Janette Fishell receives grant

The Diapason staff

The Diapason’s sixth “20 Under 30” selections came from a large field of nominations. The nominees were evaluated based on 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 to organists but reflect the breadth of our editorial scope, which includes the organ, harpsichord and clavichord, carillon, church music, and organ and harpsichord building. Here we present the winners’ backgrounds and accomplishments, and then have them tell us something interesting about themselves and their achievements, goals, and aspirations.

Nominations will again open for 20 Under 30 in December 2024 for our Class of 2025. Please carefully consider those you may know that deserve this honor and begin to take notes for your nomination. We can only honor those who are nominated.

The Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America (APOBA) is graciously providing a one-year subscription to our 20 Under 30 Class of 2023.

Theodore Cheng

Theodore Cheng is a Hong Kong-born organist and composer with a diverse range of interests and projects that extends well beyond the realm of music. Theodore is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance at The Juilliard School, studying with Paul Jacobs under full funding as a C. V. Starr Doctoral Fellow. Prior to arriving at Juilliard, he attained a Master of Music degree at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ with Craig Cramer. Theodore is a prizewinner at the 2022 Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival Young Professional Competition and the 2022 Fort Wayne National Organ Playing Competition, and he has performed across three continents, specializing in pre-Baroque and contemporary repertoire. As a composer, his choral and organ works have been performed by choirs and ensembles in the United States and in Hong Kong.

An interesting fact: I enjoy visiting art museums, and I occasionally sing Gregorian chant in a schola. I also like to cook and have long endeavored to make the perfect French omelette, a goal that has so far eluded me.

Proudest achievement: Through my performances and collaborative projects, in which I endeavor to present a highly varied palette of styles from the Renaissance to the modern day, I feature commissions and my own compositions. I savor the meaningful connections a sincere and heartfelt performance could make between audiences and music that may be familiar or completely new to them.

Career aspirations and goals: I aspire to teach organ, music theory, and music history at the tertiary level and serving as an organ teaching consultant for emerging organ audiences and communities in southeast Asia. A simultaneous aim would be to work as an advocate for new organ music, especially of east Asian composers. I also look forward to spending more time exploring historical organ improvisation and writing choral music.

Website: www.theodorecheng-organist.com.

Asriel Davis

Asriel Davis is a Master of Music degree candidate at Syracuse University studying with Annie Laver. Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, he quickly fell in love with music, playing piano and organ from the age of six. He began to show much promise in both instruments by his teen years, accompanying his high school choir and playing all around the metro Atlanta area.

He went on to study under Wayne Bucknor at Oakwood University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in piano performance. With a love for sacred music, Asriel has worked and played for many churches around the nation. He recently worked under James Abbington as organist and pianist at Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta. He currently serves as organist for Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, New York.

Having accompanied world-renowned groups such as The Aeolians of Oakwood University and the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers under the direction of Jason Max Ferdinand, he has shown he is equally suitable for performing solo or accompanying vocalists and choirs. With these groups, Asriel has traveled the nation and around the world playing organs and accompanying. He has played in Europe, South Africa, the Bahamas, and elsewhere. His skill set is vast and varied, ranging from Baroque to modern-era music. Asriel is quickly making a name for himself across genres with his exceptional talent and versatility. With his dedication, he continues to make waves in the music world. Whether performing solo or collaborating with other musicians, his passion for music is undeniable, and his future is bright.

An interesting fact: I love working on cars with my Dad in my free time.

Proudest achievement: I am simply most proud of how far I’ve come on my musical journey.

Career aspirations and goals: I plan to work in the church and teach. I will also work with professional choirs, singing and playing. Another goal is to become a commercial voice actor.

Nathan Elsbernd

Nathan Elsbernd is a church musician who supports community-centered music. He devoted the early part of his career to subbing at various North and Northeast Iowa churches in order to build a broad base of experience. His research focuses on community, hospitality, and their intersections with hymnody. Nathan enjoys interrogating the theology behind the music and texts.

Nathan serves as the first Luther College Church Music Fellow and choir and bell director at Decorah Lutheran Church. While serving as the church music fellow, he has promoted and coordinated the involvement of music students to expand the reach of bi-weekly chapel services. Nathan also works for the Luther College music department as a collaborative pianist, teaches organ lessons through the Luther College Community Music School, and sings in the Nordic Choir. During his time at Luther, he studied with Gregory Peterson and Alexander Meszler. Nathan will receive his Bachelor of Arts degree from Luther College in May 2023 as a music major and religion minor.  

An interesting fact: This summer I will be fighting forest fires in Northeast California. 

Proudest achievement: I’m proud of my efforts to help various aging organs sing for their respective congregations that struggle to find organists.  

Career aspirations and goals: I hope to continue researching the intersection between church communities and music and plan to apply the insights learned to the programs at my future church position. I want to collaborate with clergy to help develop new hymns and liturgy settings that are grounded in an inclusive theology for today’s world. I believe that the organ has the potential for great vitality in the future and plan to spend my life promoting easier accessibility to organs and mentoring and teaching young organists.

Dominic Fiacco

Praised for the “remarkable sensitivity in his interpretations” and his “technical mastery” (American Guild of Organists Eastern New York Chapter newsletter), eighteen-year-old Dominic Fiacco has been playing organ since the age of eight. Fiacco studies with Stephen Best, lecturer in music at Hamilton College and organist at First Presbyterian Church in Utica, New York. In May 2018 he performed at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City. The following year he played at the Cadet Chapel at West Point, New York, home to the world’s third largest organ. He has also attended several summer intensives in Philadelphia, where he studied with Alan Morrison, who teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music, and with Peter Richard Conte, organist at the Wanamaker Organ in Macy’s, the second largest organ in the world.

