Piet van Egmond
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Piet van Egmond received his first piano and organ lessons from Wouter Westerhoud, the organist of the Oranjekerk in Amsterdam. On the advice and with the support of the ward pastor, Rev. M.J.A. de Vrijer, he went to the music school of Toonkunst, where he received organ lessons from Anton H. Tierie. According to tradition, Van Egmond gave his first organ concert in 1927 in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam with a Bach programme. In the same year he was admitted to the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he studied organ with Cornelis de Wolf. In 1931 he obtained the diploma of organ, in 1933 he took the soloist exam for organ and in 1935 he obtained the diploma of piano after studying with Nelly Wagenaar.
In 1929 he started as organist in the Eltheto Church in Amsterdam East. In 1931 he was appointed organist and choirmaster in the Luther Chapel of the Restored Evangelical Lutheran Church. There, in 1936, he performed Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion for the first time with the two choirs he was conducting at the time.In 1937 he became the successor of Jan Zwart in the Restored Evangelical Lutheran Church on the Kloveniersburgwal. He was dismissed in 1941 after it turned out that he had become organist of the City Theater in Amsterdam in the same year, a position he held until the end of that year.
In 1931 he also started his career as an organist with the AVRO, which lasted until 1940. In 1948 he joined the NCRV to give "popular organ performances" on the organ of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, which were later moved to the Prinsessekerk in Amsterdam. In 1933 Van Egmond was appointed organist of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
After the Second World War he became organist of the Jerusalem Church (1952-1956), the Bach Hall congregation and then the St. Thomas Church in Amsterdam (1956-1967), the Reformed Wilhelmina Church (now part of the Dutch Reformed Churches) in Haarlem and finally the Grote Kerk in Apeldoorn (1971-1977).
He gained great fame for his visual organ improvisations on psalms and spiritual songs at the end of his organ concerts and during (singing) services. His annual performances of Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Amsterdam Oratorio Choir and the boys' choir of the Roman Catholic Peace Schools in Amsterdam in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and in St Bavo's Church in Aardenburg also attracted large audiences.
