Nunc dimittis

Nunc Dimittis

Jonathan E. Biggers, associate professor of music and Edwin Link Endowed Professor in Organ and Harpsichord at Binghamton University, died unexpectedly on September 27 at his home in Vestal, New York. Born on February 10, 1960, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to Robert E. and Margaret V. Biggers, Jonathan earned bachelor and master degrees in music from the University of Alabama, and a doctorate in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music. He was awarded a Fulbright grant to study at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva, Switzerland. He won a unanimous first prize at the 1985 Geneva International Pipe Organ Competition, and also won the 1990 Calgary International Organ Festival Concerto Competition. Biggers presented hundreds of concerts in church and university settings throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, appeared as the featured soloist with orchestras in both the U. S. and Canada, and was featured many times on NPR “Pipedreams,” the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, and on radio and Television Suisse Romande broadcasts in Geneva, Switzerland. Jonathan E. Biggers is survived by his brother and sister in law, Fred and Caroline Biggers of Staunton, Virginia, and their children Claire and Sam to whom he was simply Uncle Jonathan.

George Bernard Bryant, Jr., died October 9 at the age of 77 of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Born June 17, 1939, in Nyack, New York, Bryant began playing the organ at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Nyack, while in high school, before attending the Juilliard School in New York City, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ. He returned to Nyack to serve as organist for St. Ann’s Church from 1966 until retirement in 2014. He was a founding member of the Rockland County Music Teachers Guild and served on the music commission of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. In 1978, he became organist of Temple Beth Torah, continuing until 2014. In 1992, Bryant formed the Rockland County Catholic Choir, an organization that has toured Europe and Canada on several occasions. The George Bryant scholarship was created in 1997 to promote organ students and their studies. 

Emily Ann Cooper-Gibson died at her home in Marshall, Texas, on May 19, 2016, after an extensive illness. Born in 1935, she won the American Guild of Organists National Competition at the 1956 national convention in New York City. She studied with Robert Ellis at Henderson College, Arkadelphia, Arkansas (BM, 1957), David Craighead at the Eastman School of Music (Performer’s Certificate and MM, 1961; DMA, 1969), and André Marchal in Paris, France (Fulbright Fellow, 1958–59). Cooper-Gibson taught at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minnesota, and Hardin-Simmons University, Abeline, Texas, and served at churches in Abeline, Texas; Rochester, New York; Washington, D. C.; Potomac and Bethesda, Maryland; and McLean, Virginia. From 1957 through 1998 she played recitals throughout the United States and Europe. Active in the AGO, she served as dean of several chapters. Emily Ann Cooper-Gibson is survived by Gerald Gibson, her husband of over 50 years.

James A. Wood of Concord, New Hampshire, died October 16 at the age of 90. He was born on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, February 8, 1926. After graduating from Nantucket High School he studied at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, majoring in organ with E. Power Biggs and George Faxon, and choral conducting with Sarah Caldwell. During World War II he served as an Army medic in Europe. After the war he continued his studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and Trinity College in London, England.

He served as director of music at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Nashua, New Hampshire, for 23 years, and at Saint Paul’s Church in Concord, New Hampshire, from 1970 until his retirement. In 1956 he joined the faculty of Saint Paul’s School in Concord and became head of the music department and director of chapel music in 1970. In 1955, he was a founder of the Actorsingers of Nashua, a community group of vocalists and actors producing musicals and operettas. He was a dean of the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and was named honorary member in 2008. He was also a president of the New Hampshire Music Teachers Association.

James A. Wood was pre-deceased by his wife, Constance A. Wood, a daughter, Licia A. O’Conor, and a grandson, Alexander. A memorial service was held at the Old Chapel at St. Paul’s School on October 22. Donations in his memory may be made to St. Paul’s School Music Department, 325 Pleasant Street, Concord New Hampshire 03301, or St. Paul’s Church Food Pantry, 21 Centre Street, Concord, New Hampshire 03301.

David Albert John Broome, Linda Lanier-Keosaian, Donald G. Larson, Elizabeth “Betty” Lankford Peek, Jane Elizabeth Sawyer

David Albert John Broome, 81, of Windsor Locks, Connecticut, died March 17 after a long illness. He is remembered as one of the world’s foremost reed voicers. Born in Leicester, England on February 21, 1932, he served two years in the Royal Air Force. In 1948, David began his career in organbuilding at J.W. Walker Sons, Ltd in London, England and immigrated to the United States after marrying Caroline Mason in Leicester on October 27, 1956. The Broomes settled in Windsor Locks, Connecticut in 1958 after moving from Hartford, where David had been recruited to join Austin Organs. 

