David Wagner retires from Madonna University

David Wagner has retired from Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan, where he served as professor of music and university organist. During his 17-year teaching career at Madonna University, he developed an organ studio and oversaw the installation of a new Karl Wilhelm mechanical-action organ. Madonna University was able to offer a bachelor’s degree in both organ and in church music under his direction. Wagner also directed the University Chorale and toured with the group in Ireland, England, and France, including presenting a concert at the Omaha Beach Memorial in the summer of 2004.

Dave Wagner will continue his work as an organ recitalist and as the program director and on-air host for WRCJ-FM in Detroit. Wagner was the first staff member hired at the new station when it went on the air in 2005. The station has just celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new analog and digital HD transmitter along with a new antenna for improved coverage throughout Southeastern Michigan.

More information on Wagner is at his website, www.davidwagnerorganist.com.

The University of Michigan 53rd Conference on Organ Music

September 29–October 2, 2013

Marijim Thoene and Gale Kramer

Thanks to Gale Kramer for his review of the student recital on September 30.

Marijim Thoene, a student of Marilyn Mason, received a DMA in organ performance/church music from the University of Michigan in 1984. An active recitalist, her two CDs, Mystics and Spirits and Wind Song, are available through Raven Recordings. She is a frequent presenter at medieval conferences on the topic of the image of the pipe organ in medieval manuscripts.

Gale Kramer, DMA, is organist emeritus of Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Detroit, Michigan, and a former assistant professor of organ at Wayne State University. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he is a regular reviewer and occasional contributor to The Diapason. His article, “Food References in the Short Chorales of Clavierübung III,” appeared in the April 1984 issue of The Diapason.

Files

20Mar 2014 Thoene, U-Mich 53d Conference.pdf (1.84 MB)

Marilyn Mason—legend in her own time, musician and teacher of international renown, torchbearer for composers, organ builders, and students, ground breaker, and pioneer—was honored in this year’s 53rd Conference on Organ Music. Mason has been consumed by a magnificent obsession, and has shared her mantra “eat, sleep, and practice” with hundreds of students at the University of Michigan. The Victorian writer Walter Pater encapsulated her life: “To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.”

The principal business of this annual conference was the celebration of Marilyn Mason’s 66 years at the helm of the organ department of the University of Michigan. Following this year of furlough she will say goodbye to the full-time employment that has occupied her since her organ teacher, Professor Palmer Christian, hired her on to the faculty of the School of Music. Over the course of the conference many of her attributes came to the fore: loyalty to the University of Michigan, excellence in performance all over the world, practical concern for scholarships and employment for her students, and perseverance in making things happen, not just once, but over many years. The organ conference itself embodies one of many events she saw a need for, initiated, and perpetuated over time, in this case for 53 years. Other long-term projects to which she devoted her energies include a large repertoire of commissioned organ works, and 56 Historical Organ Tours sponsored by the University of Michigan, which she initiated in order to enable students to experience the sound and touch of historic European instruments.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The music of the first event of the conference, “A Grand Night for Singing,” featuring all of the choral groups at the University of Michigan—the Chamber Choir, the Orpheus Singers, Men’s Glee Club, and Women’s Glee Club, totaling 357 young singers—took place in Hill Auditorium and was filled with energy and beauty. The concert—the perfect way to begin a celebration of Marilyn Mason’s life’s work—was the first of the season, and also celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of Hill Auditorium. The singers entered from the back of the auditorium and the audience of over a thousand fell silent as hundreds of singers walked briskly down the aisles and took their places on the risers. The repertoire ranged from secular to sacred: from scenes from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville to Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, from Baroque to contemporary, from a cappella to that accompanied by the Frieze Memorial Organ, Steinway, or Baroque ensemble. The level of performance of these choirs was truly remarkable, especially since they had been prepared in only nineteen days. Vocal blend, whether from a small ensemble or a choir of over three hundred, was rich, the range of dynamics was kaleidoscopic, attacks were precise, phrases were controlled, but most impressive was the power to communicate deep emotion that transported the audience. This was apparent especially in the University Choir’s performance of Stephen Paulus’s The Road Home, conducted by Eugene Rogers and featuring soprano soloist Shenika John Jordan. Ms. Jordan became an actress and transported us with her soaring voice.

Several works were accompanied on the Frieze Memorial Organ and harpsichord played by Scott Van Ornum, former student of Professor Mason. In both Benjamin Britten’s Festival Te Deum and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ O clap your hands we heard a sampling of the vast color palette of the organ, from soft flutes to thundering reeds. Van Ornum deftly exploited the dramatic power of the organ to soothe, exhilarate, and transport. The hosts of the concert, Melody Racine and Jerry Blackstone, reveled in the music, especially in the grand finale, It’s a grand night for singing, during which they danced and sang. The audience was invited to join in singing with all the choirs directed by Blackstone, and accompanied by organist Scott Van Ornum and pianists Samantha Beresford and David Gilliland.

In the evening, Andrew Herbruck played music by Leo Sowerby for his Master of Music recital at Hill Auditorium, offering an interesting survey of Sowerby’s forms and styles. Comes Autumn Time reflected Sowerby’s fascination with blues and his preference for solo reeds. It was a treat to hear movements two and three from the seldom-played Suite for Organ. In the second movement, Fantasy for Flute Stops, Herbruck played the repeated motif (which sounded much like a forerunner of Philip Glass) with amazing dexterity and control. The third movement, Air with Variations, showed Herbruck’s careful phrasing of the passages for solo clarinet. He played the Passacaglia from Symphony for Organ with a combination of restraint and gusto and made the performance electric.

Festival Musick (I. Fanfare, II. Chorale, and III. Toccata on “A.G.O.”)filled the second half of the recital and provided a glimpse into Sowerby’s ability to combine unusual timbres in dialogue with the organ.

Monday, September 30, 2013

The conference opened with a program by pupils of James Kibbie: Andrew Lang (Praeambulum in E Major, LübWV 7, Lübeck), David Banas (Premier Livre d’orgue: Récit de Tierce en taille, Offertoire sur les grands jeux, de Grigny), Mary Zelinski (Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 550, Bach), Paul Giessner (Organ Trio, no. 1, Lucas Grant), Elliot Krasny (his own Ascension, Descention), and Jenna Moon (Sonata IV in B-Flat Major, Mendelssohn). They brought out the best in the Marilyn Mason Organ, conceived by Charles Fisk and others in collaboration with Marilyn Mason in the years just before 1985.

Department Chair Kibbie introduced Dr. Karl Schrock, Visiting Faculty Member in Organ for the 2013–2014 academic year, and announced the appointment of Vincent Dubois and Daniel Roth as Visiting Artists, one in each of the two academic terms. They will each teach private lessons to all organ students and present a public masterclass and recital.

The afternoon session, featuring the students of Marilyn Mason, was held at the First Congregational Church, home of the 1985 Karl Wilhelm organ, Opus 97. When Marilyn Mason entered the church everyone spontaneously rose to their feet and clapped. She introduced Andrew Meagher, saying, “I admire Andrew a lot. He is the only student I have ever had who studied Schoenberg’s Variations on a Recitative with me and memorized it. I watched the score and he played it right!” (Schoenberg consulted with Mason during the writing of this work.) Meagher is a DMA graduate and played Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543, from memory. The other students are currently enrolled and played the following pieces with conviction and energy: Regan Chuhran, Prelude in F Minor, BWV 534; Renate McLaughlin, Le petit pêcheur rusé—Air and three variations from Air and Variations for Pedal Solo by Flor Peeters; Joshua Boyd, Jubilate, op. 67, no. 2, and Recessional, op. 96, no. 4, by William Mathias; Glenn Tucker, Trio Sonata No. 1 in E-flat Major, BWV 525 (played from memory); and Kipp Cortez, Fantasie and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542.

The recital was immediately followed by Stephen Warner’s discussion of the history of the organs at First Congregational Church, with special emphasis on the current Karl Wilhelm organ. He gave some practical and useful advice on organ maintenance.

Next we heard repertoire for organ and other instruments. Sipkje Pes-nichak, oboist, and Tim Huth, organist, performed Aria by Jehan Alain. We also heard music for organ and handbells directed by Michele Johns and performed by Joshua Boyd and ringers from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.

The evening festivities began in the banquet hall of the Michigan League, packed with well-wishers whose lives have been profoundly touched by Marilyn Mason. She was congratulated and paid tribute to by David C. Munson, master of ceremonies and dean of engineering and computer science; Lester P. Monts, senior vice provost for academic affairs; and Arthur F. Thurnau, professor of music (ethnomusicology). The Reverend Dr. Robert K. Livingston, senior minister at the First Congregational Church in Ann Arbor where Marilyn Mason is organist, praised her, saying: “Her life is a model of a life lived with compassion and loving kindness, and dedication and desire to help mentor. She has followed the advice of Stephen King, ‘Make your life one long gift to others—the rest is smoke and mirrors.’ She has made a lasting difference to each one of us and the world.” Short reminiscences were given by some of her former students, including Michele Johns, adjunct professor of organ and church music. Carolyn Thibideau, dean of the Detroit AGO chapter, quoted Mason’s sayings: “A recital date always arrives” and “If you have a task that needs to be done, just do it and get it over with!” Tim Huth, dean of the Ann Arbor AGO chapter, said he thinks of the organ conference as “soul juice.” He thanked her for enriching his life, commenting that she helped found the Ann Arbor AGO chapter, which now offers scholarships in her name and has made her an honorary member. In thanking her, Tim quoted Meister Eckhart: “If the only prayer you say in life is thank you, that will suffice.” Mary Ida Yost, professor emerita of organ at Eastern Michigan University, recalled Mason’s raucous laughter, and jokes from her little black book. She remarked how Marilyn Mason is one of the most celebrated performers and teachers of the world. She is larger than life. She has changed the world of organ music for life. She is a living example of unending generosity, genuine respect, and kindness. Her greatest legacy is about the future and not the past—through former students of hers who play in churches and teach, generation through generation.

