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Stephen C. Price

Stephen C. Price

Stephen “Stef” C. Price recently joined the music faculty at the University of Washington (Seattle) as the inaugural Paul B. Fritts Faculty Fellow and Artist-in-Residence and head of organ studies beginning in September 2023. Dr. Price teaches organ performance, church music, and keyboard harmony courses. In addition, he leads ongoing initiatives toward the development and revitalization efforts of the UW program, continuing the legacy of his predecessor, Dr. Carole Terry.

Several initiatives have taken place under his leadership, including reinstating the Annual Walker-Ames Halloween Organ Concert, organizing masterclasses by nationally renowned guest artists, and leading University projects connecting donors to the organ program and School of Music. Dr. Price also organizes yearly rental agreements with Seattle churches and the School of Music, allowing students to utilize the eclectic range of organs available in the city.

In the formative years of study, he served on the music ministry staff at Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church and as an Organ Scholar at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Buffalo, New York. Subsequently, he attended Western Connecticut State University (Danbury, CT) and concurrently served as Organ Scholar at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the Green (Norwalk, CT). Following undergraduate studies, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to Toulouse, France, where he studied "Historical and Modern" performance practices of French organ music. Upon returning to the States, he enrolled at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), receiving the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees.

In addition, he competed and garnered awards in international competitions, including the Franz Schmidt Organ Competition (Austria), the André Marchal Organ Competition (France), and the Canadian International Organ Competition (Montreal).

Following his graduate studies, he accepted a full-time position as Associate Director of Music and Organist at First United Methodist Church, San Diego, California (2015-2017). He then received an assistant teaching professorship at Ball State University (Muncie, IN). During his appointment (2018-2023), he taught organ performance, church music, music history, and music theory courses. In addition, he served as coordinator for the Sursa American Organ Competition, a national event open to high school and pre-professional organists hosted at Ball State.

His professional activity includes presentations on pedagogy, organ literature, and hymn playing for chapters of the American Guild of Organists. As a performer, he has given concerts around the U.S., including the recent premiere of Psalm 23 for Organ, composed by Dr. Eurydice Osterman for the 2024 AGO National Convention in San Francisco. He has participated as a juror for competitions, including the National Organ Playing Competition (Fort Wayne, IN); the Strader Organ Scholarship Competition (University of Cincinnati); and the 2024 Barlow Prize Endowment for Music Competition – Organ (Snowbird, UT).

The 2024-2025 season includes appearances at Christ Church Anglican Cathedral (Victoria, B.C.), Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church (Seattle, WA), Loyola University (Chicago, IL), and a juror for the Taylor National Organ Competition (Atlanta, GA). Additionally, Michael Barone has featured recordings and live performances on the Pipedreams broadcast on NPR.

Teachers: Andrew Scanlon, Stephen Roberts, Vince Edwards, Michel Bouvard, Jan Willem Jansen, Bruce Neswick, Wilma Jensen, and Janette Fishell.

Dr. Price’s debut album, Paris Impact Organ Suites, is released on the Raven recording label. 

He is represented by Seven Eight Artists: SevenEightArtists.com/price 

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Renée Anne Louprette

Renée Anne Louprette (photo credit: Joshua South)

"She presented herself as a communicative player with no shortage of imaginative ideas, with
fingers fully capable of backing them up, and with feet which are not just nimble on the pedals, 
but every bit as expressively articulate as her fingers." (Michael Dervan, The Irish Times)

Hailed by The New York Times as “splendid,” and “one of New York's finest organists,” Renée Anne Louprette maintains an international career as organ recitalist, collaborative artist, conductor, and teacher, and is director of the National Competition in Organ Improvisation. She is associated with several distinguished music programs in the New York City area, having served as Associate Director of Music at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Associate Director of Music and the Arts at Trinity Wall Street, Organist and Associate Director at the Unitarian Church of All Souls, and Director of Music at the Church of Notre Dame.

Ms. Louprette is a U.S.-Romanian Fulbright Scholar who spent the Fall 2022 season in Brașov, Transylvania, completing research on historic Romanian pipe organs. She is Assistant Professor of Music and College Organist at Bard College and a member of the faculty of Bard College Conservatory, where she directs the Bard Baroque Ensemble and leads an annual Bach cantata series. She has directed the organ program at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University since 2013 and is a former faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music, The Hartt School of the University of Hartford, and the John J. Cali School of Music of Montclair State University. 

Ms. Louprette’s European festival recital appearances include Internationaler Orgelsommer, Stuttgart, Germany; Magadino, Switzerland; In Tempore Organi, Italy; Ghent and Hasselt, Belgium; Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Uppsala and Lund cathedrals, Sweden; Bordeaux Cathedral and Toulouse Les Orgues, France, and Organ Nights in Brașov, Romania. In 2018, she made her solo debuts at the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. She has performed throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, including at Westminster Abbey and the Temple Church in London, St. Giles Cathedral Edinburgh and Dunblane Cathedral (Scotland), Galway Cathedral and Dún Laoghaire (Ireland). 

Her recording of J. S. Bach’s "Great Eighteen Chorales" on the Metzler organ of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, was named a classical music Critics' Choice 2014 by The New York Times. “Une voix française | A French Voice”—her recording of 20th-century French organ repertoire on the Mander organ of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York—received top reviews in British journals Choir & Organ and Organists’ Review and the Dutch journal Orgelniews. Her current recording of Bach’s Clavier-Übung III performed on the Craighead-Saunders organ of Christ Church, Rochester, New York, is scheduled for release in 2023. 

As a collaborative keyboardist, Ms. Louprette has performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane, Australia, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the American Brass Quintet, Voices of Ascension, Clarion Music Society, American Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Dance Project, The Dessoff Choirs, Oratorio Society of New York, and Piffaro, among many other ensembles. She has partnered with traditional Irish musician Ivan Goff, with whom she debuted at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles presenting the world premiere of a new work for uilleann pipes and organ by Eve Beglarian, commissioned for the Louprette-Goff duo by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The duo released their album “Bright Vision” to critical acclaim in 2019. The 2021-2022 season featured a join recital in Cluj-Napoca with Romanian saxophonist Zoltán Réman, concerto debuts with The Orchestra Now at the Bard Music Festival “Nadia Boulanger and her World” and with the Auburn Symphony Orchestra at Benaroya Hall in Seattle for the national convention of the American Guild of Organists. 

Ms. Louprette has conducted performances by professional choirs in the greater New York City area accompanied by members of Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola, including the acclaimed U.S. premiere of John Tavener’s Requiem as co-conductor with Kent Tritle. She was selected as a conducting fellow of the Mostly Modern Festival in 2019, premiering several new works with the New York-based American Modern Ensemble. 

Renée Anne Louprette holds a Master of Music degree in conducting from Bard College Conservatory, a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in piano performance and Graduate Professional Diploma in organ performance from The Hartt School, University of Hartford. She was awarded a Premier Prix - mention très bien from the Conservatoire National de Région de Toulouse, France and a Diplôme Supérieur in organ performance from the Centre d’Études Supérieures de Musique et de Danse de Toulouse where she studied with Michel Bouvard and Jan Willem Jansen (interpretation) and Philippe Lefebvre (improvisation). She completed additional studies in organ with Dame Gillian Weir, James David Christie, and Guy Bovet.

Renée Anne Louprette is represented in North America exclusively by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC. 
www.concertartists.com
E-mail:  [email protected]
Phone: 860-560-7800
10 Abbott Lane, Dearborn, MI 48120-1001

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