Fiacco also studies piano with Sar-Shalom Strong, lecturer at Hamilton College. He has won multiple prizes in several piano competitions and has also performed several times on the Society for New Music’s Rising Stars programs on organ and piano.

The oldest of seven siblings, Fiacco is a homeschooled high school senior who has been accepted to multiple conservatories. He is pursuing a career in
organ performance.

An interesting fact: I like to go on solitary walks in the hills surrounding my rural village, sometimes hiking for a couple of hours at a time. The occasional snowmobiler may ride by, and I may pass through an Amish farm, but otherwise I’m alone. I occasionally stop to take photos of the landscape. Sunsets are especially stunning when viewed from the top of a snow-covered hill.

Proudest achievement: I am grateful to have performed on several major organs, such as the organ at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City and the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia. It’s an honor to have played the Wanamaker, with its rich variety of sounds and unique setting. It was awe-inspiring to set hands on the legendary instrument that Marcel Dupré, Virgil Fox, and so many others have admired. I especially like its many rows of string and harp stops.

Career aspirations and goals:  I aspire to land a church job, since I have a strong interest in the liturgy, especially sacred music. I also intend to teach at some point. However, my main goal is to become a concert organist. Performers really have the ability to inspire people. I enjoy making emotional connections with audiences. It’s fascinating how a piece they may have never heard before, such as César Franck’s Prelude, Choral, and Fugue for piano, can resonate with them so much that they begin crying. I’d like to spend my life inspiring thoughts and emotions in people.

Anna Gugliotta

Anna Gugliotta is an organist, pianist, and teacher based in Central New Jersey. She graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University in 2022 where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance studying with Renée Anne Louprette. She was awarded the Elizabeth Wyckoff Durham Award from Rutgers University for excellence in music performance. Upon her graduation, Ms. Gugliotta was appointed full-time director of sacred music at the Parish of Saint Thomas More in Manalapan, New Jersey, where she is principal organist and directs the adult, youth, and handbell choirs. In addition, she also has a passion for teaching and maintains a private piano and organ studio.

Anna Gugliotta participated in the University of Michigan Organ Conference (2019), the Church Music Association of America Sacred Music Colloquium in Philadelphia (2019), and the Catholic Sacred Music Project (2021 in Philadelphia, and 2022 in Menlo Park, California). She was awarded second place in the RCYO competition (Regions I and II) in 2020. Ms. Gugliotta has performed in organ masterclasses with Alcée Chriss, David Higgs, and Stephen Tharp.

An interesting fact: I enjoy doing different craft projects, the latest of which is paint-by-diamond kits. Similar to paint-by-number pictures, a special tool is used to pick up small, plastic “diamonds” and place them on color-coded spaces. It can sometimes be tedious, but I find it to be pretty relaxing, and I like how the final products turn out!

Proudest achievement: One thing that I am most proud of achieving is starting a youth choir at my current church job. Having primarily a keyboard background, it was a completely new experience for me to plan, advertise, form, and rehearse this new ensemble, but it has been a really exciting project! Planning for this choir began last summer, and then the ensemble was formed the following September. I currently have ten children that attend weekly rehearsals and sing at Masses twice each month, plus an additional 15–20 children that joined for Christmas and Easter. The children have successfully sung a variety of music (Gregorian chant, traditional hymns, and contemporary pieces) and especially enjoy singing in Latin! Several of the children are also learning how to serve as a cantor during Mass, and it has been very rewarding to see these children not only excited to learn about music, but also to learn more about their Catholic faith.

Career aspirations and goals: I’m not exactly sure what my future will look like, but I definitely see myself continuing to work in sacred music. I’ve felt like that was my calling since middle school, and I truly enjoy working as a church musician because it combines sharing my personal faith with musical collaboration!

Amelie Held

Known for her red organ shoes, organist Amelie Held quickly became an internationally acclaimed artist. She recently debuted at some of Germany’s major cathedrals and concert halls, such as the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Philharmonie Essen, and the international Speyer cathedral recital series. Her solo concert activities include performances in the world’s most important music centers, such as Milan, Paris, Zurich, London, Boston, New York, and Saint Petersburg (Mariinsky Concert Hall).

Raised in Munich, Germany, in a non-musician family, Amelie released her debut album in 2019 at the young age of twenty-two. She has won several prizes at international organ competitions and was one of the youngest finalists of the prestigious French Concours International de Chartres (2018). She has a broad repertoire, both as a soloist and with orchestra and chamber ensemble, ranging from early music to contemporary compositions as well as her own transcriptions.

Currently living in New York City, she is pursuing her Artist Diploma studies at The Juilliard School with Paul Jacobs. In addition to music, Amelie is passionate about literature and speaks four languages. In her free time, she indulges in dancing, working out, or riding motorcycles.

An interesting fact: I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in violin.

Proudest achievement: I am proud of having followed my passions and dreams of becoming a professional musician, even though it was never an easy path to pursue, especially coming from an entirely non-musical background.

