Daniel Hyde joins Hazard Chase, Ltd., concert management

Delbert Disselhorst

Delbert Disselhorst, 81, of Iowa City, Iowa, died September 1. He was born November 3, 1940, in Keokuk, Iowa, and attended public schools in Hamilton, Illinois. He enrolled at the University of Illinois where he graduated as a Bronze Tablet Scholar in 1962. Disselhorst was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for study with Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany. He returned to the United States in 1964 and earned a Master of Music degree in organ from the University of Illinois the following year.

Disselhorst taught at Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska, from 1965 until 1968. He then went to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ in 1970, receiving the Palmer Christian citation as a distinguished graduate of the organ department.

Disselhorst was professor of organ at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, from 1970 until his retirement in 2008. He was affiliated for many years with Phyllis Stringham concert management, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and played recitals and gave masterclasses throughout the United States and in Germany, France, Denmark, and Korea. He was guest artist at international festivals and concert series including the International Organ Days at Trier Cathedral in Germany; Freiburg Munster; and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. He played at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and served as visiting professor of organ at the University of Notre Dame for the 2011–2012 academic year. Disselhorst recorded on the Arkay and Pro Organo labels. His two volumes of the chorale preludes of Helmut Walcha recorded at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois, were released by the Naxos label in 2013. Recordings of an all-Bach recital that Disselhorst played in 1999 at Clapp Recital Hall on the University of Iowa campus are available at http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/03760.

Disselhorst served on the board of directors for Iowa City Early Keyboard Society. He was a long-time member of Trinity Episcopal Church, Iowa City, before joining First Presbyterian Church, Iowa City, where he was a member at the time of his death. Memorial contributions in Disselhorst’s memory may be made to the Frederick T. Rahn, Jr., Memorial Fund at the University of Iowa School of Music, payable to the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, P. O. Box 4550, Iowa City, Iowa 52244; or Bethel Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, Illinois.

A memorial service for Delbert Disselhorst was held September 24 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Iowa City. Burial will take place at Oakwood Cemetery, Hamilton, Illinois.

Glen A. Douglas, M.D.

Glen A. Douglas, M.D., died March 1, 2021, in Houston, Texas. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he attended Little Rock Central High School; Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock; and Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. He served as a flight surgeon for the United States Air Force, stationed in Taiwan and throughout the American Southwest during the Vietnam conflict. Professionally, he served as medical director for occupational medicine for Texaco and later ExxonMobil.

Douglas’s all-consuming passions were adopting rescue dogs and building the pipe organ that stands in his home, Aeolian Manor, in Houston. He presented performers in concert on the ever-evolving instrument, and he created the Aeolian Manor Foundation to assist young organists with training and developing careers around the pipe organ. Douglas was always on the lookout for young talent he could present in recital at Aeolian Manor, and he gave generously toward student attendance at conventions and at the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival. He was a member of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, and the American Theatre Organ Society.

A memorial service for Glen Douglas at Aeolian Manor will be planned for a later date. The Aeolian Manor Foundation will continue its work according to Douglas’s wishes, and the organ and home will remain intact and in use. The foundation has begun expanding its offerings by providing music lessons of all types to underprivileged Houstonians and becoming involved in local arts festivals and musical celebrations of all cultures.

In lieu of customary remembrances, readers are encouraged to adopt a pet, attend an organ recital, fund a young person’s piano or organ lessons, fund a young person’s attendance at an organ convention, and give to the Aeolian Manor Foundation. For information: aeolianmanorfoundation.org.

Walter Lee Hillsman

Walter Lee Hillsman, 79, died August 19. He was born February 25, 1943, in Dallas, Texas, and began organ lessons at an early age. As a teenager, Hillsman was awarded a scholarship to attend a choral workshop at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. During that trip, he met Alexander McCurdy, head of the organ department at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hillsman was subsequently awarded a three-year scholarship to Curtis. He left Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas to complete his high school education at Lincoln College Preparatory School, Philadelphia, while he studied at Curtis. In 1964 he graduated from Curtis with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. During his time in Philadelphia, he served as organist and choirmaster of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church and Old Christ Church.