She quoted Mason’s sayings: “Miss one day of practice and you notice, miss two and your friends notice, miss three and the whole world notices.”

Closing remarks were offered by Christopher Kendall, Dean of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance:

Throughout her career she has shattered many glass ceilings. She was the first American woman to play a concert in Westminster Abbey, the first to play in Latin America and Egypt. She has concertized on five continents. On one sabbatical she consulted with Fisk on the building of the facsimile of a Gottfried Silbermann organ for the Blanche Anderson Moore Recital Hall. She has made definitive recordings, consulted with Arnold Schoenberg, commissioned seventy-five organ works, and mentored hundreds of talented students. Her studio will be named the Marilyn Mason Organ Studio.

We were serenaded with a carillon recital as we left the League for Hill Auditorium to hear a concert to be performed by former doctoral students of Marilyn Mason. The joyous music announced the celebration like a high feast day. Patrick Macoska played Menuet Champetre Refondu by Ronald Barnes, Triptich: Intermezzo-Fantasy, and Slavic Dance by John Pozdro, Happy in Eternity (passacaglia) by Ronald Barnes, and Evocation by John Courter.

At Hill Auditorium, James Kibbie, professor of organ and co-chair of the organ department at the University of Michigan, began his remarks by saying, “Look around and you will see the legacy of Marilyn Mason.” He pointed out that she has brought the best students and helped place them in jobs; led organ tours throughout Europe; created the Organ Institute; built the Scholarship Endowment Fund; and found and unlocked her students’ potential. He noted that the greatest tribute of all is to hear great music performed by her students. “Her greatness was immediately recognized by Palmer Christian, her teacher at the U of M. Upon meeting her he announced that a ‘buzz bomb’ just arrived from Alva, Oklahoma.”

The concert’s emcee was the witty and loquacious David Wagner, professor of organ at Madonna University and director of the classical music station in Detroit. He regaled us with his unforgettable and hilarious story of his first encounter with the University of Michigan Organ Conference. Sixteen-year-old David read about it in The Diapason, a gift given to him as a reward for a good lesson by his organ teacher in Detroit. David persuaded a pal to borrow his uncle’s Buick and drive around Ann Arbor until they found Hill Auditorium. He had no idea where it was, but was convinced they could find it. They did find it. When David got back to Detroit, the police were ready to arrest his pal for grand theft, because his pal had not told his uncle they were borrowing the car. Such is the lure of the organ conference!

All of the performers without exception played brilliantly. Each selected masterworks calculated to mesmerize and enthrall. Shin-Ae Chun (2006), a native of Incheon, South Korea, also holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing science. She is an international concert artist, represented by Concert Artist Cooperative, and organist at the First Baptist Church in Ann Arbor. She played Miroir by Ad Wammes and Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H by Franz Liszt. Thomas Strode (1981), founder of the Ann Arbor Boy Choir in 1987, teacher of music at St. Paul Lutheran Middle School, is director of music at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor. He played Gaston Dethier’s Christmas (Variations on ‘Adeste Fideles’). Thomas Marshall (1975) has been a member of the music faculty at the College of William and Mary since 1981 and has played harpsichord in an early music ensemble at Williamsburg since 1977. He played Praeludium et Fuga in h, BWV 544 by J.S. Bach and a commissioned work for this concert, Dance of Celebration (“Mambo for Marilyn”) by Joe Utterback. Joseph Galema (1982) received his BM from Calvin College and his MM and DMA from the University of Michigan. He has been organist at the U.S. Air Force Academy since 1982. In 2008, he became an instructor in the Milan Academy in Denver. He is in Who’s Who in America and has toured throughout Europe and the Baltic states. He played Marcel Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in B Major, op. 7, no. 1, and Allegro Deciso from Evocation, op. 37.

Interspersed among the music were tributes offered by Professor Larry Schou of the University of South Dakota; Eileen Guenther, president of the AGO; and Professor Emeritus Gale Kramer of Wayne State University in Detroit. Larry Schou teaches organ and world music, and as dean of the School of Humanities oversees a faculty and staff of forty-seven. He recalled Marilyn Mason telling him to “Work hard. See life as others might not.” He remembered with fondness her workshops on Alain and Duruflé, and Almut Rössler’s performances and lectures on Messiaen. He thanked her for inviting his father and his colleague to her house for lunch, and for her work of sixty-six years. “Your performances, sense of humor, and prayers have helped so many people—they are to me a living legacy.”

Eileen Guenther’s letter was read. The president of the AGO expressed her congratulations to Mason, saying the lives she touched bear witness to her dedication to education. She thanked her for all she has done for the AGO.

Gale Kramer described Mason with words, varying in number of syllables from six to one, which poignantly captured her essence.

Six syllables: “Marilyn Mason is indefatigable. Part of being indefatigable means doing something carefully many times without getting tired, whether practicing, repeating a joke, or commissioning an organ work. She has said a good teacher tells a student the same thing over and over in as many different ways as possible. Part of being indefatigable is coming back after a rest—on a pew, in the back of a bus—then climbing to the top of a spiral staircase.”

Five syllables: “Marilyn Mason is multifaceted, a performer, teacher, church musician, bon vivant, tour leader, raconteur, and friend.”

Four syllables: “Marilyn Mason is a visionary, evidenced in 53 organ conferences, 56 historic organ tours, and 70 commissioned works.”

Three syllables: “Marilyn Mason is practical. She realized it takes money to refurbish and maintain the Frieze Memorial Organ and to build and maintain the Fisk organ; it takes money to fund scholarships. And she is concerned that her students find jobs. At the breakfast table on her Historic Organ Tours, she would say, ‘Take some bread for a snack later on, you paid for it!’”

Two syllables: “Marilyn Mason is loyal to her students—that’s why we are here. And she is loyal to the University of Michigan. She belongs to a group of individuals who used their careers to bring esteem and glory to the university, not to people who used the university to further their own careers.”

One syllable: smile. “We remember her smile, her exuberance.”

At the end of the concert, Marilyn Mason was surrounded by students past and present whose lives have been profoundly touched by her teaching, joie de vivre, compassion, and kindness.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

We were privileged to hear Michael Barone of Pipedreams lecture on the topic “As Years Fly By.” It is always illuminating to hear Barone comment on recordings of organ music. He focused on composers whose birthdates can be celebrated in 2013. First on his list was Jean Titelouze (1563–1633) of the French Classical School.

With the birthday of Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780) we celebrate (maybe) The Little Preludes and Fugues. Barone suggested we check out other of Krebs’s works, including a Fugue in B-flat, which has been recorded by Irmtraud Krüger at Altenburg Cathedral.

Barone also mentioned Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888), whose set of virtuosic etudes for pedal piano has been recorded by Olivier Latry on Art of Pedal Piano: Alkan, Boëly, Brahms, Liszt, Schumann, issued in 2011. Kevin Bowyer, an English organist, has recorded the music of Alkan in Salisbury Cathedral.

2013 marks the 150th birthdays of American composer Edgard Varèse (1883–1965), who studied with Widor at the Paris Conservatory, and Horatio Parker (1863–1919), several volumes of whose concert pieces, including the 21 Recital-Pieces, have been reissued.

2013 also marks the hundredth anniversary of the births of Benjamin Britten (1913–1976), composer of War Requiem and only one organ piece, Prelude and Fugue on a Theme by Vittoria (1946), and Robert Elmore (1913–1985), much of whose music—reminiscent of Sigfrid Karg-Elert and Max Reger—is out of print. His Come to the Holy Mountain and Beneath the Cross of Jesus offer a richly emotional landscape, yet easily approachable. Norman McKenzie has recorded Elmore’s Sonata, written in 1975.

It was fitting that Michael Barone, one of the most informed critics of our time of organ repertoire and its discography, be invited to celebrate the accomplishments of Marilyn Mason. He began by saying: “Marilyn Mason has been with us through the ages. We are all her children, celebrators, and her debtors.” He pointed out that she has performed the music of contemporary composers: Searle Wright, Leo Sowerby, Robert Crandell, Virgil Thomson, Normand Lockwood, and Paul Creston (to name only a few) and has commissioned many to compose music for her. Mason was the first to record Arnold Schoenberg’s Variations on a Recitative and has recorded the freely composed works and partitas of Pachelbel on the Fisk organ. Barone played excerpts from her recordings, which included her program performed at the International Congress of Organists in London in 1957: the one solo piece, Concerto by English composer Matthew Camidge (1758–1844) as well as Sowerby’s Classic Concerto and Seth Bingham’s Connecticut Suite, both with orchestra. Barone concluded by playing her recording of a trumpet fanfare by José Lidon (1752–1827). He said: “To Marilyn Mason who has taken us around the world, and given us reason to practice, and given us an example for us all to follow.” With these words we all stood and clapped and cheered while Marilyn Mason gave us one of her unforgettable smiles.