Career aspirations and goals: Simply put, I want to make the organ more popular again and get rid of the many stereotypes that we organists are being confronted with! I hope to free the instrument from its dusted image and make it more accessible to the audience! I want to pass my passion and knowledge about this instrument on to everyone who thinks the organ is boring—and everyone else as well, obviously.

Amelie’s website: www.amelieheld.com; Instagram: amelieheld_org.

Katherine Jolliff

Katherine Jolliff is an organist from Indianapolis, Indiana. She began piano studies at the age of five and started learning the organ in her freshman year of high school with Marco Petricic (University of Indianapolis). After completing her first two years of high school, she finished her studies at Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan. She majored in piano performance and organ performance and studied organ with Thomas Bara. Graduating with honors and the Fine Arts Award in Organ Performance, Katherine is currently attending Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, as an organ performance major studying under David Higgs.

In addition to being declared a winner at an AGO/Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists, she has also won first prize in the East Carolina University Young Artists Competition in organ performance (including the Bach Interpretation Prize and the Hymn Playing Award) as well as first place in the 2021 M. Louise Miller and Paul E. Knox Scholarship Competition. Most recently, she won first place in the Immanuel Lutheran Church Organ Scholar Competition in Evanston, Illinois, and the Taylor Organ Competition in Atlanta, Georgia.

An interesting fact: When I’m not practicing, I’m frequently hanging around (quite literally!) in the local circus school practicing aerial silks and other aerial apparatuses. I’m currently teaching both kids and adults who are just starting out on their aerial journeys.

Proudest achievement: I think what I am proudest of varies day to day. While I am of course proud of the competitions and recitals I have done, I find those achievements pale in comparison to the small choices and risks that I do and make daily. I’m proud of myself years ago, who chose to take a risk by trying an instrument that I wasn’t necessarily going to be good at. Despite setbacks and general insecurity, I decided to pursue something that I love with my whole being.

Career aspirations and goals: The end goal of my musical journey is to lead a life that helps inspire other people, both in music as well as in life. I plan to do this through a combination of teaching and performing as well as being a good role model as a musician and as a person.

Alex Jones

Alex Jones is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Houston, Texas, where he studies with Daryl Robinson and holds a graduate teaching fellowship. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, holding a Master of Music degree in organ performance and literature. He earned a bachelor’s degree in organ performance from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK.

Before emigrating to the United States, Alex was a recipient of numerous awards including the Birmingham Symphony Hall Organ Scholarship and the Manchester Cathedral Organ Scholarship. Since emigrating, he has gone on to win several major awards including third prize at the 2022 Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition in Atlanta, George; second prize at the 2017 West Chester University International Organ Competition; third prize of the 2018 Royal College of Organists National Competition; and first prize of the 2017 American Theatre Organ Society’s (ATOS) “Young Artist” Competition. 

He is very active as both a classical concert organist and theatre organist, having performed in major venues across Europe and the United States, including as a featured artist at several ATOS conventions, and is currently serving as organist and choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas.

An interesting fact: I am a keen amateur sailor, and I love the game of snooker, which is a popular British sport. It’s similar to pool but played on a larger table and is more strategy based.

Proudest achievement: I would say my proudest achievement so far is winning the third prize at the Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition in Atlanta last year. This was my first really major international competition, and I was not expecting to have been selected as one of the six out of seventy-two candidates for the audition round, let alone to have come away with a prize.

Career aspirations and goals: My aspirations and goals for the future are to become a permanent resident of the United States and to continue my work as a performer, both as a classical and theatre organist, as a church musician, a teacher, and as an organ designer and consultant.

Instagram handle: aj_organist.

Caitlyn Koester

Caitlyn Koester is a harpsichordist and music director active in the early music communities of the Bay Area and New York City. Her international duo, AKOYA, releases its first album of Graupner’s complete sonatas for violin and harpsichord under the ATMA Classique label in fall 2023. Caitlyn holds degrees from the University of Michigan, San Francisco Conservatory, and The Juilliard School, and is on collegiate and pre-college faculty at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Recent engagements include vocal coach and continuo of I Cantori di Carmel’s Vocal Academy and performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio around Northern California, and chamber music with musicians of Severall Friends in Santa Fe and Musica Angelica in Los Angeles.

An interesting fact: I have a two-year-old Great Pyrenees mix named Polyphony!

Proudest achievement: A lot of my proudest achievements are non-musical, but one of my proudest musical achievements thus far is being given the opportunity to teach theory and history classes at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Teaching has always been a vital part of my musical life, and the students at both the pre-college and collegiate level in the SFCM community are extremely talented, positive, and collaborative. It is a joy and an honor to be in my second year teaching at SFCM.

Career aspirations and goals: Teaching and performing have always been equally important parts of my life. I believe that they can maintain a mutually beneficial relationship in a musician’s life, informing and influencing each other with each new concert or class taught, and I hope to further both parts of my career. This winter I have taken DMA auditions in order to continue learning and developing both parts of my musical career, and upon receiving admissions results this spring I will be enrolling in a doctoral program for fall 2023.

Websites: caitlynkoester.com, akoyaduo.com.

Carson Landry

Carson Landry is one of the few students in the world currently pursuing a master’s degree in carillon, studying at the University of Michigan with Tiffany Ng and Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra. Previously, he earned a diploma from the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, while on a Fulbright scholarship, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music studies from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. His focus is on playing an active role as a musician in movements for social good, diversifying the carillon repertoire through commissioning and performing works by historically underrepresented composers, and improvising, particularly to fulfill audience requests for popular music by diverse artists. 

