I've never seen the lady perform in person, but there are lots of video clips on YouTube, and something over 400 episodes of her Joy of Music series on cable.</P>
She dresses a tad flashily, but I like mosther performances.</P>
Does anyone know why she has virtually no recorded legacy (other than the above mentioned videos)?</P>
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I believe her legacy is the video recordings..i suspect they will be playing somewhere in 100 years...she reaches more people in one episode airing in one local t.v. market than most classical pipe organ CD's get made for a total run.
some time ago i read that she has retired and stopped producing her Joy of Music (sadly I wasn't able to watch Joy of music till now cause I live in Germany and dont know how to watch it here...) can someone confirm this?</p>
i think NYCFarmboy is right... for Diane Bish Joy of Music (the title says all...) is her legacy (she produced nearly 500 episodes and over 300 Million people watch it every week!) </p>
some time ago i read that she has retired and stopped producing her Joy of Music
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I have seen recent Joy of Music episodes with 2008 and 2009 Copyright dates. While some of these newer episodes arecompilations of prior performances,others represent new recordings. YouTube is a great way to see her -- there are dozens of videos posted there.</P>
[quote user="NYCFarmboy"]I believe her legacy is the video recordings..i suspect they will be playing somewhere in 100 years...she reaches more people in one episode airing in one local t.v. market than most classical pipe organ CD's get made for a total run.[/quote]</P>
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For sure. I think she has probably done more to make people aware of pipe organs than anyone in recent memory.</P>
It was my understanding she left Coral Ridge Presbyterian, and moved to the mid-west. I do know she has some sort of relationship with Allen Organ. </P>
A friend of mine from college was supposed to be working for her, transcribing herperformances to printed music when he was living in Indianapolis. I haven't heard anything beyond that.</P>
Michael</P>
Way too many organs to list, but I do have 5 Allens:
Diane lives in Bloomington, Indiana with harpist Susann McDonald. She has not been at Coral Ridge Presbyterian for many years. However, she recently sold a Signature Series Allen to them for their chapel.
Diane Joyce Bish, born on May 25, 1941, in Kansas, is an organist, composer, and executive producer. She is known for her program, The Joy of Music Television Series, which is broadcast internationally to over 300 million people each week, and recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. She has recorded over 475 episodes, each of which show her playing one or more different pipe or digital organs, sometimes with world-famous musicians; many of the world's most significant organs have been covered thus far.</P>
Bish graduated from Wichita High School East in 1959. She had played on the 1925Austin Organ installed in the school auditorium. In 1984, she returned there to play a benefit concert, which raised enough money for the organ to be restored.<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-0><SPAN>[</SPAN>1<SPAN>]</SPAN></SUP></P>
Diane Bish began studying organ as a student of Dorothy Addy, then of Mildred Andrews. Later, she was a recipient of Fulbright and French government grants for study in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt, and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, and Marie-Claire Alain.</P>
In addition, she served for over 20 years as organist at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where she designed the 117 rank Ruffatti organ in the sanctuary.</P>
In 1989, Diane Bish was awarded the National Citation by the National Federation of Music Clubs of America, considered to be the Federation's highest honor. She shares this rare distinction "for distinguished service to the musical, artistic, and cultural life of the nation" with such legends as Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, Van Cliburn, Robert Shaw, Irving Berlin and Fred Waring among others.</P>
On October 30, 2002, Bish's home in Bloomington, Indiana, was completely consumed by fire. The house and contents were a total loss. Among her possessions lost were a black Yamaha grand piano and her Rodgers 940 digital organ.</P>
Last March 2008, I went to see Diane Bish at a concert at Bethel College in St Paul Mn. Of course, a week before the concert I had to have surgery on my foot but I went in a wheelchair because I was not going to miss it. In talking to others at the concertsome said they had came from a couple hundred miles away. The last time she was scheduled to be in concert here her house burned down a week before the date.</P>
She was also at Guardian Angels Catholic church, in St Paulin Oct 2008, doing a dedication because theybought a Diane Bish signature organ. </P>
I get her news letter every month and I have not read that she has retired. But I have not gotten anotice that she is going on a tourand an invite to to go on one of her tours since last year and there is no concert schedule on her web site. She usually tells all of importance to her even a notice when Chantay, her little dog died last year. She had the dog on several shows.</P>
I also have not seen any new organ books on her site but I hope she does have some new ones published as I have all her books and there is a a lot of good arrangements in them. (Of course some I don't like also) My husband asks me how can one organist have so many books? But he doesn't know at least 1/4 of almost every book has either songs or arrangments I don't care for . (Except for the old composers like Bach)</P>
I was also going to add that I did see a plac on the organ of the Coral Ridge Chapel and it read" Given in memory of Howard and Esther Bish"I thought it said by Diane Bish but I am not sure. I just seems to me I remember she donated it. I suppose the church could of donated it in their honor.</P>
I believe I read something that appropriately described Diane Bish as a "true ambassador of the organ." Many will be quick to nitpick her playing (which I find quite impressive, with a fine level of technical proficiency). However, I owe a great deal to the "First Lady of the Organ." She is, in fact, why I started playing. At age 8, I saw an episode of "The Joy of Music," and decided in that moment that I wanted to play the organ. That was 12 years ago, and I am still enjoying the organ to the fullest, and intend to continue playing as long as I am able to do so. I saw Diane in concert in Lancaster, PA some time ago, and she was a joy to watch. Absolutely, unequivocably, the ambassador of our instrument. No other organist has brought the joy of the organ to so many people in such a mainstream, unique manner.
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