Acis is developing a new website for Isabelle Demers, “Isabelle Demers dot Organ” at www.isabelledemers.org

Facebook users can visit her fanpage here.

Michael Barone, presenter of Pipedreams for American Public Media featured the Fugue from Reger’s Op. 73 (CD: the new and the old) on his September 6, 2010 program.

Barone identified organist Isabelle Demers as, “definitely a talent to watch, to hear…”

“a masterful score, here masterfully played…”

THE NEW AND THE OLD
Isabelle Demers plays the 1995 Marcussen organ of Tonbridge School · Acis (for availability see www.acisproductions.com)

‘Isabelle Demers at the organ is a force of nature – a diminutive dynamo . . .’ So proclaim the sleeve notes of this highly engaging disc. Recorded on the wonderfully clear-sounding Marcussen organ of Tonbridge School, the programme springs into action with an energetic – but not rushed – performance of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D BWV 532. The articulation is smart and there are some cheeky changes of manual in the fugue that bring out the humour of this virtuosic piece. Isabelle Demer’s own arrangement of movements from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet are exciting, expressive and successful, exploiting the range of colours offered by the Tonbridge organ. Does the artist see something of herself in The Young Juliet with its contrasting impetuous and pensive moods? Reger’s Introduction, Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme Op. 73 are profound and searching, and demonstrate the depth and breadth of Isabelle Demers’ musicianship. I should like to hear more of her playing.
Christopher Maxim

The instrument serves Demers and her repertoire well, projecting the Reger in particular with great clarity. Acis’s recorded sound is superb. Carson Cooman, Fanfare Magazine

if you’re looking for an organ disc to rattle the rafters and shake the floor boards, this one should do quite nicely…Demers’s judicious choice of stops and her exceptionally clean voicing, aided by Acis’s clear, tightly focused recording, make for very satisfying modern Bach played in the manner of organists like Simon Preston and Michael Murray.

No comparison is to be made for Demers’s own arrangement of seven numbers from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, for this is an entirely unique creation. It certainly puts the Marcussen organ through its paces and highlights the artist’s technical skills, both as performer and arranger…

Max Reger’s Variations, and Fugue on an Original Theme in F♯-Minor…the music is a kaleidoscope through which pass the bent and broken rays of Bach’s virtuosic organ preludes and toccatas, alternating with fragmentary bits and pieces from his quieter, contemplative chorale preludes. It’s quite a dizzying display to listen to…I found it spellbinding….

This is a brilliantly played program and a superbly produced CD. Demers has my ear, and she should yours too. Organ lovers, revel.
Jerry Dubins, Fanfare Magazine

Rachel Laurin is a featured composer at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Washington, D.C. in July 2010. Her work, Fantasy for harp and organ, Op.52, will receive its premiere at the Convention. She is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, member of the “Ottawa New Music Creators” and has composed more than fifty works for various instruments, instrumental ensembles and orchestra. These works have been performed and recorded in major cities in America, Europe, Asia and South Africa. Her compositions are published by Les Editions Lucarel, Doberman, RCCO Publications (Canada), Europart (France), Hinshaw Music and Wayne Leupold Editions (USA) where she is “House Composer” since 2006. She has won many awards including the Prix Conrad-Letendre, the Holtkamp-AGO Composition Competition 2008, and the First Prize at the Marilyn Mason New Organ Music Competition 2009. Acis gratefully acknowledges the co-operation of sheet music publisher Les Editions Lucarel in the preparation of this release. Isabelle Demers will perform Laurin’s Symphony No. 1, op.36 at the AGO Convention.

Étude héroïque is available here:

Acis is proud to announce a distribution deal for our titles through Albany Music. The new and the old featuring organist Isabelle Demers, will be available from Albany and arkivmusic.com from August 2010.

the new and the old – l’ancien et le nouveau, is now available on iTunes.

Delivery to iTunes is anticipated shortly.