Performances — Reviews
“In March, Capital Region (of NYS) concertgoers were treated to a rare live performance of Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Conducted by Music Director Helen Cha-Pyo, the Empire State Youth Orchestra was joined by guest organist Alfred V. Fedak. The hall's organ is tuned a half-tone higher than the orchestra, so an organ was rented for the performance. Ms. Cha-Pyo's training as an organist was instrumental in placing the organ's speakers face-up on the stage floor behind the orchestra to take advantage of the hall's renowned acoustics -- that allowed Mr. Fedak to literally and figuratively pull out all the stops!”
— Upbeat (League of American Orchestras Newsletter), Spring 2013
“Methodist bishop William Willimon and composer Alfred Fedak headlined the fifth "Word and Note" conference January 18-20 [2013] at Plymouth Congregational Church, Wichita, Kansas. Plymouth commissioned a hymn from Fedak for this year's conference. He chose Mary Louise Bringle to write the text, and the team created ‘God Is the Poet,’ which premiered during the weekend's Sunday worship. Saturday evening's concert featured Kansas' premiere choral group, the Wichita Chamber Chorale under the direction of Dr. Mark W. Bartel, director of choral music at Friends University, Wichita. The chorale performed Fedak’s For Us the Living: A Requiem with an eight-member orchestra plus Fedak at the organ. The title of the piece is drawn from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which directs us to honor those who have gone before us by dedicating ourselves to their unfinished work.”
— The Congregationalist, June 2013
“After the intermission, Alfred Fedak played his own Sonata I for Worship. Mr. Fedak is, of course, one of our country’s finest organists, and a popular composer for his instrument. The Sonata includes a mighty Prelude and an Aria in Homage to Bach; it is completed by a ‘Carillon’ (no bells) on Psalm 42 (‘As the hart panteth’) Always a sensitive accompanist throughout the program, Mr. Fedak displayed here his virtuosic mastery of his church’s storied instrument.”
— Times Union, October 20, 2010
“Albany organist Alfred V. Fedak gave an intense and engrossing performance of [Daniel Pinkham’s] “Proverbs” (1979). This is organ music unlike anything you've ever heard. Full-volume, angry, dissonant tone clusters, novel uses of organ stops for colors, and wandering or swirling lines like a mad merry-go-round created a restless, sometimes demonic mood.”
— Daily Gazette, March 3, 2009
“Also on the program was F. J. Haydn’s Organ Concerto in F with chorus accompanist Alfred V. Fedak as the soloist. Light-hearted with lovely sweet melodies, the work just sails along as merrily as a breeze. Fedak had plenty of trills and rapid technical passages and he mixed organ stops as frequently as every few bars to color the music with almost humorous nuances.”
— Daily Gazette, March 23, 1999