David Kiefer is one of the most exciting organists of his generation. On Easter Monday, he will be playing in the parish church of St. Agatha in Mettingen, from baroque to romantic to contemporary music, from Bach to Olivier Messiaen. Born in Gengenbach in 1996, he studied church music, school music and concert organ and organ improvisation at the Freiburg University of Music. Formative teachers were Martin Schmeding, Matthias Maierhofer, Vincent Dubois, David Franke and Morten Schuldt-Jensen. He deepened his penchant for the French repertoire at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris and at the Conservatoire de Toulouse with Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard.

In 2024/25 Kiefer was assistant to the cathedral organist at Cologne Cathedral, and since October 2024 he has been teaching organ and organ improvisation at the Freiburg University of Music.

His skills have been recognized at numerous competitions – including 1st prize at the Maria Hofer Organ Competition (2018), 2nd prize in Dudelange (2021), 1st prize at the Prix Boëllmann-Gigout Strasbourg (2022), several second and third prizes at renowned improvisation and interpretation competitions in Wiesbaden, Linz, Cologne, Korschenbroich and Opava, and most recently 1st prize at the Silbermann Competition Freiberg 2025, which made him a “Young ECHO Organist 2026”.

Kiefer has also received several academic awards – including the Deutschlandstipendium, the Cusanuswerk scholarship, the prize for outstanding artistic achievements in the Konzertexamen course and the Konzerthaus Prize Freiburg.

Concert tours take him regularly at home and abroad, including to Paris (St. Eustache), Versailles, Stuttgart, Naumburg, Bayreuth, Freiburg Cathedral, Cologne Cathedral and the “Toulouse les orgues” festival.

An artist who shows how lively, surprising and contemporary organ music can sound today.

Program:

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major BWV 564

Georg Böhm (1661-1733)
Christ lag in Todesbanden

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr BWV 664

Improvisation on “Bleibe bei uns, du Wandrer durch die Zeit” (GL 325)

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
“Joie et clarté des corps glorieux” from “Les corps glorieux”

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
from Symphony No.5, op. 42 No.1:

IV. Adagio
V. Toccata