By 1978, he had risen to the executive post of vice president and tonal director at Austin, a position he held until his retirement in 1999. Broome was responsible for the finishing and tonal design of more than 150 organs worldwide, including those at Brompton Oratory, London; Nassau Cathedral, Bahamas; Adelaide Cathedral, Australia; Riverside Church Chapel and First Presbyterian Church, New York City; Czestochowa National Shrine, Doylestown, Pennsylvania; St. John’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford, and Trinity College Chapel, Hartford. 

Since his retirement from Austin, David and his son Christopher operated Broome and Company, voicing reeds for restorations and new installations, including those at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania; Woolsey Hall, Yale University, and the Duke University Chapel. David Broome is survived by his wife of 56 years, Caroline (Mason) Broome, four children, ten grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. 

Linda Lanier-Keosaian died January 28; she was 72. She received her BMus degree in organ from Westminster Choir College, and her MSM degree from Union Theological Seminary. At the time of her death, Lanier-Keosaian was working on her Ph.D. in music education at New York University; her doctoral dissertation concerned different interpretive approaches to Franck’s Choral No. 3 in A Minor. As a church organist and choir director, she served numerous churches, include Connecticut Farms Presbyterian in Union, New Jersey, First Congregational in Chatham, Massachusetts, Wilton Congregational in Wilton, Connecticut, and most recently, the Church of the Annunciation in Oradell, New Jersey. 

She and her husband, Rev. Gregory Keosaian, served for 20 years as musician and pastor, respectively, for several Presbyterian churches in New Jersey, including Second Presbyterian in Rahway and Trinity in Paramus. A longtime AGO member, Lanier-Keosaian was a music teacher and choral conductor in the New Jersey public school system for more than 25 years. She founded the New Jersey High School Women’s Choir Festival and was co-founder of the Essex County Choral Festival. Linda Lanier-Keosaian is survived by her husband of 30 years, Gregory Keosaian, two children, and five grandchildren.

Donald G. Larson died February 26 in Decatur, Georgia.  Born in Fargo, North Dakota, he was raised on a farm near Moorhead, Minnesota. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree in church music from Northwestern University, where he was a student of Thomas Matthews. He served as a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army and as organist at Wheaton College in Illinois. He moved to Atlanta in 1960.

Larson spent more than 30 years as music teacher and counselor at Georgia Perimeter College and was awarded professor emeritus status in 1995. He also served as minister of music at three Atlanta-area churches. A long-time member of the Atlanta AGO chapter, he served on the executive committee several times and for 32 years offered monthly classes in training for the Guild exams. Donald G. Larson is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jacqueline, a son, a daughter Marcia, and grandchildren.

Elizabeth “Betty” Lankford Peek died March 24. She had served as associate minister of music at Covenant Presbyterian Church for more than 47 years. Born June 10, 1929, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she graduated from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, in 1950, and earned the MSM degree from Union Theological Seminary, where she studied organ and composition with M. Searle Wright.

On June 6, 1952, she married Richard Maurice Peek, whom she met at Union. The Peeks were invited to interview for positions at Charlotte’s new Covenant Presbyterian Church. They began their ministry at Covenant July 1, 1952. Over the next 47 years, the Peeks developed and led a music ministry that became one of the most renowned church music programs in the nation.

Arriving long before the city had a full-time symphony orchestra or a performing arts center, the Peeks introduced Charlotte to world-class music by producing free concerts and sponsoring visits by choirs and organists from around the world. There are three pipe organs in the sanctuary building, and the bell tower houses Charlotte’s first cast-bronze carillon.  

Mrs. Peek directed the children’s choirs at Covenant, and also directed the handbell choirs, the first in Charlotte. During worship services and also during special performances she often served as organist while Dr. Peek conducted. She led and participated in numerous music and worship conferences, and served as president of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians from 1978 to 1980. In the mid-eighties she was appointed to the committee to develop a new hymnal for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 

In 1991 the Peeks led Covenant’s adult choir on the first of several concert tours in Great Britain and Europe, with programs in St. Paul’s Cathedral, York Minster, St. Giles Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, and other well-known churches. When Mrs. Peek and her husband retired in December 1999, Covenant published a 164-page book about the couple. Dr. Peek died in 2005. Mrs. Peek is survived by two sons and two grandchildren.  

