Well-traveled organist to make first stop at Columbus cathedral
Organist Karel Paukert will celebrate several milestones this week. On Wednesday, the Czech-born organist turned 85.
And on Sunday, Paukert — who has served as the organist of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights since 1979 — will make his concert debut at St. Joseph Cathedral.
As part of the Cathedral Concerts series, the organist will perform the Christmasthemed work “La Nativite du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord)” by French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992).
“I may not make it upstairs to the organ,” Paukert joked, referring to his recent birthday.
In all seriousness, Paukert attributes his longevity at the organ console to good habits in everyday life.
“I do weightlifting and I do aerobics and all of that,” he said. “That helps very much.”
Born in 1935 in the town of Skutec in what is now the Czech Republic, Paukert studied piano before being sidelined by an interest in sports.
“Then I like more soccer and tennis — and just simply moving around,” Paukert said. “I got back to piano when I was about 12 (or) 13, when I had a first love and I wanted to learn a piece that I would play for her.”
Paukert was around the same age when, by happenstance, he heard an organ performance broadcast on Radio Prague.
“I heard this wonderful organ piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, and I decided, ‘I will play the organ,’” he said. “And that was it.”
Paukert studied organ and oboe at the Prague Conservatory, but his path from student to professional musician was far from simple.
Frustrated with the lack of opportunities to perform sacred music in then-communist Czechoslovakia, Paukert accepted a position as the second oboist in
an orchestra in Reykjavik, Iceland.
“When I arrived, the Czech conductor who was there said, ‘You have to play first oboe because the Icelandic guy drinks too much,’” Paukert said.
After several more detours, Paukert made his way to the United States in 1964.
After teaching at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, the organist moved to Cleveland in 1974, where he was employed as the curator of musical arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art during much of his tenure at St. Paul’s.
Despite being widely traveled, Paukert had not previously performed at St. Joseph Cathedral; he had a chance to test its organ five years ago while in Columbus for a wedding at a nearby church. Paukert contacted the cathedral about performing “La Nativite du Seigneur,” prompting Director of Music Richard K. Fitzgerald to add the concert to the schedule.
“I was especially excited to have that work performed — especially Jan. 5, because Jan. 5 is Epiphany Sunday, so it’s still the Christmas season,” Fitzgerald said. “If it’s unfamiliar, it’s a great situation to hear it because you have a renowned organist playing a renowned organ.”
The work by Messiaen unfolds in nine sections, each relating to the birth of Jesus. The first movement is called “The Virgin and Child”; the last, “God Among Us.”
“It makes a beautiful presentation at Christmastime because it’s so about the events of the nativity,” said Paukert, who points to a movement called “Eternal Purposes.”
“You have these notearthlike sounds,” Paukert said.
The piece can be performed in as little as 45 minutes, but the organist has recently started to take his time with it.
“Now it’s more like in the 50s,” he said. “I didn’t have patience for slow movements — I just kind of felt, ‘Well, come on, come on.’”
In a venue like St. Joseph, he added, “You really can just give to it all that it needs.”