James Hammann, DMA, former Mason student, concert artist, recording artist, scholar, former chair of the music department at the University of New Orleans, and former president of the Organ Historical Society, gave a presentation entitled “History of Farrand & Votey Organ with Videos, Recordings, and Commentary.” He prefaced his lecture saying that “This work was done for my DMA document and was encouraged by Marilyn Mason.” Hammann detailed the mechanical developments during the organ’s transition from mechanical action to electro-pneumatic, pointing out that the Detroit organ company of Farrand & Votey was the first to use intermanual couplers with tilting tablets. Farrand & Votey built Opus 700, now known to us as the Frieze Memorial Organ in Hill Auditorium, for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It had 63 speaking stops and the same façade that it had when it was placed in University Hall in 1898. University Hall was torn down and replaced with Angell Hall and the organ was moved to Hill Auditorium in 1913. It was considered one of the largest and finest instruments in the country. Farrand & Votey built small organs as well as large; Detroit in the 1890s was an innovative organ-building center.

As we left Hill Auditorium we were treated to a carillon concert: Kipp Cortez, doctoral student of Marilyn Mason, played Preludio V by Mathias Vanden Gheyn, Chorale Partita IV: ‘St. Anne’ by John Knox, two movements from Gregorian Triptych by John Courter, Image no. 2 by Emilien Allard, and Movement III from Serenade by Ronald Barnes.

The final round of the Second Annual Organ Improvisation Competition was held at the First Presbyterian Church. Each contestant was given a theme to study for 30 minutes and was then required to improvise a three-movement suite no more than 15 minutes long. Judging criteria included thematic development, form, stylistic consistency, rhythmic interest, and use of the instrument. The judges were Michael Barone, James Hammann, and Christine Clewell. Each contestant played with virtuosic technique, and grasped instantly the possibilities of colors and timbres at their disposal. It was exciting to hear “new works” spun from their imaginations and to hear them played with such passion. It was no wonder the judges deliberated for almost 45 minutes.

Devon Howard, private teacher and organist at First Presbyterian Church in Longmont, Colorado, and Douglas Murray, professor of English at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, were runners-up. Aaron Tan, organ scholar at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, received third place. Alejandro D. Consolacion II, director of music and organist at Whitehouse United Methodist Church in Princeton, New Jersey, received second place. Richard Fitzgerald, associate director of music at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., received first place.

Richard Fitzgerald received his undergraduate degree from Westminster and his MM and DMA from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore; his dissertation was entitled “Method for Improvisation and Pedagogy.” He has studied improvisation with John Walker, Donald Sutherland, Mark Anderson, Ronald Stolk, Rachel Laurin, Jeffry Brillhart, and Peter Latona.

Special thanks are due to Tom Granum, Director of Music Ministries at First Presbyterian Church for his gracious hospitality, and to Michele Johns, organizer of the competition, and her committee, Marcia Van Oyen, Gale Kramer, and Darlene Kuperus.

As we approached Hill Auditorium for the final concert of the conference, we were welcomed by Joshua Boyd’s carillon recital: Summer Fanfares by Roy Hamlin Johnson, Music for Carillon, op. 107 by Lowell Liebermann, Reflections from the Tower by Emma Lou Diemer, and Easter Dawning by George Crumb.

The closing recital was played by Tom Trenney who, from my vantage point, looked like a teen-ager. His recital was icing on the cake—played with intensity, gusto, sensitivity, and passion. One was dazzled by his flawless technique and the beautiful spirit that shone through each piece: Variations on America by Charles Ives, Scherzo, op. 2, by Maurice Duruflé, Air by Gerre Hancock, six movements from The King of Instruments by William Albright, Fugue in E-Flat Major, BWV 552 by J.S. Bach, Deuxième fantasie by Jehan Alain, and an improvisation on two submitted themes (Now Thank We All Our God and a newly created abstract theme). At the end of his performance Trenney was given thunderous applause and a standing ovation.

After the first half of Tom Trenney’s recital, a surprise appearance by William Bolcom and Joan Morris paid tribute to Marilyn Mason with a lively and heartfelt performance of Black Max and (I’ll Be Loving You) Always.

The 53rd Conference on Organ Music honoring Marilyn Mason’s sixty-six years of teaching was organized by Michele Johns. It offered performances and lectures of the highest quality that informed and inspired, and offered tribute to a beautiful life dedicated to performing, teaching and learning. Marilyn Mason’s energy, enthusiasm, sense of humor, and compassion are the qualities that have drawn hundreds of students to her from all over the world, and throughout the United States.

The final photo is of Gordon Atkinson, a resident of Windsor, Australia, and an eminent composer and organist, who, of all of her former students, traveled the farthest to celebrate her lifetime achievement. He reminisced saying:

I heard Marilyn Mason play at Westminster Abbey in 1957 for the International Congress of Organists. She played at the Abbey when it had only one general piston! The program was hailed as one of the great recitals of the Congress. Who would have guessed I would study with her for my master’s degree at the University of Michigan?

Marilyn Mason has been a Svengali, and an organistenmacher. Her countless students are literally everywhere there is a pipe organ to be played. Each person attending the conference was given a CD that included works from some of her performances with the Galliard Brass Ensemble, works played at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and Pipedreams premieres. In this gift we have a reminder of her virtuosity and artistry. In conclusion we say thank you to Marilyn Mason for “burning with a hard, gem–like flame,” and for sharing your radiance with the world and us.

Nunc Dimittis

Edward D. Berryman died August 22 in Minneapolis at the age of 88. He was born on February 8, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Cecil and Alice Berryman, Paris-trained concert pianists. His musical studies began at the piano with his parents, and his first organ studies were with J. H. Sims at All Saints Episcopal Church in Omaha. In 1942 he received a B.A. with “Distinction in Music” from the University of Omaha, and then went to the University of Minnesota to study organ under Arthur Jennings. Berryman taught at the University of Minnesota from 1943 to 1959. In 1950, after receiving his M.A., he took the position of organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Minneapolis. Upon Jennings’ retirement in 1956, Berryman became university organist, playing on the 108-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ of Northrop Auditorium. Also in 1956, he married Gladys Reynolds, with whom he shared 35 years of his life.
After earning a doctorate in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Berryman served as organist-choirmaster at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis from 1962 to 1987. He also taught at Macalester College in St. Paul from 1965 to 1985, and at Northwestern College from 1976 to 1991. For many decades Dr. Berryman served as the Minneapolis Civic Organist, presiding at the 124-rank W. W. Kimball organ in the Minneapolis Auditorium.
In retirement, he maintained a large studio of piano and organ students. In 1991, his wife Gladys passed away. The next year, he married Maria Sandness, a childhood friend from Omaha. A memorial service was held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis on September 6, at which several of his organ and piano students performed. Edward Berryman is survived by his wife, Maria, three stepchildren, a brother, and four grandchildren.
—Michael Ferguson

David Straker Bowman, associate professor of music and organ at Alabama State University, died October 4 at the age of 69. He served on the university’s faculty from 1971 until his retirement in August 2008. A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree, cum laude, from the University of Kentucky in 1961. In 1963, he earned the Master of Music from Syracuse University, and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study with Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany for two years. He completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in 1970 at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Marilyn Mason and was a teaching fellow in music theory. He also studied with Russell Saunders at the Eastman School of Music, and at Union Theological Seminary and the University of Tennessee.
Bowman served on the faculty of Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, and as organist-choir director at Metropolitan Methodist Church in Detroit. Prior to his death, he was music director at All Saints Episcopal Church in Montgomery. He performed at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and at conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Beginning in 1970, he performed Marcel Dupré’s Stations of the Cross, which became his signature piece, in more than 60 venues throughout the United States.
David Bowman is survived by two brothers, three nephews, two nieces, and his long-time partner Malcolm E. Moore (Mike).
—Richard McPherson

Genevieve Cox Collins, 96 years old, died August 18 in Hammond, Louisiana. A life member of the American Guild of Organists and founder of the Baton Rouge AGO chapter with her late husband, Frank Collins, Jr., she earned degrees in organ performance from Louisiana State University. Following her marriage to Frank Collins, her former major professor, the couple traveled to Paris at the height of the Depression; Frank studied with Marcel Dupré and Genevieve with Louis Vierne. Returning to Baton Rouge, Frank continued as LSU professor of organ until his death in 1968, and Genevieve served as organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church for 40 years and Temple B’nai Israel for 50 years. She served as dean of the Baton Rouge AGO chapter multiple times, and was an active member of the Philharmonic Club. Genevieve Collins is survived by her son Jimmy, his wife Helen, and two nieces, Mary Lee McCoy and Barbara Gordon.

Raymond Canfield Corey died August 6 in Castle Point, New York, at the age of 90. A lifelong resident of Poughkeepsie, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ and choral conducting from the Juilliard School. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He and his wife Heather Harrison were the proprietors of the Poughkeepsie Music Shop for 39 years. Corey, who built the organs for St. James Methodist Church in Kingston and the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Poughkeepsie, was a music director and organist for numerous area churches for 75 years. He played in several dance bands, conducted the IBM Chorus, accompanied productions for the Children’s Community Theater in Poughkeepsie, and was the last organist to play the Wurlitzer organ at the Bardavon for silent movies in the 1930s. Raymond Corey is survived by his wife, his daughter Cheryl and son-in-law Christopher Hoffman, their daughter Alicia, son and daughter-in-law Raymond K. and Colleen Corey, and their son, Paul Raymond.