After his graduation from Curtis, Hillsman was encouraged to apply to Oxford or Cambridge universities by one of his mentors, Robert Evans, professor of theology and organist at University of Pennsylvania. Hillsman was granted a scholarship to attend New College, Oxford University. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford in 1967, his Master of Arts degree in 1971, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1985. During his time at New College, Hillsman served as an organ scholar to David Lumsden, New College organist. At Oxford, Hillsman won a Fulbright scholarship to study with Karl Richter at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich, Germany.

Hillsman was active with organ performances, articles, presentations, broadcast recitals, and positions as organist, choirmaster, instructor, lecturer, and performer during the years he lived in Oxford. He played recitals at Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, Washington National Cathedral, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and at Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Columbia, and Yale universities. Hillsman gave broadcast recitals for the BBC and Radio France. He recorded on the Vista label in England and the Teldec label in Germany. He taught at Trinity College of Music in London, Reading University, and as a member of the faculty of music at Oxford University. In 1966, Hillsman was chosen as accompanist for a performance by the joint choirs of New College, Oxford, and Magdalen College, Oxford, as they sang in a recital that was part of a concert series commemorating the 900th anniversary of the founding of Westminster Abbey.

In 1993, Hillsman moved back to Dallas where he held various positions, including as a German instructor at Eastfield College and as a customer service representative for Neiman Marcus. He obtained his brokerage license and worked for Fidelity Investments for fourteen years.

In 2015 Hillsman and his brother Roger moved together to Houston into an apartment at Clarewood House senior living facility. Roger Hillsman died in April 2022.

A memorial service for Walter Hillsman was held October 1 at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home Chapel, Houston, followed by graveside committal. Memorial contributions in the name of Hillsman may be directed to Help Musicians, Musicians Benevolent Fund in the UK (helpmusicians.org.uk) or to the New Organist Fund of the American Guild of Organists in the United States (agohq.org).

Reverend Richard F. Jones

Reverend Richard F. Jones died August 28. He was born July 17, 1956. Prior to retiring in 2020, he served for 25 years as pastor of First Parish Church of Bolton, Massachusetts. He was a leader in the cultural life of the Worcester, Massachusetts, area and an advocate for music and history throughout the region. As Hook organ curator and development officer of historic Mechanics Hall, Worcester, he instituted the popular free noontime Brown Bag concert series and worked with many well-known personalities from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. Jones served numerous organizations including two terms as dean of the Worcester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and as board member of the Organ Historical Society. In his work as chapter dean, Jones instituted a public school program that educated thousands of students about the pipe organ. In 1985, he organized the Fuller International Organ Festival with organists including Simon Preston, Peter Hurford, and David Higgs. He further served as education director of the Worcester Historical Museum, was a contributing writer for Worcester Magazine, hosted a radio program on the local NPR station, The Art of the Organ, served as musical consultant for the Merchant-Ivory film, The Bostonians, and was an active member of the Worcester Shakespeare Club. He served on the organ restoration committees of both the 1864 E. & G. G. Hook Opus 224 in Mechanics Hall and the 1933 W. W. Kimball K.P.O. 7119 in Worcester Auditorium.

A memorial service for Reverend Richard F. Jones was held October 11 at Mechanics Hall, Worcester. A tribute concert is being planned at the hall for 2023. Memorial donations may be sent to the 1864 Hook Organ Fund at Mechanics Hall, 321 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01608, or donate at: MechanicsHall.app.neoncrm.com/forms/the-worcester-organ.

Robert Graham Lent

Robert Graham Lent, 72, of Lyndhurst, Virginia, died August 27. Born October 18, 1949, in Richmond, Virginia, he married Jean Ellen Taomina on March 3, 1981. Lent was a veteran having served his country honorably as a Corporal with the United States Marine Corps from 1971 until 1973. Following his service to his country, he worked as a police officer in Berkeley Township, New Jersey, from 1973 until 1978.