Jane Elizabeth Sawyer died July 12, 2012 in Boulder, Colorado; she was 60 years old. The longtime director of music at the First Congregational Church in Boulder, she played the organ, directed vocal and handbell choirs, and was instrumental in rebuilding the church’s organ and in bringing in noted organists for recitals. Sawyer earned bachelor’s degrees in math and music at the University of Wyoming, earned a master’s degree in organ at Southern Methodist University, and did doctoral work in music theory at the Eastman School of Music, where she also was an instructor. In Rochester, New York, she served as director of music and organist at Irondequoit United Church of Christ from 1988 to 1997; she held other church positions in Boulder, Rochester, Dallas, and Laramie, Wyoming. Sawyer served on the executive board of the Denver AGO chapter and was a member of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers and the Choristers Guild. Jane Elizabeth Sawyer is survived by her brother.

Nunc Dimittis

Richard William Knapp, 80, of West Simsbury, Connecticut, died February 21. Born in Mineola, New York, on May 15, 1935, Knapp earned a bachelor of science degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957 and a master’s degree in nuclear science from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hartford Graduate Center, in 1959.

A pianist, organist, harpsichordist, and choral conductor, his early musical studies were with his father-in-law Glenn H. Smith of West Hartford. Knapp won the American Guild of Organists Hartford Chapter “Young Organist Award” in the late 1940s. A church musician for sixty years, he served as organist and director of music at the First United Methodist Church, Hartford, from 1957 through 1988.

As a teenager, Knapp installed a pipe organ in the family residence in West Hartford. Later, he designed, sold, and installed numerous instruments throughout New England as regional representative of Casavant Frères, of St-Hyacinthe, Québec, from 1966 until his death.

A firm believer in the positive role of nuclear power in promoting clean air and energy independence, Knapp worked for forty years in the commercial nuclear power field, starting as an experimental physicist with Combustion Engineering, Inc., in Windsor, Connecticut; he retired as director of nuclear systems business development for ABB-Combustion Engineering in 1997. He authored and presented numerous technical papers and received two patents and various awards for his work in nuclear power.

Richard William Knapp is survived by his wife Ann Stanford Baird Knapp, daughter Charlotte Knapp of Silver Spring, Maryland, son Jonathan of Tolland, Connecticut, daughter Lucelia Fryer of Tariffville, Connecticut, son William of Palm City, Florida, and several grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Demaris Smith Knapp, in 2005 and brother Peter J. Knapp in 2014.

Organist and physician Robert B. Scoggins, 83, died March 27 in Richmond, Virginia, where he and his wife of 56 years, the former Nancy Lee King, moved in 1965. The Scogginses became members of St. James’s Episcopal Church, where Bob substituted regularly on the four-manual Austin organ and twice served as interim organist. He served on organ committees at St. James’s that selected the 80-rank Rieger organ installed in 1974 and destroyed in the fire of 1994 and the 61-stop Fisk Opus 112 that was dedicated in 1999.  

A dermatologist trained at Emory and Harvard and an officer of the U. S. Public Health Service at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, where he conducted research, Dr. Scoggins came to Richmond to join the medical faculty at the Medical College of Virginia (now Virginia Commonwealth University). He entered private practice in 1969, remaining as a volunteer on the medical school’s faculty, eventually as clinical professor of dermatology, until his retirement at age 70. 

Born January 18, 1933, in Athens, Georgia, he took organ lessons there before entering high school at age 12. He was appointed organist of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Griffin, Georgia, playing the 1929 Pilcher 2-manual organ while completing high school. He worked as an organist for churches in Atlanta and elsewhere during his undergraduate and medical training at Emory University, including St. Paul’s and Grace United Methodist Churches. The Scogginses were married in 1960 in Atlanta at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, where Bob was the organist. During his residency in dermatology and work as a Harvard research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Scoggins pursued his musical interests with organ lessons given by John Cook.

Bob and Nancy Scoggins served many arts and cultural organizations, including the Richmond Symphony, the Richmond Fan District Association, the Federated Arts Council of Richmond, the Virginia Opera, the Riverside School, and the Vestry and various committees of St. James’s Church. Robert Scoggins is survived by his wife Nancy, daughter Elizabeth of Richmond, son Robert and grandson Ben of Colorado, and sister Joanne Taylor of Tallahassee, Florida. ν

William Brant Mills, Don G. Campbell, Steven Alan Clark, Rockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr., Dale Alexander Gilliland, E. Robert Irwin

Nunc Dimittis

William Brant Mills of Florence, South Carolina, died on February 18 at the age of 68. A diaconal minister in the United Methodist Church, Mills had served as director of music and organist at Central United Methodist Church in Florence for over 42 years. 