The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) awarded him and Grace Ann Lee its Student Composer/Performer Pair Grant, and he serves the GCNA on the Professionalism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and as a typesetter for music publications. A native of Orlando, Florida, Carson has held fellowships at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida, and at the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon in Springfield, Illinois, and has given concerts in the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Lithuania.

An interesting fact: I’m an avid Trekkie!

Proudest achievement: Peaking a 14,000-foot-tall mountain despite not being athletic in the least.

Career aspirations and goals: I’m pursuing a full-time career in carillon performance.

Social links: https://linktr.ee/carilloncarson.

John Miller

John Miller received his training in pipe organ building through a 3-1⁄2-year apprenticeship under Germany’s dual education system for the trades. He received practical training at Johannes Klais Orgelbau in Bonn and education in organbuilding theory at the Oscar-Walcker-Schule in Ludwigsburg. John earned his journeyman certification in pipe organ building through the Industrie- und Handelskammer Bonn in February 2019 after examination.

In March 2019, John returned to his hometown of Milwaukee and started his own business. Along with maintaining around 100 pipe organs across the state, John’s workshop specializes in the restoration of self-playing mechanical organs (such as organ clocks, orchestrions, and street organs)—with a special emphasis on those operated by pinned cylinders. John is an organ advocate seeking to introduce new audiences to the organ through creative installations of pipe organs and automated mechanical music instruments.

An interesting fact: I am an urban beekeeper and am interested in sustainable homesteading.

Proudest achievement: I passed my journeyman’s exam, got married, and started the organ business all in the same year—then kept the business, still in its infancy, open and growing through the pandemic the following year!

Career aspirations and goals: Several monumental orchestrions were either destroyed in the World Wars or are currently in a state where conservation is more important than functional restoration. I would like to build copies (or close copies) of these instruments so they can inspire audiences once again.

Website: www.MillerOrganClock.com.

Victoria Shorokhova

Originally from Russia, Victoria Shorokhova graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with diplomas in piano in 2016, studying with Vladimir Shakin, and in organ in 2017, studying with Daniel Zaretsky. In 2019, she earned a master’s degree at Saint Petersburg State University, majoring in historical performance on keyboard instruments (organ, harpsichord, and carillon). In 2022, she received a Master of Music degree in organ performance at Georgia State University, studying with Jens Korndörfer, serving as a music intern at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta during her studies. Starting in January of this year Victoria has been pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance at the University of Houston, studying with Daryl Robinson and holding an organ scholar position at Saint Luke’s United Methodist Church.

Victoria is a laureate of numerous international organ competitions, including the XXVI International Competition of Sacred Music in Rumia, Poland (2014, second prize), and the II International Braudo Organ Competition in Saint Petersburg (2019, first prize and special prize). She has participated in organ academies at Alkmaar, the Netherlands (2013), Graz, Austria (2014), Kotka, Finland (2015), and masterclasses with Ludger Lohmann, Arvid Gast (Germany), Gunther Rost, Johann Trummer (Austria), Iain Quinn (United States), Lorenzo Ghielmi (Italy), and Isabelle Demers (Canada). Victoria actively concertizes in Russia and the United States; her recent performances include venues such as Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and Saint Thomas Church in New York City and the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco.

An interesting fact: When I was 16, I created a rock band in about three weeks. We only had one gig, performing some covers on the Beatles’ songs, and I was the lead vocal. Funny, I lost interest to being in a band after this event, and have rarely played guitar since then.

Proudest achievement: I was born in a small settlement in Russia, where the biggest dream would be moving to the regional capital. I couldn’t imagine myself relocating halfway across the planet to continue my education and career development, and I’m proud to be where I am right now. It took a lot of persistence and courage to get to this point, and I will continue working. However, achieving all this wouldn’t be possible without support of my family and many good people that I meet here in the States (and a sparkle of pure luck).

Career aspirations and goals: I love being involved in music making whether it’s playing organ, or piano, or singing in a choir. My major goals are sharing the gift of music as a church musician and a concert performer, and teaching.

Nicholas Stigall

Nicholas Stigall, 22, is a senior majoring in organ performance at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he is a recipient of the Barbara and David Jacobs Scholarship and studies with Janette Fishell. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, he began organ lessons with Edie Johnson at the age of fifteen. Nicholas has been the recipient of many awards in organ performance competitions, including first prize in the 2019 RCYO Southeast Region and second prize in the 2022 Arthur Poister Competition. A passionate church musician, Nicholas currently serves as music intern at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, Indiana, where he formerly served for three years as undergraduate organ scholar under Marilyn Keiser. He is currently dean of the Bloomington Chapter of the AGO. Additionally, Nicholas was the organ scholar at the Chautauqua Institution for the 2022 season under the direction of Joshua Stafford. Throughout the nine-week season, he assisted in the service music for seven weekly choral services and also played three solo recitals. Nicholas looks forward to returning to Chautauqua again as organ scholar for the 2023 season.

In his free time, Nicholas enjoys exercising and drinking tea.

An interesting fact: I used to be a competitive gymnast and was on the Junior National Team.

Proudest achievement: I am probably proudest of winning the Southeast RCYO in 2019 while still a high school student.

Career aspirations and goals: I have always been equally passionate about performing organ literature and doing sacred music. I aspire to have a career in church music, while concertizing on the side and maybe teaching organ at the university level.