In 1986 Lent moved to Waynesboro, Virginia, where he worked for Klann Organ Supply. He worked as a pipe organ mechanic for over 60 years and later owned and operated Shenandoah Organ Studio, Inc. As an organist, he served as house organist at Tower Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1969–1975; Byrd Theater in Richmond, Virginia, 1989–1990; and other places around the country. He was a member of the Marine Corps League and the Mid-East Division of the Military Order of the Devil Dogs in which he served as the 48th Past Chief.

Survivors of Robert Graham Lent include his wife, Jean Ellen Lent of Lyndhurst; sons, Robert Harding Lent and wife Lynne of Dayton, Virginia, and Raymond Taliaferro Lent of Lyndhurst; grandson Robert Edward Lent of Dayton, Virginia; two sisters, Nancy Moore of Robbinsville, New Jersey, and Charlotte Lent of Newfoundland, Pennsylvania; and brother, Russell Lent. He was buried with military honors September 23 at Quantico National Cemetery, Triangle, Virginia. Memorial contributions may be made to the Augusta Health Foundation, c/o Shenandoah Hospice House, P. O. Box 1000, Fishersville, Virginia 22939, or the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, attn: Development Department, 875 North Randolph Street, Suite 225, Arlington, Virginia 22203, or online at support.nmcrs.org/a/homepage.

David Martin Barnett

David Martin Barnett, 75, of Richmond, Virginia, died November 8, 2022. Born on December 6, 1946, he led a varied career in advertising, broadcasting, computers, welfare agencies, and administration of churches and non-profit organizations, including positions as building administrator of Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, 2009–2014; and as facilities manager of St. James’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, 2010–2013.

Barnett served as treasurer of the Organ Historical Society from 1983 until 2010 and managed the OHS catalog between 2007 and 2010. He was vice president and operations manager of Duboy Advertising, 1974–1999, a Richmond firm specializing in advertising via broadcast media for automobile dealers nationwide. There, he wrote and produced more than 10,000 radio and television commercials for hundreds of clients. Barnett also operated DMB & Co., 1988–2011, designing and building computers and networks for small businesses and homes.

From 1965 until 1986, Barnett was weekend news anchor at radio station WLEE in Richmond and from 1965 until 1970 was announcer, studio engineer, traffic manager, and sales manager at radio station WFMV, Richmond’s classical music FM station. In 1964 and 1965, he worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a newsroom copy boy. 

As an audio components salesman, Barnett was employed between 1969 and 1975 by Audio Fidelity Corporation, a central Virginia audio salon. Between 1970 and 1974, he worked for the City of Richmond as a welfare eligibility technician, supervisor, and child welfare eligibility supervisor, and in a similar role in 1972 for the state. He attended the University of Richmond following graduation from George Wythe High School in 1964.

Barnett served as an officer or member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Theatre Historical Society of America, American Theatre Organ Society (several chapters), Organ Historical Society, Cinema Organ Society (UK), Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He volunteered extensively for the Mosque Theater (now the Landmark Theatre) and the Byrd Theatre, where he served as announcer beginning in 1982. 

With friends, Barnett installed a nine-rank Wurlitzer organ in his Richmond home. Following closure of Monumental Episcopal Church, Richmond, he helped renovate the 1926 Skinner Organ Company Opus 574 before it was relocated in 1975 to St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, Richmond, and subsequently was incorporated into the organ completed in 2014 by Kegg Pipe Organ Builders at the Cathedral of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

James H. Litton

James H. Litton, 87, died November 1, 2022, in Florham Park, New Jersey. He was born December 31, 1934, in Charleston, West Virginia. Recognizing his talent and passion for music, his parents purchased a piano and provided piano lessons at the Mason College of Music and Fine Arts in Charleston. His piano teacher encouraged him to progress to the organ, securing him a position as his assistant organist at a local church to get access to a practice instrument. That teacher later convinced him to pursue his college education at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, studying with Alexander McCurdy. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music and continued postgraduate studies at Canterbury Cathedral in England with Allan Wicks.