Paul Thomas Hicks, age 70, died April 18 in Bartlett, Tennessee. A Memphis native, he earned a bachelor of music degree from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), and a master of music degree from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis); his teachers included Adolph Steuterman and Harry Gay. Hicks served First United Methodist in Memphis for 34 years; in retirement he served as interim organist at Idlewild Presbyterian Church, where he oversaw the installation of the city’s first carillon, and on which he gave concerts and played the bells on a daily basis until his health declined. A published composer, two of his anthems (Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayer and Father, in Whom We Live) were sung at his funeral service at Idlewild Presbyterian. He was author of four books on local Methodist churches, and was a member of the West Tennessee Historical Society. An active member of the Memphis AGO chapter since 1964, Hicks was the examination coordinator for 20 years. Paul Hicks is survived by his sisters Mary Overby and Martha Ochsner, and brother George Hicks.

Stan Kann, longtime organist for the Fox Theatre, St. Louis, died September 29 in St. Louis. He was 83. Kann began playing the organ at age 4, and the piano in high school, and majored in classical organ at Washington University. He played the Fabulous Fox Theatre’s mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ from 1953 to 1975, performing between movies and at special events. During those years he also performed at Ruggeri’s Restaurant on the Hill and Stan and Biggie’s restaurant.
As a hobby, he began collecting vacuum cleaners when he was a young man; he owned more than 150 antique sweepers, which he kept in his home in the Holly Hills neighborhood. Television viewers first met Kann in the 1950s, when he served as the musical director for “The Charlotte Peters Show” and “The Noon Show,” both produced by KSD-TV. A lifelong bachelor, Kann moved to the Los Angeles area in 1975; he returned to St. Louis in 1998. In 2005, filmmaker Mike Steinberg released a documentary, “Stan Kann: The Happiest Man in the World.”

The Class of 2015: 20 leaders under the age of 30

THE DIAPASON Staff

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20May 2015 20 under 30 winners.pdf (1.41 MB)

The Diapason’s inaugural “20 under 30” selections came from a field that included over 100 nominations, a response that surprised and delighted us. The nominees were evaluated based upon information provided in the nominations; we selected only from those who had been nominated. We looked for evidence of such things as career advancement, technical skills, and creativity and innovation; we considered a nominee’s awards and competition prizes, publications and compositions, and significant positions in the mix. Our selections were not limited merely to organists but reflect the breadth of our editorial scope, which includes the organ, harpsichord, carillon, and church music. Here we present the winners’ backgrounds and accomplishments, and then have them tell us something interesting about themselves, and about their achievements, goals, and aspirations.

Since we had to decline multiple nominees for each one we chose, selecting only 20 from a field of very worthy nominees was quite a challenge. We do urge you to participate in the “20 under 30” awards next year—a person must be nominated in order to be selected.

Joe Balistreri, 28, a proud citizen of Detroit, Michigan, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance at the University of Michigan, studying with James Kibbie. His organ performances include an AGO convention, university conferences, and orchestral collaborations.

Since 2011, Balistreri has been the director of music for the Archdiocese of Detroit, serving as a resource and community facilitator for parish musicians and clergy. He created an annual “Chant Bootcamp,” a down-to-earth crash course week that enables parish musicians to read, understand, and enjoy plainchant, and developed an annual marathon organ recital, showcasing parish organists from across Southeast Michigan in a whirlwind series of 25-minute recitals. The marathon also includes a fundraising competition, supporting the music ministries of each organist.

As Episcopal Music Director at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, Balistreri co-directs the parish adult choir, directs the Archdiocesan Chorus, and leads the Cathedral Cultural Series (CCS), a non-profit concert series of organ and choral music, which features music for two organs at least annually, showcasing the cathedral’s 1925 Casavant and 2005 Austin organs.

In his spare time, Joe Balistreri enjoys cycling, cooking, surveying architecture, Detroit politics, and composing. He is particularly proud of starting a choral program at Detroit’s Loyola High School, a school serving at-risk inner-city youth.

Interesting fact: Seven years ago, infamously scandalous Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick planted a maple tree in front of my house before he went away to prison.

Proudest achievement: I’m most proud of restoring the Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit as a permanent resident ensemble for the archdiocese three years ago. In early March, the chorus received an invitation to sing for Epiphany Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with Pope Francis! Most importantly, the chorus has fostered a wonderful network of friendships and professional connections.

Goals and aspirations: I’m interested in making and promoting passionate, beautiful, spirit-lifting sacred music and have a strong interest in promoting the Gregorian propers as a transcendent pathway to God. I’d like to explore the relationship between centonization in the Gregorian repertoire (especially in graduals and alleluias) and newer African-American improvisatory idioms . . . possibilities exist for creative fusion of the two traditions in Catholic music programs. Finally, I’m very interested in developing a small choral ensemble/composer forum that focuses on early sacred music and new sacred writing.

Thomas Bowers, 26, received his bachelor’s degree in music and philosophy from Florida State University. While studying piano at FSU, he developed an interest in the harpsichord and organ and in instrument construction. In 2008, he took time away from school to complete an internship in harpsichord building at Zuckermann Harpsichords, where he focused on voicing and regulation, completing the construction of his first instrument, a copy of an Italian harpsichord originally built in 1665, in 2009.

Bowers earned a master’s degree in harpsichord performance from the Longy School of Music, where he studied with Avi Stein and participated in masterclasses with Vivian Montgomery, Martin Pearlman, David Schemer, and others. He currently serves as organist and choir director for St. Chrysostom’s Church in Quincy, Massachusetts. With artist Kendyll Hillegas, he organizes the Hive Gallery at St. Chrysostom’s, a seasonal art opening and early music concert to promote the work of young artists and musicians in the Boston area.

Thomas Bowers performs regularly in Boston as a chamber musician and soloist and works as a technician for the Harpsichord Clearing House; a founding member of the Baroque ensemble Incendium Novum, he seeks to bring early music repertoire to new audiences.

Interesting fact: I am an avid rock climber. I find this a compelling sport because it challenges both the physical and problem-solving abilities of the climber.

Proudest achievement: My greatest achievement thus far is convincing my wife, Kellie, to marry me!

Goals and aspirations: I have been working to build a career that combines performance, teaching, and instrument work. I plan to pursue a doctorate, and am interested in conducting research on the historical building practices of harpsichord and organ makers.

Joey Brink, 26, a carillonneur and engineer, began carillon studies at Yale University in 2007 with Ellen Dickinson, receiving a B.S. in mechanical engineering with a thesis on the design of realistic-touch practice carillon keyboards. He received a Belgian-American Educational Foundation (BAEF) fellowship to study with Eddy Marien, Koen Cosaert, and Geert D’hollander at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, where he graduated with “greatest distinction” in June 2012. Brink went on to win first prize and audience prize at the 7th International Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition in Mechelen in 2014.

Brink received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Utah in collaboration with NASA in December 2014. Since January 2015, he has been studying carillon performance and composition with Geert D’hollander at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida, as a Bok Tower Carillon Fellow. Brink currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, carillonneur Vera Brink. The Brinks spend much of their free time immersed in the nearby Wasatch Mountains hiking, mountain biking, camping, and skiing.

An active member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and the World Carillon Federation, Joey Brink will play more than 30 carillon concerts in seven countries in 2015; he also composes for carillon. As a mechanical engineer, he has presented research on carillons at a 2012 symposium.

Interesting fact: Each fall I coach a FIRST Lego League team of boys that build Lego robots and compete in Lego tournaments.

Proudest achievement: I am most proud of receiving first prize at the 7th International Queen Fabiola Competition for Carillon Performance in Mechelen, Belgium. The competition hosts the highest-level upcoming carillonneurs, and in June 2014 I became the first North American to ever take the first prize.

Goals and aspirations: I aspire to continue performing worldwide on the carillon and compose for the instrument. I hope to devote much of my career to teaching carillon, as well as apply my engineering background to influence the design of future carillons and practice carillons.

Nicholas Capozzoli, 22, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a fourth-year student at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying organ with James David Christie and harpsichord with Webb Wiggins. A first-place winner in several competitions, most recently the 2013 Region III American Guild of Organists/Quimby Competition, he has performed in venues including St. Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh; St. Patrick Catholic Church, Washington, D.C.; Church of the Covenant, Cleveland; Old South Church, Boston; and the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France. Capozzoli presented recitals at the 2013 National Association of Pastoral Musicians Convention in Washington, the 2014 AGO National Convention as a “Rising Star,” and at the 2014 Piccolo Spoleto Festival “L’Organo Series” in Charleston, South Carolina. He has served as a sacred music intern at New York City’s Brick Presbyterian Church and Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville, Illinois, working under the direction of Keith Tóth and Matthew Sprinkle, respectively. He currently serves as organist at Bethesda-on-the-Bay Lutheran Church in Bay Village, Ohio. Nicholas Capozzoli is also an active solo harpsichordist and continuo player, and in his fifth year at Oberlin, he will pursue a master of music degree in historical performance.