Joel Stoppenhagen

Joel Stoppenhagen is a native of rural Ossian, Indiana. His organ instruction began at age 11, his first teachers being Richard Brinkley and Randall Wurschmidt. In high school, Joel attended Lutheran Summer Music at Valparaiso University for two summers, where he studied with Chad Fothergill. During the summer of 2022 he served on the worship staff of the same program.

In December 2023, following a semester abroad at Westfield House seminary in Cambridge, Joel will graduate from Valparaiso University with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. During his time at Valparaiso University, he took lessons with Sunghee Kim and Stephen Schnurr and held several leadership roles in the university’s AGO chapter. He also worked in the university archives cataloging the works of the late Philip Gehring, longtime university organist, and in his work uncovered a transcription of a Langlais improvisation on “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” which was later published in CrossAccent, the journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. His other publications include organ music reviews for The Diapason and a score preface (co-authored with Katharina Uhde and Ryan Gee) for the publisher Musikproduktion Höflich. At the 2022 Association of Lutheran Church Musicians regional conference in Valparaiso, Joel gave a plenary address on the topic of youth and traditional church music and was a panelist for a discussion on the subject. He currently serves as director of music at Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Chesterton, Indiana.

An interesting fact: I grew up on an historic family farm established in 1895. My father and uncle raise beef cattle and all of the typical Indiana crops. I grew up being fascinated with antique farm machinery and equipment—and I still am!

Proudest achievement: I am most proud of my improvisation skills, which I’ve been honing my whole musical career. While I still have much to learn, I am certainly pleased with what I am able to invent.

Career aspirations and goals: Following graduation from Valparaiso University, I plan to pursue a graduate degree in sacred music or organ performance. It is then my intent to work at a Lutheran church, fulfilling my vocation as Kantor. My sole aspiration is to continue to serve Christ’s church through the noble art of music.

Alexander Straus-Fausto

Working on his master’s degree in organ performance at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, Connecticut, Alexander Straus-Fausto, from Kitchener, Ontario, is thrilled to be studying under the direction of Martin Jean and playing on Yale’s Newberry Memorial Organ. He completed his Bachelor of Music degree at McGill University Schulich School of Music and his secondary school studies at Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy. While still a teenager, Straus-Fausto undertook a Canada Council-funded summer 2019 concert tour of the UK, playing in historic churches and cathedrals. He has further expanded the organ’s reach by creating more than fifty original transcriptions of major orchestral works, reflecting his passion for the symphonic organ as a virtually unlimited medium for artistic expression. This summer he will be one of ten finalists at the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. He has performed at venues such as Washington National Cathedral, Maison Symphonique, Trinity Church Wall Street, and Woolsey Hall. Alex credits his organ teachers, Martin Jean, Hans-Ola Ericsson, Alcée Chriss, Jonathan Oldengarm, Isabelle Demers, Christian Lane, Thomas Bara, Peter Nikiforuk, and Joe Carere.

An interesting fact: I love mountain biking and roller coasters! Like music, they are about movement and excitement.

Proudest achievement: At this point, I am proudest of studying at Yale. I also would not trade the experience of having attended Interlochen Arts Academy for anything in the world.

Career aspirations and goals: My aspiration is to be an organist in a large church in a big city with a great music program, while performing and recording.

Website: alexanderstrausfausto.com.

Andrew Van Varick

Andrew Van Varick is a doctoral student in organ performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, under the instruction of David Higgs. Previously, he received his Master of Music degree at Eastman, and he holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Montclair State University, where he studied organ with Vincent Carr and John Miller, piano with Mark Pakman, and harpsichord with Hsuan-Wen Chen.

Andrew has played in coachings and masterclasses with Raúl Prieto Ramírez, Bálint Karosi, Michel Bouvard, Wilma Jensen, Simon Johnson, Ezequiel Menendez, Chelsea Chen, and Alan Morrison. As a recitalist, he has performed on the “Young Organ Artist” series at Central Synagogue in New York City, on the “Wednesdays at Noon” series at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey, and for the Greensburg, Pennsylvania, chapter of the American Guild of Organists. In 2022, he was a semifinalist in the AGO National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance, and this September will be competing in the Ninth International Organ Competition Musashino-Tokyo. Currently, Andrew serves as director of music and organist at the Central Presbyterian Church in Geneseo, New York.

An interesting fact: I also work part time at the reference desk of the Sibley Music Library at Eastman, where I frequently assist scholars, musicians, and musical enthusiasts from around the world. It’s a fun gig!

Proudest achievement: To date, my proudest accomplishment was completing my master’s degree.

Career aspirations and goals: My hope is to pursue a career as a full-time organist and director of music. Additionally, I would love to teach organ and give recitals.

Website: andrewvanvarick.com.

Abraham Wallace

Abraham Wallace graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2018 with degrees in music (piano) and geophysics. He began seriously playing the pipe organ near the end of his undergraduate years and decided to pursue the study of the instrument more in depth upon graduation. He completed a Master of Music degree in organ performance from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. While at Yale, Abe served as organ scholar at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church on the Green, Norwalk, Connecticut, and as director of music for Trinity Lutheran Church, Milford, Connecticut. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in sacred music at the University of Michigan, studying organ with Peter Sykes.