Litton’s choral music career spanned more than 60 years, serving as organist, choirmaster, and music director at the American Boychoir School, Princeton, New Jersey; Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC; St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York City; Trinity Episcopal Church, Princeton; Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, Indiana; and Trinity Episcopal Church, Southport, Connecticut. He also served as organist at several churches during his graduate and undergraduate studies at Westminster Choir College (now Rider University) and while in high school.

Litton toured with his various choirs and led choral festivals worldwide. He prepared his choirs for performances of major works with many of the world’s orchestras and for several dozen recordings, including a track with the American Boychoir on a platinum album by Michael W. Smith, Go West Young Man. As organist, Litton played organ recitals throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Asia.

Litton was assistant professor of organ and head of the church music department at Westminster Choir College and the C. F. Seabrook Director of Music at Princeton Theological Seminary. He also served as visiting lecturer at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, and at Sewanee: The University of the South.

A Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music, Litton was awarded honorary Doctor of Music degrees from the University of Charleston and from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. The Litton-Lodal music directorship of the American Boychoir School was endowed by a gift from Jan and Elizabeth Lodal in honor of his career.

As a member and vice chairman of the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Church Music, he participated in the preparation and publication of The Hymnal 1982. He was also the editor of The Plainsong Psalter for the Episcopal Church. Litton was a co-founder in 1966 and former president of the Association of Anglican Musicians. He also founded choral ensembles in West Virginia, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York.

James Litton met his late wife, Lou Ann, in seventh grade in Charleston, West Virginia, brought together by their mutual love of music. They married after graduating from college in 1957. 

James H. Litton was predeceased by his wife Lou Ann. He is survived by his son Bruce Litton and daughter-in-law Patricia of Bedminster, New Jersey; daughter Deborah Purdon of Maplewood, New Jersey; son David Litton and daughter-in-law Carol Dingeldey of West Hartford, Connecticut; and son Richard Litton and daughter-in-law Alysia of Wall Township, New Jersey; sister Betty Ray of Charlottesville, Virginia; and three grandchildren. A funeral was held on November 12 at Trinity Church, Princeton. Burial will take place at a later date at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the village of Litton in Somerset County and the Diocese of Bath and Wells in England. Memorial gifts may be made to the Association of Anglican Musicians James Litton Grant for Choral Training (anglicanmusicians.org/litton-gift) and the Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org).

Wayne Kerr Riddell

Wayne Kerr Riddell, 86, died November 6, 2022. Born September 10, 1936, in Lachute, Québec, Canada, he began playing organ in the local United Church when he was 14. Graduating in 1960 from McGill University, Montréal, he taught music and singing in the public school system. In 1968 he joined McGill’s faculty, where he taught keyboard harmony, ear training, and choral conducting, and was head of choral studies. At the same time, he worked in church music for congregations including Westmount Park Church, Erskine United Church, and American United Church. For 14 years he was director of music at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. In 1976, he founded The Tudor Singers, a professional choir that toured the United States, Canada, and Europe. McGill University awarded him a Doctor of Music degree in 2014. He would serve as competition adjudicator, choral workshop clinician, guest conductor, mentor, and philanthropist. 

Wayne Kerr Riddell was predeceased by his life partner, Norman Beckow. A memorial service was held at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul on November 22. Memorial gifts may be given to the Wayne Riddell Choral Scholarship Fund, McGill University (mcgill.ca), or to the music program, the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montréal (standrewstpaul.com).

Ned Rorem

Ned Rorem, 99, died November 18, 2022, in New York, New York. He was born in Richmond, Indiana, on October 23, 1923. The family would move to Chicago where Rorem was educated at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and the American Conservatory of Music. He studied at Northwestern University before attending the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and The Juilliard School, New York City. Rorem was raised a Quaker, and this influenced the composition of his organ work, A Quaker Reader, based on Quaker texts.

In 1966 he published The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem. This was followed by Later Diaries 1951–1972 in 1974 and The Nantucket Diary of Ned Rorem, 1973–1985 in 1987. Rorem wrote essays collected in the anthologies Music from Inside Out (1967), Music and People (1968), Pure Contraption (1974), Setting the Tone (1983), Settling the Score (1988), and Other Entertainment (1996). He was the subject of a 2005 film, Ned Rorem: Word & Music. He composed in a wide variety of genres, including operas, orchestral, and chamber music. He also wrote extensively for organ and organ with choral and orchestral forces.