Proudest achievement: Presenting a “Rising Star” recital at the 2014 AGO Convention in Boston for a full capacity audience of organists.

Career goals: In addition to working in the field of church music, I hope to have an active performance career in both organ and harpsichord—including continuo, working with many instrumental early music ensembles.

An interesting fact: When I was little, I really wanted to be either a priest or a pirate . . . but who knows, maybe one of those career paths can still happen!

Katelyn Emerson, 23, presents concerts and masterclasses throughout the United States on interpretation, repertoire, and sacred music. She has received top prizes in such organ competitions as the 2011 Region 5 AGO/Quimby Regional Competition, the Fifth International Organ Competition “Pierre de Manchicourt” in Béthune and Saint-Omer, France, and the VIII Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in Kaliningrad, Russia, and will make her Russian and French concert debuts in the 2015–16 season.

Emerson graduates with high distinction this May from Oberlin College and Conservatory with double bachelor’s degrees in organ performance and French as well as minors in historical performance and music history. Her teachers have included James David Christie, Olivier Latry, Marie-Louise Langlais, Ray Cornils, and Abbey Hallberg-Siegfried. She has been sacred music intern at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City and the Church of the Advent in Boston. The recipient of a J. William Fulbright Study/Research Grant, she will study at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in Toulouse, France in 2015–16 with Michel Bouvard, Jan Willem Jansen, and Yasuko Uyama-Bouvard. For more information, visit www.katelynemerson.com.

Interesting fact: A challenge I’ve had to work with is my rather small hands and short stature. Playing Franck, I constantly thumb between manuals in order to get the perfect legato. When competing and performing, I frequently struggle to reach the pedals or top manuals. While competing on the beautiful 1855 Cavaillé-Coll organ in Saint-Omer, France, I remember having to write “scoot back” in several places in my score so I would not slide forward off the bench while playing Vierne’s Impromptu on the highest manual!

Proudest achievement: One of my fondest achievements was playing the 1791 François-Henri Clicquot organ in Poitiers. Truly, French Classical music, which had never sounded terribly fascinating to me before, came to life when reunited with this instrument.

Goals and aspirations: I have always dreamed of living abroad and experiencing diverse cultures through immersion. It is through the small moments of enjoying an espresso in a corner cafe while watching passersby that I feel the true spirit of an unfamiliar surrounding. I most appreciate forging connections with people and this will comprise a large part of my future career, as I love teaching and communicating with others, be it on the subjects of church music, performance, and musicology, or even French literature, psychology, and philosophy.

Jillian Gardner, 22, is working towards her bachelor of music degree in organ at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying organ with James David Christie, as well as receiving instruction from Jack Mitchener and Marie-Louise Langlais. In Oberlin, Ohio, she serves as organist for Grace Lutheran Church.

Gardner began her study of organ at age fourteen with Stephen Best of Utica, New York. As part of her studies at Oberlin, she was able to tour the magnificent instruments in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Versailles, and Paris, France. She won the first place award in the Buffalo, New York, AGO/Quimby chapter-level competition in 2013, and first place in the 2014 Tuesday Music Club Association Scholarship competition in Akron, Ohio.

Jillian Gardner recently lived in New York City for a month, working as an organ scholar at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, gaining experience in choral accompaniment and direction, improvisation, and general service playing. She has presented recitals in such venues as Grace Episcopal Church, Utica, St. Joseph Cathedral, Buffalo, and the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hartford, Connecticut, and at the 2014 Organ Historical Society Convention in Syracuse, New York. She looks forward to a 2016 UK concert tour.

Interesting fact: Jillian’s dress sense reflects her colorful personality—her organ shoes are bright pink. Outside of the organ loft, Jillian enjoys daily sessions in the gym, and arts and crafts.

Proudest achievement: Jillian originates from Lee Center, New York, population 2,500. She is proudest of getting to where she is today purely by hard work and a determination to soak up knowledge from every possible source, while still remaining a well-rounded person outside of the organ world. Through all of this, she has been encouraged by an extremely supportive family of non-musicians.

Goals and aspirations: My goal as a performer is to make the organ accessible to people without compromising musical standards or watering down programs. I am passionate about presenting interesting concerts that are performed musically to take away the bad name the organ has inherited as being dull and mechanical, in the hope of increasing audiences and attracting younger listeners.

In my career, I would like to balance my time between a good church position and performing as a freelance recitalist. I next wish to develop my experience in choral accompaniment, which I hope my move to Baylor University will enable.

Christopher Houlihan, 27, has performed in major cities across North America and Europe, as well as at numerous conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. In 2014, he made his Disney Hall debut, performing with the principal brass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the 2015–16 season will see his debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the release of a new all-Bach organ CD. Houlihan’s “Vierne2012” tour—marathon performances of Louis Vierne’s six organ symphonies—attracted international attention and critical acclaim.

Houlihan studied with Paul Jacobs (Juilliard), John Rose (Trinity College), and Jean-Baptiste Robin (Versailles Conservatoire). His recordings on the Towerhill label include music of Duruflé, Alain, Widor, and Vierne (Symphony No. 2). He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is artist-in-residence at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. More information can be found at christopherhoulihan.com.

An interesting fact: My biggest passion outside of music is for cooking, and in my free time I’m usually busy preparing for a dinner party. My Instagram feed is filled with a unique combination of organs and food
(@houliorganist).

Proudest achievement: I’m especially proud of my “Vierne2012” project. My goal in organizing the marathon tour was to bring some attention to the Vierne symphonies, which are obviously some of the most important compositions in the organ repertoire but are virtually unknown beyond the organ world, and even unfamiliar to some organists. It was an exhausting summer, but ultimately incredibly satisfying to see audiences and critics respond so positively to Vierne’s music.

Career aspirations and goals: I want to continue to perform, and hope to find ways to broaden the organ’s position in the world of classical music.

Simon Thomas Jacobs, 28, read music as organ scholar at Clare College, University of Cambridge. Following graduation, he moved to the United States to take up the post of associate director of music at Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut, and in 2011 became associate organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis. He was awarded a full scholarship to the artist diploma program at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with James David Christie and was a teaching assistant for the organ department.

In 2013, Jacobs won first prize and audience prize at the St. Albans International Organ Competition, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary that same year. Under the management of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, Jacobs has performed at venues throughout the United States and this summer will return to Europe to perform concerts in the UK and France. He will also record his debut CD on the new Richards, Fowkes and Co. instrument (Opus 18) at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London—one of only a handful of American-built organs in England, and the first by an American builder in London. His website is www.simonthomasjacobs.com.

Interesting fact: During my final semester at university I spent my Saturday mornings learning to ride a motorcycle. I passed my test and am licensed to ride any motorcycle in the UK.

Proudest achievement: Winning St. Albans. The city is not far from where I grew up, and so I was always familiar with the magnificent cathedral and the summer organ festival, not to mention the many organists I admire who were previous laureates. It had always been an ambition of mine to enter the competition but I could never have imagined that I’d actually win!

Goals and aspirations: My work as a church musician is incredibly important to me, and having taken a year to focus on my playing and work as a soloist, I would now like to lead my own music program in a large parish. As a parish musician, a great deal of one’s work is as a teacher, and this too is something I wish to build on, as well as continuing to promote the organ and its music through concerts and recordings.

Dexter Kennedy, 24, won the Grand Prix d’Interprétation at the 24th Concours International d’Orgue de Chartres. Kennedy has also won other prizes and awards, including first prize in the 2009 AGO region V Quimby competition. He is instructor of organ and harpsichord at the College of Wooster. As a result of winning the Grand Prix de Chartres, he will perform over 30 concerts in Europe, including stops in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, England, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Russia, and Iceland. He is also the assistant organist at Christ Church (Episcopal), Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where he serves as principal organist for all choral services and concerts. This summer he will perform at two regional AGO conventions and in Europe.

Kennedy has presented recitals at such venues as Washington National Cathedral, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York City, and the University of Calgary. He holds a master’s degree from the Yale University School of Music and is currently pursuing an artist diploma at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the guidance of James David Christie. Additional studies have been with Martin Jean, Olivier Latry, and Jeffrey Brillhart (improvisation). More information can be found at his website, www.dexterkennedy.com.

Interesting fact: I enjoy golfing and am an avid fan of the professional sports teams in Detroit, particularly the Detroit Tigers.

Proudest achievement: Being the first American organist to win the Grand Prix de Chartres since 1996. This competition has a great history of American winners during its early years in the 1970s that have gone on to have remarkably successful careers, and I hope that it is the start of similar success in my own career. It is such an honor to be distinguished on an international scale of over 60 organists from 20 different countries. I have been invited to play recitals in great venues throughout Europe, many in countries that I would never have dreamed of visiting. I’m particularly excited to visit Reykjavik, Iceland, this summer!

Goals and aspirations: I hope to have a diverse career consisting of university teaching and as much solo performing as possible. I also love high-caliber church music, and if the opportunity to serve at one of the country’s elite church programs was presented to me, I could be very happy in such a scenario.

Colin Knapp, 23, a native of Battle Creek, Michigan, is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, where he studied organ performance, music theory, and performing arts management. His primary organ teachers have been Jacqueline Stilger in Battle Creek, Thomas Bara at Interlochen Arts Academy, and James Kibbie at the University of Michigan. Currently serving as director of music and organist at First Presbyterian Church of Ypsilanti, he is also director of the Ypsilanti Pipe Organ Festival, staff coordinator for the University of Michigan’s Annual Conference on Organ Music, and is co-sub dean of the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Knapp recently moved to the downtown Detroit riverfront and is enjoying all that the city has to offer.