Mills earned degrees in organ performance—a Bachelor of Music from Florida State University, and a Master of Music from the University of South Carolina. He also did post-graduate study at Indiana University, Southern Methodist University, Stanford University, and Columbia College. Mills was founder and director of the Masterworks Choir in Florence, which toured Austria and Germany, participated in the Piccolo Spoleto festival, and sang services at Washington National Cathedral. The Masterworks Choir also sang choral works of Robert Powell at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville, South Carolina, when Powell retired. William Brant Mills is survived by his children, Brantley Rees Mills and Susan Mills Rana, and four grandchildren.

Don G. Campbell, age 65, died June 2 in Boulder, Colorado. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Campbell studied at the Fontainebleau Conservatory in France, and earned two degrees at the University of North Texas. He was the author of 23 books, including the bestsellers The Mozart Effect and The Mozart Effect for Children; his most recent book, released in 2011, was Healing at the Speed of Sound, co-authored with Alex Doman. Campbell founded the Institute of Music, Health, and Education in Boulder in 1988, serving as its director until 1997. He also was involved with Aesthetic Audio Systems, which worked with hospitals and health care systems to provide music systems to optimize healing. Campbell was a member of the Denver AGO chapter, for which he served on the executive board.

The American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado is creating the Don Campbell Collection to house his books, videos, DVDs, and documents, including source material for several of Campbell’s most popular works. The collection will also include private letters from Nadia Boulanger, Campbell’s teacher. 

Steven Alan Clark died July 14 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 60 years old. He began organ study at age eleven, and earned a bachelor’s degree in organ and a master’s in choral conducting at the University of Tennessee. Clark served as organist-choirmaster at six churches in Tennessee and Florida, and served in a number of leadership roles in the AGO. He was also a licensed massage therapist. Steven Alan Clark is survived by his wife, Donna, two daughters, two grandchildren, his father, four siblings, a sister-in-law and two brothers-in-law, and seven nephews. 

Rockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr. died in Davidson, North Carolina on July 26 at age 59. He was organist at Davidson Methodist Church and earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1974, studying organ with Wilmer Hayden Welsh. He earned a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory in 1976, where his major teachers were Cherry Rhodes and Donald Sutherland. Deaton moved to New York City in 1976 and studied with Calvin Hampton, and played for churches in the New York area, including St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Woodhaven, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration. Deaton’s advertising career took him around the world; he served as senior vice president at Publicis New York, among other positions that he held. In 2000, Deaton returned to Davidson, where he established a marketing company and became involved in local organizations. There he served in substitute and interim organist positions. Rockwell Lewis Deaton Jr. is survived by his partner Robert Guttman, two children, two grandchildren, in-laws, and cousins.

Dale Alexander Gilliland, age 79, died June 28 in Bellevue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began organ studies at age twelve and started his 63-year career as a church organist at Knoxville Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1949. During the Korean War, Gilliland served as a chaplain’s assistant and organist at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; following military service, he served various churches. Gilliland served as treasurer of the Pittsburgh AGO chapter and was on the 1999 AGO Region III convention committee, was past president and treasurer of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and a committee member of the Pittsburgh Organ Academy. Dale Alexander Gilliland is survived by Elizabeth Douglas Gilliland, three daughters, and two grandsons. 

E. Robert Irwin died July 28 in Norfolk, Virginia. He was 73 years old. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Irwin studied organ at the Oberlin Conservatory, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1961. He earned a doctorate in organ and sacred music from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Craighead. Irwin was a professor of music at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he taught organ, music history and theory, and organ literature for 24 years and established a program in church music. He was honored twice by the university as teacher of the year. During retirement, he served as a church musician in Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina. E. Robert Irwin is survived by his wife, Claudette Smith-Irwin, two sons, a daughter, a brother, and five grandchildren.