Ned Rorem was predeceased by his life partner, organist James Roland Holmes, in 1999.

Frederick Lewis Swann

Frederick Lewis Swann, 91, died November 13, 2022. Born July 30, 1931, in Lewisburg, West Virginia, he was the son of a Methodist pastor (and later bishop). He began taking piano lessons at age five from the organist at Market Street Methodist Church, Winchester, Virginia, and soon thereafter began taking organ lessons. He began playing his first church services at age ten at Braddock Street Methodist Church, Winchester, where his father was pastor.

Swann’s family moved to Staunton, Virginia, in 1943, and Frederick continued organ study with Carl Broman. After graduating from high school, Swann entered the School of Music at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, studying with Thomas Matthews and John Christensen. Upon graduation, he attended the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, studying with Hugh Porter and Charles M. Courboin. After serving as interim organist at Brick Presbyterian Church during the illness of Clarence Dickinson and serving as Harold Friedell’s assistant at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Swann entered the United States Army for two years.

From 1952 until 1982, Swann worked for The Riverside Church, New York City, first as a substitute organist for Virgil Fox and then appointed organist in 1957. With the retirement of Richard Weagly as choir director in 1966, Swann became director of music and organist through 1982.

At that time, Swann was appointed director of music and organist at the Crystal Cathedral (now Christ Cathedral), Garden Grove, California, where he conducted the choir and presided over the five-manual, 265-rank Hazel Wright organ, appearing weekly on the internationally televised Hour of Power worship services. In 1988, Swann became organist of First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, which houses the largest church organ in the world, serving there until 2001.

Frederick Swann performed recitals throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Asia, including such venues as Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, London; and the cathedrals of Cologne and Passau in Germany. His accomplishments include more than 3,000 recitals in all 50 of the United States and 12 other countries, including events dedicating new, rebuilt, and restored instruments. He performed with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Swann announced his retirement as a concert organist with a series of programs beginning in August 2016 at age 85. He would continue to serve as artist-in-residence at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California. For decades he was represented in North America by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.

Swann served on the adjunct faculties of the Guilmant Organ School, Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music, and Teacher’s College of Columbia University, all in New York City. He also served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music and was the school’s organ department chair. From 2007 until 2018, he was university organist and artist teacher of organ at University of Redlands in California.

Swann was active in the American Guild of Organists, serving in various capacities including the organization’s president from 2002 until 2008. Also in 2002, he was named International Performer of the Year by the New York City AGO Chapter. At the 2010 AGO national convention in Washington, DC, he was presented the Edward A. Hansen Leadership Award. In 2015, the Royal Canadian College of Organists named Swann a Fellow, honoris causa, and in 2018 the AGO honored him as the organization’s first honoris causa recipient of its Fellow certificate (FAGO). Swann received the honorary Doctor of Music degree from University of Redlands upon his retirement in 2018.

Frederick Swann published more than three dozen anthems for choir, as well as organ works based on hymntunes. Perhaps his best-known composition is his Trumpet Tune in D Major. Swann’s discography of organ and choral recordings includes albums featuring the organs of The Riverside Church, Crystal Cathedral, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

For more information, see Steven Egler’s interview, “A conversation with Frederick Swann, Crown Prince of the King of Instruments,” in the November 2014 issue, pages 20–24.

A memorial service for Frederick Lewis Swann will take place January 25, 10:30 a.m., at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California. Memorial gifts may be made to The American Guild of Organists Frederick Swann Scholarship, The American Guild of Organists Herrmann/Swann Fund (agohq.org), or to the Fred Swann Music Endowment, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California (stmargarets.org).

David Stephen Boe died April 28, 2020, in Chicago, Illinois. Since 2012, he and his wife, Sigrid North Boe, had lived at a Chicago retirement community, where they moved to be near family.