As director of the Ypsilanti Pipe Organ Festival, he has established himself in arts management, audience development, fund raising, and community engagement. For the festival, he has created theme programs such as for St. Patrick’s Day and Halloween, and has presented artists such as Daniel Roth and Vincent Dubois. The sponsorships and partnerships with other organizations that he has developed have underwritten the total costs of the series and generated a surplus, so that all the festival’s concerts will remain free of charge.

Interesting fact: I love the art of collaboration. For part of my senior recital, I presented Jean Langlais’ Suite Médiévale with modern dance, choreographed by Maddy Rager.

Proudest achievement: I am most proud of my work as director of the Ypsilanti Pipe Organ Festival. Through strategic fundraising, innovative programming, and partnering with area organizations such as the Ann Arbor AGO chapter and the organ department at the University of Michigan, the Ypsilanti Pipe Organ Festival has become one of the most successful and accessible free organ series in Michigan.

Goals and aspirations: I plan to continue my work in both church music and arts administration to share my passion and commitment to classical music, especially organ and sacred music, with the community. I plan to return to graduate school to study business and hope to one day become executive director of a large arts organization.

Nathan Laube, 26, assistant professor of organ at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, has performed on many historic European instruments, at such festivals as the Smarano Organ Academy and Torino Festival Organistico Internazionale di S. Rita (Italy); Naumburg Orgelsommer, 300th Anniversary Festival of the Silbermann organ in Freiberg Cathedral, and Dresden Music Festival (Germany); Orléans (France), and Lahti and Lapua (Finland) and at many UK cathedrals, including York, Canterbury, Exeter, Ely, Hereford, Truro, Southwark, and Southwell. Recent performances include such major venues as Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Dortmund Konzerthaus, Walt Disney Concert Hall (CA), Verizon Hall (PA), and the Sejong Center, Seoul (Korea).

A featured performer at numerous conventions of the OHS and AGO, Laube has recorded two new CDs: Stephen Paulus’s Grand Concerto with the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero (NAXOS) and a solo recording made at the Stadtkirche in Nagold, Germany (Ambiente).

Nathan Laube earned a bachelor of music degree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying organ with Alan Morrison and piano with Susan Starr, and a master’s degree in organ from the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, Germany, studying with Ludger Lohmann. A William Fulbright scholar, Laube studied with Michel Bouvard and Jan Willem Jansen at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse where he earned Prix de Spécialisé. From 2011–13, he served as artist-in-residence at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris, France.

Interesting fact: I was born with a sixth finger on my right hand, one that was removed just shortly before I turned one year old. It was not, however, fully formed, but it certainly invites some wishful thinking of “what if?!” With relatively small hands (I can only reach a minor tenth on a good day with my right hand), each moment spent with Franck’s Prière reminds me of this long-lost digit!

Proudest achievement: I have tried to “get inside” of as many of the great traditions of instruments and repertoire-playing as possible, so as to feel equally “at home” at any instrument (be it Schnitger, Skinner, Cavaillé-Coll, or Willis), and to learn the “dialect” of each. Having started this in Philadelphia, with its early 20th-century American-Symphonic pipe organs, the next step was to go to France and Germany and surrounding countries. After much immersion in these sounds and sensations, aided by some of the great pedagogues of our time, I feel that I trust myself to get the best out of any instrument by bringing together amassed knowledge of instrument building and first-hand experience on many different historic instruments. I feel particularly blessed to work at a place like Eastman, where these questions of sound, style, and related technique are always at the front of the mind, whether we are sitting at an 18th-century Italian organ or a 1920s Skinner!

Goals and aspirations: I had always aspired to become a church musician, and I do miss this immensely in my musical life: accompanying psalms, playing hymns, working out elaborate oratorio reductions, etc. I also look forward to increasing my teaching—a part of my musical life that brings me immense joy and ever-broader perspective. Performing and traveling is one thing, but those wonderful “epiphany moments” that occur in lessons (or in an ecstatic text message from a student who has finally “gotten it!”), are really what it’s all about!

Katie Minion, 24, won the Poister Competition in 2012 and received a Jacobs Scholar award (the highest honor given to an undergraduate in the school of music from Indiana University) in 2011. Winner of the Fox Valley AGO RCYO competition in 2013, the Indianapolis AGO Chapter RCYO in 2011, and second in the Region V competition in 2013, she has performed on Chicago classical radio station WFMT’s program, Introductions, and received the Music Institute of Chicago’s highest level certificate in organ playing, with honors, in 2010. She has been presented in recital at Central Synagogue in New York City, and at Loyola University’s Madonna Della Strada Chapel, Chicago. Minion recently received a Fulbright research grant through the Marillonet Foundation to study organ in Toulouse in 2016 with Michel Bouvard.

Interesting fact: I joined the fencing club at IU and competed nationally on the women’s épée team.

Proudest achievement: Winning the Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition during my first year as an undergraduate at Indiana University.

Goals and aspirations: I want to combine research and performance interests as I work towards earning a master’s and a doctorate in organ performance. After spending more time studying in both Europe and in the United States, I’m planning on a career that combines teaching and performing.

Tom Mueller, 29, is assistant professor of church music and university organist at Concordia University in Irvine, California, where he teaches organ, jazz, and composition. Mueller also serves as assistant organist at St. James’ Church in Los Angeles, where he accompanies the Choir of St. James’ under the direction of James Buonemani. In 2014, Mueller won first place in the Schoenstein Competition in Hymn-Playing, held in conjunction with the national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Boston, Massachusetts.

Mueller maintains an active performance schedule. In 2010, he performed the complete organ works of J. S. Bach in his native state of Maine. An avid composer, he has received numerous commissions for new liturgical works. He is also an accomplished guitarist and toured the country as a member of The Muellers, a family bluegrass band.

He has presented workshops, masterclasses, and lectures for numerous organizations, including several chapters of the American Guild of Organists, and has served as a faculty member for the AGO’s Pipe Organ Encounters program.

Mueller holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame (organ), and the University of Maine at Augusta (jazz composition), and earned the DMA degree at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Higgs. His former teachers include Craig Cramer and Alan Wingard.

Interesting fact: I was born into a family of traditional bluegrass musicians and learned several stringed instruments by ear. This is a great experience—everyone should try it!

Proudest achievement: As a young teacher, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to train a new generation of organists and church musicians. I am grateful to all of the fine teachers and musicians who have influenced me over the years, and I strive to be a good musical role model for my own students.

Career aspirations and goals: I love everything that I do—teaching and playing organ, playing jazz, composing, and doing research—and I hope that I can keep doing it all for as long as I possibly can.

Raymond Nagem, 28, is associate organist at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, and a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at the Juilliard School, where he is a student of Paul Jacobs. Winner of the AGO/Quimby Competition in 2007, he gave a Rising Star recital at the 2008 AGO national convention in Minneapolis. His first CD, Divine Splendor (2014, Pro Organo), includes his own transcription of excerpts from Prokofiev’s Music for Children. At St. John the Divine, he has primary responsibility for service playing, and works regularly with the cathedral’s several choral ensembles. He teaches courses in organ literature at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music.

A native of Medford, Massachusetts, Nagem began organ lessons with John Dunn while attending the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School. As the recipient of the first American Friends of Eton College Scholarship, he spent a year studying music in England with Alastair Sampson. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, where he studied with Thomas Murray, and a master of music degree from Juilliard. He has served as assistant organist at the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont, Massachusetts, organ scholar at Trinity Church, Southport, Connecticut, and organ scholar at Christ Church, New Haven. At St. John the Divine, Nagem presented recitals devoted to works of Olivier Messiaen.

Interesting fact: My last name (from the Lebanese side of my family) is Arabic for “star.”

Proudest achievement: Performing Messiaen’s La Nativité this past fall was a highlight, as was recording a CD at St. John the Divine in 2013, but music doesn’t let you stand still—it pushes you to go further. That’s what’s exciting about it!

Career aspirations and goals: My first reaction is: to have a job in 20 years! I say that with a laugh, but it needs to be said, since artists and academics can’t necessarily make a living wage in our society, and organists our age know that we can’t take the survival of the instrument for granted. Selfish considerations aside, I’d like to increase the number of people who appreciate the organ, to show that the instrument and its repertoire are capable of real excellence in both service and recital, and to teach what I’ve learned to another generation after me.

Stephen Price, 27, is a native of Buffalo, New York, where he was appointed organ scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral during his senior year of high school. He graduated from Western Connecticut State University with a bachelor of music degree in organ performance in 2009, after which he received a Fulbright grant to France and studied organ at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse where he earned the Diplôme d’Études Musicales, in addition to the Prix François Vidal from the city of Toulouse.

In 2012, Stephen Price earned a master of music degree in organ performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; he is currently enrolled in the DMA program, in the studio of Janette Fishell. He has also studied with Andrew Scanlon, Stephen Roberts, Michel Bouvard, and Jan Willem Jansen. Price was awarded the Robert Fuchs Prize in the Franz Schmidt 4th International Organ Competition (Austria) and advanced to the final round in the André Marchal 14th International Organ Competition (France). He will serve as a faculty member at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music’s 2015 Sacred Music Intensive Workshop.