Some musical highlights from the last few years include commissioning and performing an organ suite by Ethan Haman as a part of the 2021 American Guild of Organists Student Commissioning Project, curating a virtual evensong service in the height of the covid pandemic, and playing harpsichord in continuo ensembles for various early music projects in both Michigan and Ohio. Wallace is currently the organ scholar at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, Michigan, under the direction of Huw Lewis. In his spare time, he enjoys baking bread and making coffee.

An interesting fact: I know how to juggle! And I learned from my mother, who worked very briefly as a clown for hire before starting a family. After having kids, she hung up the proverbial red nose, but kept the costumes. Growing up, our entire family would dress up as clowns for Halloween.

Proudest achievement: My colleagues and I produced a virtual evensong in 2021. We crafted the liturgy, composed all of the music, and recorded everything by ourselves in our spare time. The liturgical and musical fruits of our labor were augmented by the work of a very talented projection designer. While that project was one highlight, more than anything I just feel incredibly lucky to (then and now) be able to make music with so many talented friends and colleagues.

Career aspirations and goals: I have fallen in love with church music and am really hoping to make a full-time career out of the pursuit. Ideally, I would like to hold the position of organist/choirmaster at a church in the United States.

Lynnli Wang

Based in New York City, Lynnli Wang is a talented carillonist, award-winning teacher, and fierce diversity and inclusion advocate. She currently plays at The Riverside Church, which houses a seventy-four-bell carillon, weighing more than 100 tons. Previously, she held the Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music (IU JSOM) carillon associate instructor position, where she built and taught a vibrant carillon studio, dedicated two newly renovated carillons, performed weekly recitals, collaborated with student composers, commissioned a trio of new works by female composers, and authored her second children’s book on carillons. In recognition of her dedication to making the carillon accessible and exciting to performers, listeners, and composers alike, Lynnli was awarded the IU New Music Performance Award, the IU Lieber Memorial Teaching Award, and the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Teaching Award. 

Lynnli’s carillon journey began at Yale University in 2011, where she completed her undergraduate studies in literature. She passed the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) carillonneur exam in 2014; since then, she has concertized regularly across the United States. To advance the art of carillon, Lynnli serves on the board of the GCNA and various committees, including the Emerging Artist Grant, which provides funding for education, research, and performance opportunities to new carillonists.

An interesting fact: Lynnli’s love of big instruments extends outside carillons to include organs as well. In 2022, she completed her Master of Music degree in organ performance from IU JSOM, where she studied with Janette Fishell.

Proudest achievement: As the performer of a public instrument that can be heard from miles around, Lynnli loves to collaborate with fellow artists to ensure the carillon is an inclusive and welcoming space for all. She regularly mentors student composers, commissions works from underrepresented artists, premieres new pieces (including mixed ensemble works such as carillon plus handbells), organizes joint events with local organizations, hosts panels on inclusive programming, and more. One such collaboration with CBS premiered on prime-time national TV where millions saw Lynnli performing the March Madness theme song on the Indiana University Metz Bicentennial Grand Carillon!

Career aspirations and goals: Lynnli aims to build the next generation of carillon lovers by continuing to perform, teach, commission, and collaborate with artists and creatives across different fields. If you ever have an idea for the bells, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Alden Wright

Alden Wright is a student at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in organ performance with Nathan Laube. As a performer and national young competitor, Alden holds several distinctions, including being named winner of the 2019 Arthur Poister National Competition in Organ Playing and the Pogorzelski-Yankee Memorial Scholarship for undergraduate studies. Alden has performed in many student and solo recitals throughout the United States and England and has participated in masterclasses with many of the world’s top performers.

Alden holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Eastman as well as the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, having graduated with highest distinction in May 2020. Alden most recently served as organ scholar at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, England, under director of music Christopher Gray from 2021 to 2022. He is currently serving as assistant director of music at Christ Church, Pittsford, New York

An interesting fact: Outside of music, I have a love of cooking and baking.

Proudest achievement: Being awarded the Performer’s Certificate from Eastman in my undergrad.

Career aspirations and goals: I would like to pursue professional and academic routes, hopefully having an opportunity to do both teaching and church music with a bit of performing.

Jonghee Yoon

Jonghee Yoon will begin study with Nathan Laube at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, in fall 2023 for an artist diploma. She is pursuing her master’s degree in sacred music and organ performance under David Arcus and Colin Andrews at East Carolina University and is an organ scholar at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Greenville, North Carolina. Jonghee graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, studying with Min-Jung Gaang. An active musician, she is a multi-instrumentalist, conducting and playing organ, harpsichord, and violin. She has performed in many parts of the United States, as well as South Korea, the Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, and Spain.

Jonghee won the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra’s Rising Stars 2022 competition and performed as a soloist with them. She played for the independent movie Cofradia and has been a music director in several musical theatrical productions, including Les Miserables, Lou Andreas-Salomé, and Corpus Delicti. Jonghee played continuo with Saint Peter’s Bach Collegium and solo organ with Gödi Baroque Ensemble in Hungary. She has also worked with organbuilders at C. B. Fisk, Inc., in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she participated in making, designing, installing, and tuning pipes.

An interesting fact: There are multiple interesting facts that you might not know about me. My first musical instrument was violin, and I have been playing violin for at least thirteen years. Moreover, I am bilingual. I speak English and Korean fluently, and I also know the basics of various languages such as French, German, Japanese, and Hungarian. These are a couple of sports that I am most passionate about, surfing in summer and skiing or snowboarding in winter. Furthermore, I am an animal lover. And I also like to volunteer. In Korea, I used to volunteer to help children at Dream Purun school, Hanmaum Rural Children Center in Jelloa-do, Jangsung Women’s High School in Gangwon, and Deung Chon High School for students with special needs.