David Boe was born in Duluth, Minnesota, and spent most of his early years in Eau Claire and Menomonie, Wisconsin. His father was a Lutheran pastor, and his mother was a singer and choral conductor. Boe received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, in 1958, and his Master of Music degree in organ performance from Syracuse University in 1960, studying under Arthur Poister. He received a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship for additional study with Helmut Walcha at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Frankfurt, Germany. It was while Boe was studying with Walcha at the Dreikönigskirche that he met one of the pastor’s daughters, Sigrid North, who became his wife. They were married by Sigrid’s father, Pastor Paulus North, on July 23, 1961; Walcha, a friend of the North family, served as organist. When the Boes returned to the United States, he taught organ for one year at the University of Georgia (1961–1962).

In 1962, David Boe joined the organ and harpsichord faculty of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio. He also became director of music at First Lutheran Church, Lorain, Ohio. He returned to Europe in 1968 while on sabbatical to study with Gustav Leonhardt and to conduct research on historical instruments in the Netherlands and northern Germany. Under Boe’s leadership, in 1970, First Lutheran Church, Lorain, awarded a contract to John Brombaugh for a new organ to be built according to historical principles. This landmark instrument and the church were destroyed by fire in 2014. Boe served the church until his retirement on Pentecost Sunday, 2002.

David Boe was appointed the ninth dean of Oberlin Conservatory in 1976 after having served as acting dean from 1974 to 1975. He later served as interim dean on several occasions. In the 1980s, he served as vice president of the American Organ Academy; completed a four-year term as national president of the American honor society in music, Pi Kappa Lambda; and was secretary of the National Association of Schools of Music, chairing music accreditation teams or serving as a consultant to music programs at over thirty-five institutions. He later served as trustee for the Westfield Center for many years.

As a performer, Boe was represented by WindWerk Artists and concertized in the United States and Europe. He recorded on the Gasparo and Veritas labels, and he appeared on the nationally televised program The Wind at One’s Fingertips. During his 1991 sabbatical, he served as visiting professor of organ for the spring semester at Florida State University, Tallahassee, and as visiting professor of organ at the University of Notre Dame during the fall semester.

David Boe played an important part in establishing the organ collection at Oberlin, including the installation of John Brombaugh Opus 25 (1981), a meantone organ in Fairchild Chapel, and C. B. Fisk, Inc., Opus 116 (2001) in Finney Chapel, built in the style of Cavaillé-Coll. Upon his retirement, he donated his residence organ, a one-manual, six-stop Brombaugh organ, to Oberlin, where it was installed in the front of Fairchild Chapel. He served as consultant for the 2004 organ built by Halbert Gober for First Church (UCC) in Oberlin and performed on the dedicatory recital.

As a 70th birthday gift in 2006, four of Boe’s former students commissioned a new two-manual and pedal clavichord built in Göteborg, Sweden, by Joel Speerstra, a former Boe student at Oberlin. For Boe’s 75th birthday in 2011, two alumni honored both David and Sigrid Boe with the purchase of the two-manual and pedal organ originally built for SUNY, Purchase, New York, by the Bozeman-Gibson Organ Company in the style of Gottfried Silbermann. In 2011, Boe’s undergraduate alma mater, St. Olaf College, awarded him its Alumni Achievement Award. At that time, St. Olaf recorded a video at the Boe residence in Oberlin that is available online: https://www.stolaf.edu/multimedia/play/?p=28 (the interview begins at 29:20). 

David S. Boe is survived by his wife Sigrid; their son Stephen and his wife Joo; their son Eric and his wife Lisa; their four granddaughters Sydney, Haley, Alexis, and Olivia; and his two sisters, Judith Boe and Carol Brann.

Jane Parker-Smith, 70, died June 24 in London, UK. Born May 20, 1950, she studied at the Royal College of Music in London, soon earning a number of prizes and scholarships, including the Walford Davies Prize for organ performance. After a further period of work with Nicolas Kynaston, a French government scholarship enabled her to complete her studies in Paris with Jean Langlais.

She made her London debut at Westminster Cathedral at age twenty and two years later made her first solo appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall. She would proceed to concertize in concert halls, cathedrals, and churches throughout the world.