Interesting fact: In my spare time, I assist Great Dane owners with new litters and puppy sales.

Proudest achievement: My proudest achievement is being awarded a Fulbright Grant.

Career aspirations and goals: I aspire to become an active church musician, teacher, and performer.

Andrew Schaeffer, 26, a Chicago native, holds degrees from St. Olaf College and Yale University where he studied with John Ferguson and Thomas Murray, respectively. He is currently working on a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance at the University of Oklahoma, studying with John Schwandt. In addition to his academic studies, Schaeffer is director of music at the 2,300-member First United Methodist Church of Edmond, Oklahoma, where he conducts their 40-voice choir, serves as principal organist, and plans three liturgies each Sunday. Active as a recitalist and hymn festival leader, he has presented programs throughout the United States and appeared as an accompanist for the National Lutheran Choir. In 2011 he was presented with the “Officium ad Ducere” (Leadership By Service) Alumnus of the Year award from his alma mater, Luther North College Prep in Chicago, for his contributions to Lutheran church music.

Proudest achievement: A 2014 holiday Christmas CD recorded on the 1926 Casavant (Opus 1130) at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, which included a complete performance of Fred Hohman’s transcription of The Nutcracker.

Interesting fact: I’m an avid collector of all things Alfred Hitchcock.

Career goals and aspirations: Many of us in this profession lament the apparent decline of the importance of the pipe organ, particularly within religious contexts. While it is important to educate people on the great body of literature the organ affords and its complex and beautiful construction, I don’t think we can underestimate the power of renewed congregational song in raising awareness of the need for pipe organs.

Therefore, while I hope to maintain an active career as a performer, my primary musical passion lies in promoting and engaging people in congregational song. Following in the footsteps of two of my mentors, Paul Manz and John Ferguson, I aim to continue to develop and promote hymn festivals around the country. I also desire to be involved in developing resources for congregational song at the denominational level, all while serving as a full-time church musician.

Benjamin Straley, 29, is organist and associate director of music at Washington National Cathedral. He previously served as organ scholar at Trinity Church (Episcopal), New Haven, Connecticut, and as director of music for the Episcopal Church at Yale. After completing his undergraduate studies with Marilyn Keiser at Indiana University, he entered the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in 2008, where he studied with Martin Jean and Jeffrey Brillhart. In 2010, he became one of the few Americans in the history of the Haarlem Organ Festival invited to compete in its world-renowned contest in improvisation. He holds master’s degrees in music and divinity from Yale, as well as a certificate in Anglican studies from Berkeley Divinity School, and is now a Postulant for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church.

Interesting fact: I really enjoy cooking, and am an avid chef and baker at home—in fact, the cathedral music staff have grown quite fond of my cranberry orange scones.

What I am most proud of achieving: I suppose I hope it is yet to come! But I will say that when the Cathedral Choristers have a particularly good Evensong, when perhaps the path there in rehearsals was a bit rocky (particularly for the younger boy choristers), then I am very proud. And any time I hear the fervor of hymn singing intensify in tandem with what I’m doing at the console, there is a deep sense of gratification.

Career aspirations and goals: I hope that I can contribute to the field of church music, and to the church in general, in some small but lasting way. When I think about what Gerre Hancock meant for church music in America, or what Erik Routley did for hymnody, I am awed by the legacy left to us, and yet am keenly aware that it is imperative that we carry on that work into the future.

Andrew Szymanski, 26, a Chicago native with a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts, works in organ restoration. His first project was the restoration of a Kimball organ he rescued from a condemned church building, which he installed in his home. He was an E. Power Biggs Fellow for the 2011 convention of the Organ Historical Society, which afforded him exposure to a number of historic instruments of various vintages and builders in the Washington, D.C., area.

Szymanski’s interest in the historic organ has led to fruitful work throughout the Chicago area. He has rediscovered several long-silent Kimball organs (built in Chicago), and has dedicated much of his time bringing them back to life. Several of these projects have won the praise of metropolitan architectural groups.

As a co-founder of City Organ Works, LLC (website: CityOrganWorks.com), he has been a leader in projects of ongoing restoration of some of the region’s notable organs, including the four-manual Wiener Bros. organ at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in Techny, Illinois, featured at the 2012 OHS Convention, and a 1924 Skinner Organ Company four-manual instrument at United Church of Hyde Park. Szymanski’s second organ purchase, a Kimball tubular-pneumatic player organ, will be brought to the Chicago region this spring, likely a one-of-a kind extant instrument.

Interesting fact: For my twentieth birthday, I purchased my first pipe organ, a historic 1938 W. W. Kimball of six ranks. For my twenty-first birthday, I bought my first 1928 Ford Model A.

Proudest achievement: Being able to travel, repair, and restore so many historic organs that were previously unplayable. Giving derelict organs a new life is something that not many people are willing to put the effort into, yet I find to be incredibly rewarding.

Aspirations and goals: To continue to make my mark in the organ world and inspire other young people to pursue their passion as their career.

Halden Toy, 21, organist and harpsichordist, has been playing the organ since age 10. He has studied with Norma Aamodt-Nelson and Douglas Cleveland. In 2009 he took first place at the American Guild of Organists Region VIII competition, and was featured in 2010 as a “Rising Star” at the American Guild of Organists National Convention in Washington, D.C. In 2014 he was awarded the Nona C. Hunter music scholarship. Currently studying organ performance at BYU-Idaho with Daniel Kerr, Toy performs frequently as an accompanist on both organ and harpsichord. Recently, he was one of eight finalists in the Fifth International Organ Competition Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, which took place at St. Bavo, Haarlem, and in the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. Halden Toy currently serves as organist of First Presbyterian Church in Idaho Falls. His website is haldentoy.com.

Interesting fact: I serve as a moderator for an online forum specializing in small Isuzu diesels and enjoy working on them in my spare time.

Proudest achievement: Making it to the final round of the Sweelinck competition this last fall.

Aspirations and goals: I hope to become a leading expert in the performance of Dieterich Buxtehude’s music: to record the complete keyboard, choral, and chamber works utilizing authentic performance practices in all aspects from the style of playing to using period instruments including the use of the main organ in the church with the orchestra and choir. I plan to get a master’s degree in historic performance and a doctorate in organ performance.

Nicholas Wallace, 28, holds a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar performance graduating magna cum laude from the University of Southern Maine School of Music. He is currently an organ student of Harold Stover. While in college, he worked with C. B. Fisk, Inc., in Gloucester, Massachusetts, both in the shop and on the road for the installation of their Opus 130 in Costa Mesa, California.

After graduating from college, Wallace joined his father’s pipe organ building and restoration company, David E. Wallace & Co., LLC, full time. He assumed more responsibilities during the restoration and installation of the three-manual 1854 E. & G. G. Hook organ at the Church of Our Lady and St. Rochus in Boom, Belgium. He completed the major work on the three-manual 1893 Hook & Hastings organ for the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Nicholas Wallace’s work also includes the construction of new mechanical-action pipe organs for St. Paul’s Anglican Parish in Brockton, Massachusetts, and for Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He recently designed and built a traditional-style portable organ that was first displayed at the 2014 AGO convention in Boston. Wallace is a member of the American Institute of Organbuilders and the International Society of Organbuilders.

Interesting fact: I enjoy camping, backpacking, and fly fishing in some of the more remote areas of Maine and around the world. I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Australia to go hiking and backpacking in some of the national parks in Tasmania while visiting some friends.

Proudest achievement: My favorite achievement is the restoration and installation of the 1854 E. & G. G. Hook organ in Boom, Belgium. It was a very thorough and historically sensitive restoration that, even despite the extreme distance of the relocation, went very well. The organ now serves as a shining example of 19th-century American organbuilding in Europe.

Career aspirations and goals: I plan to continue to build and restore tracker organs to the best of my ability with a focus on historically informed techniques. In my experience with older organs, I have noticed that they were most often built with a great deal of care and with excellent materials. This enduring quality of the finest old organs is one of the aspects that I hope to emulate. By studying the techniques used in older organs, I hope provide versatile new instruments and thoughtfully restored vintage instruments, as well.