Royston John Merritt Jr. died on July 7 at the age of 84 in Matthews, North Carolina. After serving in the U.S. Army, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and worked at DuPont, Reigle Paper, and First Union Bank. He also enjoyed a 53-year career as organist and choirmaster, serving numerous churches, the last of which was Central Steele Creek Presbyterian. Merritt was active in the Charlotte Oratorio Singers and the Charlotte AGO chapter, the North Carolina Train Host Association, and at the Plantation Estates Retirement Community where he resided. Royston John Merritt Jr. is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jean, three children, ten grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Thomas H. Schleis died July 19 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He was 62. Schleis studied piano, organ, and harpsichord at Lawrence University and received a master’s degree in musicology at the University of Wisconsin. He was also a Fulbright scholar, conducting research in Germany. An adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois since 1981, Schleis taught music history and performance, and served as head coach of the opera department. He received the Excellence in Teaching and Faculty Service Award from the university continuing education association, and served as organist at the campus’s Newman Center for 33 years. Schleis was dean of the East Central Illinois AGO chapter for 15 years. Thomas H. Schleis is survived by a sister, a stepsister, and two stepbrothers.

Nunc Dimittis

G. Maurice Hinson died November 11, 2015. He was 84. Hinson served as professor of piano at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1957 to 2015, and as organist-choirmaster at churches in Florida, Michigan, and Kentucky from 1943 to 1980, including the First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida (starting at the age of 14) and concluding at Calvin Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1944–80. He earned a BA degree from the University of Florida and MM and DMA degrees from the University of Michigan; he also studied at the Juilliard School and the Conservatoire National in Nancy, France. The author of 14 books (most published by Indiana University Press) and over 100 articles, he is perhaps best known for his Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. He edited more than 300 editions of classical piano music and recorded five DVDs of piano works. A specialist in American piano music, some of his most recent articles appeared in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music. 

Hinson’s many awards in piano pedagogy and performance include the Liszt Commemorative Medal by the Hungarian government, and the American Liszt Society’s Medal of Excellence for his research on the music of Franz Liszt. He was the founding editor of the Journal of the American Liszt Society, and served as editor of the American Music Teacher, and contributing editor of The Piano Quarterly and Piano and Keybord. Hinson also served as dean of the Louisville (Kentucky) chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

G. Maurice Hinson is survived by his wife of 64 years, Margaret Hinson, daughter Susan Elizabeth Jordan, grandchildren Kendel, Lindsey, and Michelle Enoch, and Ross Jordan.  

René Saorgin, French organist, recording artist, and organ historian, died December 17 at the age of 87 in Nice. Born in 1928 in Cannes, he began his studies at the Nice Conservatoire. At the Paris Conservatoire he was a pupil of Maurice Duruflé and Noël Gallon for composition and took organ lessons from Gaston Litaize. He also studied organ with Fernando Germani. From 1954 to 1996 he was professor of organ at the National Regional Conservatoire in Nice. He served as titular organist at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste, Nice, from 1954 to 1984, and at the Cathedral of the Principality of Monaco from 1984 to 2005. He was a founder in 1962 of the Académie de St. Maximin. Saorgin’s work helped fuel a revival of interest and appreciation of historic French and Italian organs. His efforts facilitated the rediscovery of many instruments. Saorgin’s extensive discography includes more than 20 recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label, including the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude, as well as recordings of selected works of J. S. Bach and Georg Muffat.

Robert Schuneman, music publishing executive and long-time owner of ECS Music Publishing, died on December 4, 2015, in Wayland, Massachusetts. He was 81. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, Virginia, he was trained in music theory, composition, organ, piano, harpsichord, vocal music, and choral and instrumental conducting. He studied at State Conservatory of Music and University of Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, Valparaiso University (MusB, 1956), Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and Stanford University (MA, musicology, 1958).

Schuneman’s extensive career included working with narcotics addicts in Brooklyn; serving as a church musician in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Glens Falls, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Boston, Massachusetts; choral and orchestral conductor in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and teaching at Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, and Westminster Choir College. Schuneman also served as editor for The Diapason from 1970 to 1976.

In 1985 Schuneman and his wife Cynthia purchased E. C. Schirmer Music Company, where he had worked as a part-time editor. He became president of the parent company ECS Publishing Company, and in that role oversaw the publications associated with E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Galaxy Music Corporation, Ione Press, and Highgate Press. In 1995 Schuneman began Arsis Audio and went on to master and produce over two hundred recordings. He also served as conductor of the Philovox Ensemble of Boston.

As a music executive and conductor, Schuneman and his wife Cynthia traveled broadly, enjoyed time with their family, and also made time for Robert’s great enthusiasm for watching and playing soccer. He was active in a large number of professional music organizations including the Music Publishing Association of the United States, and was particularly active in the work of the American Guild of Organists, the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America. 

Robert Schuneman was preceded in death by his wife Cynthia in 2012. He sold ECS Publishing Corporation in 2013 and spent the last years of his life writing, conducting, traveling, and spending time with family, all the while keeping up an active schedule of playing soccer.