End-of-academic-year concert: Organ and piano in the chapel

On Saturday, 27 June 2026, a concert for organ and piano will take place at 3.30 pm in the Friedensau Chapel, An der Ihle 5. Admission is free; donations are welcome.

The two artists, Julia Ehrlich on the piano and Chris Manuel Rodrian on the organ, will perform works from various periods. They will begin with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736–1809) and his Prelude and Fugue in C major for organ for four hands and pedal. This will be followed by Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911) with the Prière in F major, Op. 16, for piano and organ. Next comes Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) with the Prelude and Fugue in G major (BWV 541) on the organ. This is followed by Domenico Scarlatti’s (1685–1757) Sonata in D minor for piano and Franz Liszt’s (1811–1886) concert paraphrase on ‘Rigoletto’, the opera by Giuseppe Verdi.

The second part features the Adagio from ‘Sleeping Beauty’ by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) in a piano arrangement; a ‘musical scherzo’ by Gottfried Fischer (1924–2009) based on the chorale ‘Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud’ on the organ; Franz Poenitz (1850–1912), Hymn Op. 39 for piano and organ – and, as a grand finale, the “Concerto in C major” for organ for four hands by Johann Ernst, Prince of Saxe-Weimar (1696–1715).

The artist Julia Ehrlich (born in 1976 and raised in St Petersburg) began taking piano lessons at the age of five. From 1999 to 2004, she studied piano and piano pedagogy at the St Petersburg Conservatoire; she performed and taught in her home country. She is a graduate of Friedensau Adventist University (2014–2019, MA in Music Therapy). Since 2025, she has been working as a piano teacher at the ‘Johann Sebastian Bach’ Music School.

Chris Manuel Rodrian (born in 1991 and raised in Gotha) began playing the piano at the age of 13. He was taught by KMD Jens Goldhardt on the organ at Gotha’s Margaretenkirche and studied Church Music A (Master of Music) at the Protestant University of Church Music in Halle from 2012 to 2019. From 2019 to 2021, he completed the Master’s programme in ‘Artistic Organ Performance’ under Prof. Matthias Dreißig (organ), Cornelia Osterwald (harpsichord) and Ute Erben (piano). Since 2019, he has been working as a regional cantor in the northern region of the Gotha church district.

Both artists perform with passion and are delighted to have the opportunity to showcase this in the Friedensauer Chapel. This concert brings the 2025/26 academic year to a festive close. A warm welcome to all music lovers for this special event!