Proudest achievement: My proudest achievement was being accepted into Ewha Women’s University. I put a lot of effort into applying for this school, and I was so happy as it was my dream to be enrolled there. During my time in Ewha, there were many challenges that I overcame. My colleague and I organized and performed in concerts. I also volunteered at various institutions, directed French music musicals and German language plays, mentored juniors, and received awards for my thesis among the entire students of Ewha University. Furthermore, I received a scholarship and had an opportunity to learn from Fisk, an overseas organ company. In addition to this, I have done various activities, and I have learned and achieved many great things after entering Ewha.

Career aspirations and goals: I have a large ambition, and I aspire to do my best to achieve my goals. There are multiple goals that I have set for myself. My current goals are to become a music director in a church and a concert organist. I would love to work and collaborate with other musicians in ensembles or orchestras. It is my desire to make the organ instrument known to more people by working in various fields. I enjoy improvisation, and I want to learn more about organ repertoire and also compose organ pieces. Furthermore, I want to become music director for musicals, and I want to compose music for musicals and movies with organ.

Joyce Johnson Robinson

Joyce Johnson Robinson is a past editor of The Diapason.

Katelyn Emerson is a member of The Diapason’s inaugural 20 Under 30 (2015) class, an honor bestowed prior to receiving her undergraduate degrees from Oberlin. She had already earned top prizes in numerous competitions in the United States, France, and Russia. She teaches in her private studio and performs nationally and internationally. Katelyn Emerson is represented in North America by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.

Katelyn, what were some of the first instruments you played? What led you to prefer the organ?

Growing up, I was drawn to voice, piano, flute, and organ. Singing was integral to my childhood as my whole family sang in a church choir and my older brother, Andrew, and I both sang in the Sandpipers Seacoast Children’s Chorus, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

When Andrew turned ten, he began piano lessons. Naturally, as a six-year-old enamored with everything he was doing, I began to sightread through his piano music, and my parents sought a piano teacher to spare them from the cacophony coming from the keyboard—and so that I wouldn’t learn bad habits. 

Four years later, all I wanted for my birthday was flute lessons as I had watched my mother play and loved the sound of the instrument. Flute and voice ultimately allowed me to join both local and all-state youth symphonies and choruses. 

Dianne Dean, director of the Sandpipers Chorus, first introduced me to the possibility of playing the organ. I had plunked out a hymn or two at my parents’ church but thought this imposing instrument out of reach for a small girl. However, Dianne had been instrumental in founding the Young Organists’ Collaborative, an organization that introduces young people to the pipe organ and funds their early studies. She encouraged me to audition for a scholarship, and upon receiving it, I studied piano, flute, and organ through high school.

The “lightning bolt” moment was during the Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, opus 78, of Camille Saint-Saëns. I was principal flutist of the Portland (Maine) Youth Symphony Orchestra, playing at the heart of the ensemble while my then organ teacher, Ray Cornils, played the Kotzschmar organ in Merrill Auditorium. There had been no time to rehearse with the organ prior to the concert, so those brilliant C-major chords of the final movement came as a complete shock. I realized the organ could be all the musical instruments I loved—and that it could even keep pace with a full symphony orchestra! This could be my instrument.

Tell us about your experience with the Young Organists’ Collaborative.

The Young Organists’ Collaborative (YOC) was founded in 2001 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when a new Létourneau organ was installed in Saint John’s Episcopal Church. When Bishop Douglas E. Theuner came to bless the instrument, he donated $1,000 seed money with the charge to find a way to bring young people to play the pipe organ. Chosen students received a year’s worth of lessons and a small stipend for shoes or scores. Today, students come from around the seacoast—Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, etc.—and are paired with an approved local teacher who can help find practice spaces. They are required to play at the end-of-year recital and are invited to take part in a masterclass with a professional organist partway through the year. The YOC can fund up to three years of study and offers additional scholarship competitions.

I received one of these scholarships in 2005 and began studies with Abbey Hallberg Siegfried, who worked at Saint John’s. When she went on maternity leave a year later, Abbey connected me with Ray Cornils, municipal organist of Portland, Maine, whose teaching included practice techniques, patience, and good humor that form the foundation of my playing and teaching. 

When and where did you give your first recital? What did you play?

It’s difficult to recall my first recital! I do remember my first organ masterclass vividly, when I had only been studying for about six months. This class, sponsored by the YOC, was with Ray Cornils, whom I was meeting for the first time. I played the “Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major” from the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues attributed to Bach. After I played through the work in its entirety, Ray quietly asked if I realized which pedal note I had missed in the prelude. While I can’t remember now which note it was, I do remember him guiding me through the process of identifying the reason for the mistake. That detective work set the standard for how I problem-solve in my own practice and how I work with my students to do the same.

You earned your degrees at Oberlin and subsequently studied in France and Germany. How did each of these experiences form you?

During my first semester at Oberlin, my assigned teacher, James David Christie, went on sabbatical. While usually a cause for chagrin, this was an extraordinary stroke of luck: he swapped positions with Olivier Latry. 