She recorded a wide range of solo repertoire for RCA, Classics for Pleasure, L’Oiseau Lyre, EMI, ASV, Collins Classics, Motette, and AVIE. In addition, she collaborated with Maurice André in a duo recording of music for trumpet and organ. She performed numerous times on radio and television with special feature programs on the BBC, German, and Swiss television.

Highlights in her concert career included performances in venues and international festivals such as Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, London (both solo and concerto performances); Three Choirs Festival, City of London Festival, Bath Festival, and Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill Memorial Concert) in the UK; Jyväskylä Festival, Finland; Stockholm Concert Hall, Sweden; Hong Kong Arts Festival; Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto; Festival Paris Quartier D’Été, France; Festival Cicio El Organo en la Iglesia, Buenos Aires; Festival Internationale di Musica Organistica Magadino, Switzerland; Cube Concert Hall, Shiroishi, Japan; Athens Organ Festival; Severance Hall, Cleveland, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, and Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles; Sejong Cultural Centre, Seoul, Korea; Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore; Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UK; Mariinsky Concert Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia; and ZK Matthews Hall, University of South Africa, Pretoria. For the American Guild of Organists, she performed for the 1996 centennial convention in New York City, as well as national conventions in 2002 in Philadelphia and 2012 in Nashville. She was represented in the United States by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.

Jane Parker-Smith’s concerto repertoire brought her performances with many leading orchestras, including the BBC Symphony and BBC Concert Orchestras, London Symphony, London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Athens State Orchestra, and Prague Chamber Orchestra.

Jane Parker-Smith was an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Musicians and Singers and a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. She was listed in World Who’s Who and International Who’s Who in Music and in 2014 was chosen as one of “The 1000 Most Influential Londoners” by the London Evening Standard newspaper.

Hampson A. Sisler of New York, New York, died May 25. He was born in 1932 in Yonkers, New York, and began his musical education at age 12, studying with David McK. Williams and Norman Coke-Jephcott. He earned a licentiate in organ and related subjects from Trinity College of Music, London, at age 16 and achieved the fellowship certification in the American Guild of Organists at age 17, the youngest ever to receive this distinction. Sisler spent more than 50 years as an ophthalmologist and oculoplastic surgeon in New York City. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Sisler began playing organ in church when he was eleven. He was active as an organist and choir director serving various churches, most notably Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn and Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. As a composer, he had more than 100 works to his credit, including pieces for organ, chorus, concert band, chamber and symphony orchestra. His works have been performed and recorded worldwide with orchestras in the United States as well as in Argentina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Israel, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, and Ukraine. As an organ recitalist, he performed in and around New York City, including the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

He was recently named “one of the significant composers of contemporary America” by The Organ magazine, London. His first works were published at age nineteen starting with H. W. Gray Co. as well as Jos. Fischer & Co., Belwin Mills, E. P. Adams, Inc., World Library Publications, Laurendale, and MorningStar Music Publishers. 

Hampson A. Sisler was predeceased by his spouse, Gene Iacovetta, in 2019. Survivors include a nephew, Thomas Sisler, two nieces, Carrie Kozikowski and Nancy Westphal, and a cousin, William Nodine.

Nunc Dimittis

William A. Crowle (Bill), 62, died March 16 in Vernon Hills, Illinois. He began piano study at the age of four and violin at six. He attended Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, where he studied composition with Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, and Warren Benson and piano with Maria Luisa Faini. He pursued graduate studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he studied composition with Frederick Fox and Bernhard Heiden and piano with Enrica Cavallo-Gulli and received both master’s and doctoral degrees in composition with highest distinction. He studied organ with Richard Enright and Leon Nelson.

For the last 25 years Crowle served as organist/accompanist at First Presbyterian Church, Deerfield, Illinois. He also served in parallel years as accompanist to Lakeside Congregation for Reformed Judaism in Highland Park, Illinois. He was the staff accompanist for the music department at Vernon High School until this past year and was accompanist for the Beverly-Morgan Park Community Choir, Chicago, Illinois.

His many musical collaborations included the Waukegan Concert Chorus, the New Classic Singers, Buffalo Grove Symphonic Band, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and he was heard on WFMT radio and WGN-TV. As a composer, he wrote works for a variety of media, including treble choir, piano, recorder, Orff instruments, guitar, bass guitar, and percussion. His versatility as a musician spanned musical genres that stretched from classical, to jazz, to baroque, rock and roll, spiritual, and beyond.

Joseph Ross Flummerfelt, 82, died March 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was born February 24, 1937, in Vincennes, Indiana, and he began music studies with his mother, who was organist of First Baptist Church of Vincennes. He studied organ and church music at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, and choral conducting at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and University of Illinois, Champaign. Early in his career, he taught at the University of Illinois, DePauw University (1964–1968), and Florida State University, Tallahassee (1968–1971); later he taught for 33 years at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, retiring in 2004. There he conducted the Westminster Choir and Westminster Symphonic Choir.

Flummerfelt was named director of choral activities for Spoleto Festival USA at its inception in 1977 and also served as chorus master of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, from 1971 until 1993. Upon his retirement from Spoleto Festival USA in 2013, he was named director emeritus. In 1979, Flummerfelt founded New York Choral Artists and became chorus master for the New York Philharmonic and music director of Singing City, Philadelphia. He made his New York Philharmonic conducting debut in 1988 with a performance of Haydn’s Creation. He collaborated with dozens of orchestral conductors in preparing their choruses for concerts and recordings. Three of his recordings received Grammy awards.

In 2004, Flummerfelt was named Musical America’s Conductor of the Year, and in his retirement, he held numerous visiting professorships. His honors included Le Prix du President de la Republique from L’Académie du Disque Français and four honorary doctoral degrees.

Joseph Ross Flummerfelt is survived by a brother, Kent, and two sisters, Pam Flummerfelt Rappaport and Carol Flummerfelt Helmling.

Peter John Hurford, 88, organist, church musician, performer, recording artist, teacher, composer, and author, died March 3 in St. Albans, UK. He was born November 22, 1930, in Minehead, Somerset, UK, and was educated at Blundell’s School. After brief studies at the Royal College of Music in London, he earned dual degrees in music and law at Jesus College, Cambridge, studying with Harold Darke, later studying organ in Paris, France, with André Marchal.

He served as organist for Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa, from 1956 until 1957, while also music master at Bablake School, Coventry, and for Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir. From 1958 until 1978, he was organist and choirmaster of St. Albans Cathedral Choir, St. Albans. In 1963, Hurford was founder of what became the St. Albans International Organ Festival, as a new Harrison & Harrison organ had been installed at the cathedral, designed by Ralph Downes and Hurford.

In 1956, Hurford performed at Royal Festival Hall, which launched what would become an international performance career. A recording artist as well, he recorded more than fifty discs. His largest recording project included the complete organ works of Bach in the 1970s for Decca (1975–1981) and BBC Radio 3 (1980–1982); he would also record the complete organ works of Mendelssohn, Franck, and Hindemith. He taught at Oxford and Cambridge universities and was an honorary fellow in organ studies at the University of Bristol. He held several international artist residencies and was a consultant for design of the organ of the Sydney Opera House. He was named an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College in 2006, served as a president of the Incorporated Association of Organists and the Royal College of Organists, receiving the latter’s medal in 2013, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1984. He served on international competition juries, including Haarlem, Bruges, Prague, Linz, Nürenberg, Berlin, Dublin, and Chartres. Hurford was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music and honorary fellow both of the Royal College of Music and of the Royal School of Church Music, and held honorary doctorates in music from the University of Bristol and from Baldwin-Wallace College, Ohio (home of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute).

A composer, his works were mostly published by Oxford University Press and Novello. His book, Making Music on the Organ (Oxford University Press, 1998), was widely distributed. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2008, retiring from performing in 2009.

In 1955, Hurford married Patricia Matthews, who died in 2017. Peter John Hurford is survived by a daughter Heather, sons Michael and Richard, nine grandchildren, and sister Maureen. A private funeral was held March 18. A memorial service is to be held June 15 at St. Albans Cathedral.