation. The high point and conclusion of his participation in these competitions was his winning the international improvisation competition in Haarlem in 2002, where he had been finalist in both 1998 and 2000.

  The concert is free and open to the public. Ample parking is available behind the church, and the sanctuary is wheelchair–accessible. A reception for the artist will follow the concert. For more information, please call (434)963-4690 or visit www.avenue.org/organconcerts. To receive e–mail notices from this Series, click here: