My friend (and fine composer) Daniel Dorff has let met know about an upcoming event celebrating Charles Ives on the occasion of a new Theodore Presser Co. publication. Danny writes:

I’m writing to invite you to celebrate Charles Ives’s birthday, Saturday October 20, 2012 by joining the worldwide Ives Complete Organ Music Birthday Bash (ICOMBB), also celebrating the new publication of his COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC. The book includes many unfamiliar Ives organ works, as well as critical editions of Variations on “America” in both the original 1892 version and the familiar 1949 E. Power Biggs edition.

To participate, simply ask your organist-friends to get a copy of the book when it comes out in mid-September, and schedule a performance of part or all of the book on Ives’s birthday. We plan to make lots of noise on this special day, so please forward this invitation to your friends, colleagues, and make internet announcements, to help the party go viral.

Please feel free to publicize your events and everyone else’s, upload to YouTube, and let us know concert info c/o ddorff@presser.com and the complete list will be publicized to the media and available for all other organizations to share and announce.

There are no rules or protocols, just a global birthday party celebrating Ives and his organ music.

More info on the book since it’s not out yet – Charles Ives COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC contains 62 pages of music and 16 pages of historical and critical notes. Organists already familiar with Variations on “America” will be able to learn the other works during the time between the book’s release and the birthday event. The publication will be available from the shopping cart at http://www.presser.com as soon as we receive it, and from your favorite dealer as soon as they order it (443-41003, $29.95).