Peter DuBois named new host of With Heart and Voice

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John Courter, organist and carillonneur at Berea College and retired professor of music, died June 21, at the age of 68. Courter joined the Berea College faculty in 1971. After retiring from teaching in 2007, he continued to serve as college organist and carillonneur. In addition, he was organist at Union Church and had been a long-time contributor to the music of St. Clare Catholic Church, both in Berea.
A native of Lansing, Michigan, Courter earned a bachelor’s degree in choral music education from Michigan State University in 1962 and a master of music degree in organ in 1966 from the University of Michigan. He had also studied at the North German Organ Academy and held diplomas from the Netherlands Carillon School.
During his 39 years at Berea, Courter contributed to the musical life of the campus and larger community. He taught organ, piano, chime, and carillon performance, church music, and music theory, and was a former director of the Harmonia Society. A well-known organist in the region, he was dean of the Lexington AGO chapter. He was involved in the renovation of the Holtkamp pipe organ in Gray Auditorium at Berea and the recent restoration of the 10-bell chime in Phelps Stokes Chapel. He was the driving force behind Berea’s 56-bell carillon, the largest in the state of Kentucky.
In 1995 Courter received Berea College’s Seabury Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2006 received the Elizabeth Perry Miles Award for Community Service for his numerous contributions to the campus and community as a musician and for volunteer service with Madison County’s public radio station. In 1993, he was awarded the Berkeley Medal for Distinguished Service to the Carillon as a performer and composer. He was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and a member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America.
Courter won several international prizes for his carillon compositions, and his works have been published in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. He has written works commissioned by the Palace of Government in Barcelona, the cities of Utrecht, Kampen, and Almelo (the Netherlands), the Arts Council of Ireland, the University of Michigan, and Grand Valley State University.
In 2005, Courter established the Summer Carillon Concert Series at Berea College, which continues to bring international carillonneurs to Berea’s campus. In his will, Courter provided for the ongoing maintenance of Berea’s carillon, which will be dedicated as the John Courter Carillon during the college’s homecoming this fall.
John Courter is survived by two brothers, two sisters, seven nieces and nephews, nineteen great-nieces and nephews, and special friend and caregiver at the end of his life, Rev. Dr. Theresa Scherf. A memorial service took place June 24 at Union Church in Berea. There will be a special memorial concert later this year.

David Sanger, concert organist, teacher, and past president of the Royal College of Organists, was found dead on May 28. Born in London, Sanger was educated at Eltham College and the Royal Academy of Music, and also studied privately with Susi Jeans, Marie-Claire Alain, and Anton Heiller. He became well known as an organ recitalist when he won first prize in two international competitions: St. Alban’s, England in 1969 and Kiel, Germany in 1972. He recorded over 20 CDs, including the complete organ works of César Franck at the Katarina Church in Stockholm for BIS, and Vierne’s six organ symphonies for Meridian. He acted as consultant on a number of organ projects, including the new Cavaillé-Coll-style instrument at Exeter College, Oxford, and new, restored, or rebuilt organ projects at Bromley Parish Church, Haileybury College, St. Cuthbert’s and Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Sheffield Cathedral, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Sanger also composed music for organ, and for strings and choirs. He authored an organ method book in two volumes for beginners, entitled Play the Organ, which has become the most widely used in Britain in recent years. Together with Jon Laukvik he edited the organ works of Louis Vierne, comprising 13 volumes in a boxed set, published by Carus Verlag, Stuttgart. From 1980–89 David Sanger was professor of organ at the Royal Academy of Music in London, serving as chairman of the organ department from 1987–89. Between 1989–97 he was a consultant professor at the Royal Academy of Music.

Kenneth Vernon Turvey died March 4 in Huntsville, Alabama. He was 81. Born in Dayton, Ohio, his first organ studies were with Frank Michael, and during high school, with Parvin Titus at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, to which Turvey made a 50-mile bus trip each week for lessons, and where he completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After finishing his degrees in 1951, he served in the Army during the Korean War. In 1955, Turvey began a 50-year career as music director for the First United Methodist Church in Huntsville. He also pursued doctoral organ studies with Oswald Ragatz at Indiana University. Turvey served for 42 years as director of the Huntsville Community Chorus, and conductor of the Decatur Civic Chorus for 17 years. He also taught at Athens State University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and was a co-founder of the Huntsville AGO chapter. Kenneth Turvey is survived by his wife, Janet, five children, seven grandchildren, and a great-grandaughter.

Jerry P. Whitten, 82 years old, died February 7 in Memphis, Texas. Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma, studying with Mildred Andrews, and a master’s degree in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, studying with Vernon de Tar. Whitten was employed by Tarpley Music Co. in Pampa, Texas, for 43 years, and served as organist-choirmaster at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Pampa for 15 years. Jerry Whitten is survived by his wife Nancy, four stepchildren, three step-grandchildren, three brothers, and two sisters.

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Ruth Ann Hofstad Ferguson died March 23 in Northfield, Minnesota, after a prolonged struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 71. She attended Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, majoring in music education, with a minor in religion. While at Concordia, she studied organ and served churches as a substitute organist. Upon graduation, she taught elementary music in Hawley, Minnesota, and in summers continued her organ studies with Arthur Poister at Syracuse University. Ferguson obtained a master’s degree in organ performance at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Russell Saunders.

It was at Eastman that she met John Ferguson; they married in August 1971, moving to Kent, Ohio, where she worked as an adjunct faculty member at Kent State University and served as associate organist at the Kent United Church of Christ. In 1978, the family moved to Minneapolis, where John was appointed organist and director of music at Central Lutheran Church and Ruth as assistant organist. The family moved to Northfield in 1983, where Ruth Ferguson served as organist at St. John’s Lutheran Church for 25 years, and later was their music coordinator. She also taught organ for fifteen years at St. Olaf College as an adjunct faculty member.

Ruth Ann Hofstad Ferguson is survived by her husband, John; son, Christopher (Sarah) of Auburn, Alabama; granddaughter, Lucy; sister, Ardis Braaton (David) of Grand Forks; and brother, Philip Hofstad (Carole) of Bemidji; several nieces and nephews, and other relatives and friends.

William A. Goodwin passed away December 7, 2013, at the age of 83. A native of Elgin, Illinois, he studied at Knox College in Galesburg. While in service in the United States Army from 1952 to 1954 in Maryland, he studied organ on weekend leaves. He worked for Baird Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts, until he founded his own firm, Keyword Associates, which designed and installed recording systems in courtrooms around the nation.

For more than thirty years, he served as organist and music director for the First Congregational Church of Woburn, Massachusetts, where he played the 1860 E. & G. G. Hook Opus 283. Goodwin established an organ restoration fund to maintain the historic instrument there. A memorial concert was presented at the church on May 4.

Paul Salamunovich, Grammy-nominated conductor who was music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1991 to 2001, died April 3. He was 86. He also served as director of music at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood, California, from 1949 to 2009, and taught at Loyola Marymount University, Mount St. Mary’s College, and USC Thornton School of Music. Early in his career he sang for movies and TV shows. Salamunovich never formally studied choral music but sang in a boys’ choir at St. James Elementary School in Redondo Beach. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II and following his discharge in 1946, joined the Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus, which later became the Roger Wagner Chorale. Wagner named Salamunovich assistant conductor in 1953. When Wagner created the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1964, Salamunovich served as assistant conductor until 1977; he returned to the group as music director in 1991. His work with composer Morten Lauridsen led to a Grammy nomination for their 1998 recording of “Lux Aeterna,” which Lauridsen wrote for the Master Chorale.

Paul Salamunovich is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Dottie; sons John, Stephen, Joseph, and Thomas; 11 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and his brother Joseph. A daughter, Nanette, then 23, died in 1977.

William Henry Sprigg, Jr., age 94, died on April 3 in Frederick, Maryland. Born March 7, 1920, in Manchester, New Hampshire, he earned a Bachelor’s degree, majoring in organ and music theory, a Master of Music degree in composition, and a Performer’s Certificate in organ from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, and did additional graduate work at Harvard, Boston University, the Organ Institute, and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. In the 1950s he won first prize for the symphonic tone poem “Maryland Portraits in Contrast: Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Carroll” in a competition sponsored by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Association; the orchestra performed it several times. Sprigg played many recitals nationwide, and recorded and engineered two LP recordings for the Orion label. For more than forty years Sprigg was professor of organ and music theory at Hood College, where he was instrumental in restoring Brodbeck Music Hall and designing the Coblentz Memorial Organ in Coffman Chapel. He served as organist-choir director at Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick, where he designed the organs in 1950 and again in 1981. William Henry Sprigg, Jr. is survived by four nieces and a nephew.

Greg Vey, 51, passed away July 26, 2013, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He directed musical theater productions in the Fort Wayne area, served the University of St. Francis in the music technology program, and was director of music and organist at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, music director for the Fort Wayne Männerchor/Damenchor, and director of operations for the Heartland Chamber Chorale. Dean of the Fort Wayne AGO chapter, Vey was a regular contributor to the Sänger Zeitung auf dem Nord Amerikanisher Sängerbund, the North American journal for German choral singing societies, served as associate director of choral studies at Homestead High School, and on various panels and committees including the Community Arts Council of Fort Wayne. Vey earned BA and MA degrees at Indiana University, and earned certifications to help implement emerging technologies in an arts-based business model for the 21st century.

Greg Vey is survived by his wife, Kathy Vey, daughter Karra (Ian) McCormick, son Kristofer Vey, granddaughter Emma Hackett, and sister, Elaine Layland.

Brett Allan Zumsteg died April 14. Born December 23, 1953, in Burlingame, California, he developed a love of music and the organ at age eight, receiving degrees in organ performance: a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University. Zumsteg held teaching positions at Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska; Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; and Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. He became a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists in 1986.

Brett Zumsteg served for many years as organist and choir director for First United Methodist Church in Park Ridge, Illinois, where he was the driving force behind the design and installation of its organ in 1996. He also accompanied the Lake Forest College Concert Choir and directed its College and Community Chorus. Gifted at improvisation, he had the ability to develop melodies and variations on the spot, even while carrying on a conversation with someone. Zumsteg worked as a senior client services analyst for the Business Information Services division of Smiths Group and John Crane, Inc. for 15 years.

Brett Allan Zumsteg is survived by his children, Emily (James) and Benjamin (Michael), granddaughters Zoe and Eva, and innumerable family and friends.

David Wagner retires from Madonna University

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