I have always learned repertoire quickly, but Professor Latry’s demands put me into high gear. At least one new piece each week was expected, which meant that I had expended the music I had prepared over the summer halfway through the semester. After panic-learning Duruflé’s Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain in five days, I finally mastered “the back burner”; with two dozen or so pieces in progress at once, each at a different stage of learning, a new one would hit the “lesson-ready” point just at the right moment. Professor Latry also expanded my arsenal of practice techniques, and I would credit nearly all of my inherited practice methods to him and Ray Cornils.

Professor Christie’s preferred pedagogical approach was almost perfectly opposite: rather than covering new music every week, he preferred a lengthier study of style, working through a half-dozen pieces over the course of a semester to develop deeper understanding that could be applied to other music of that genre. I have grown to appreciate this more than I did as a teenager and to balance learning notes quickly with understanding and translating the music. 

My love affair with all things French had begun only two years before university, and fortunately additional academic scholarship was available if I pursued the double degree program at Oberlin (a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Music after five years), so French language and literature was the natural choice. I remember asking Professor Latry about studies at the Conservatoire de Paris within our first few lessons together, likely to his amusement!

My first solo trip abroad was in 2011, between my freshman and sophomore years, for the last iteration of the Summer Institute for French Organ Studies, led by Jesse Eschbach and Gene Bedient. Aided by a scholarship, I traveled to Poitiers and then Épernay, wondering if I could handle being alone abroad. Wandering the cobblestones of Poitiers, reveling in that 1787 Clicquot, and then the 1869 Cavaillé-Coll of Église Notre-Dame in Épernay, and getting to know the other students from Indiana, Utah, and Canada, I discovered that I thrived on travel. 

During my sophomore year at Oberlin, Marie-Louise Langlais came to teach. In contrast to Professor Christie’s detail-oriented teaching, Madame Langlais emphasized beautiful broad lines, Wagnerian long phrases, and propelling the music forwards no matter what.

At Oberlin, one of my most impactful teachers was not an organ professor. David Breitman remains head of the historical performance department and teaches fortepiano. After I carelessly ran through a Mozart sonata in one of my first fortepiano lessons, I remember him asking, “Now, this is an opera. Tell me about the first character. What else was Mozart working on while composing this?” Ray Cornils had planted the first seeds of exploring musical character in my mind (“If you met this piece walking down the street, what would it look like? How would she feel? Where would he be going?”), but I hadn’t applied this inquisitive curiosity more broadly. Professor Breitman’s similarly Socratic method of teaching was a continuation of Ray’s. Neither teacher ever dictated interpretation. Instead, they posed questions that led a student to make informed decisions and arrive at possible conclusions themselves through a contextualization and personification of music that has become a cornerstone of my playing and pedagogy. 

The formative experiences and broad education I received from Oberlin continued to feed my curiosity. I took classes in psychology, astronomy, anthropology, rhetoric, French literature, and more. 

Upon graduating, I won a Fulbright scholarship to study in Toulouse. I documented a fraction of that year in France on my blog (katelynemerson.wordpress.com), but spent most of it on road trips to see untouched instruments in the countryside, locked into Saint-Sernin at night, scrambling for practice time, being clapped at because nobody had mentioned a noon Mass, stopping by the marché for bread and a bottle of wine for a picnic, and showing up at the Conservatoire to discover there was another strike and it was closed. Life had a different pace. Concerts were a train ride away, I performed on instruments sometimes wonderful and sometimes frightful, and I met brilliant colleagues and lifelong friends. 

My teachers in Toulouse, Michel Bouvard and Jan Willem Jansen, once again revealed how contrasting teaching styles can enrich study. With Michel Bouvard, I delved into the French Romantic, allowing the instruments to inform how the repertoire can really be played. His relaxed technique and unpretentious approach to this music gave it space to sing. Jan Willem Jansen had extraordinary attention to detail. After hearing me play the “Allein Gott” trio from the Clavierübung, he rightfully informed me that the fourth and fifth sixteenth notes of measure 27 had rushed. I doubt my ears will ever be so attuned to proportion, but I still strive for it nonetheless!

As my year in France concluded and I prepared to pursue further graduate studies, I was offered the associate organist and choirmaster position at the Church of the Advent in Boston, which I simply couldn’t turn down. I had worked with music director Mark Dwyer for several months while at Oberlin and was in awe of the program, liturgy, and choirs. Mark remains a dear friend, colleague, and teacher, and his attention to detail emphasized the importance of every part of music—from note to silence. 

The itch to live abroad is difficult to scratch, so I’m particularly grateful to make a living based on travel! Having heard that Ludger Lohmann would retire in 2020, I applied for a German Academic Exchange Scholarship (DAAD) to pursue the Master Orgel at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart. It broke my heart to leave Boston but I looked forward to two years in Germany.

Navigating life in France had been fairly easy given my comfort with the language. I had enough German to be dangerous—enough so that people assumed I understood. Thankfully, I avoided extreme disaster, realized the meaning of halb zwei in time not to miss my lessons, and discovered the delicacies of southern German cuisine. Lessons with Ludger perfectly balanced churning through new repertoire, exploring historical context, and receiving a list of sources (often primary) to consult. When the pandemic disrupted studies, we met at his beautiful home on the border of Switzerland to indulge in cake and then play and discuss Reger on the three-manual tracker in his living room.

I have been extraordinarily fortunate to have mentors, human and instrumental, that have each shared perspectives and ideas for ways to approach both music and life. This is but a small sample of those who have shaped my understanding, and I hope those not mentioned will still feel my appreciation and forgive the oversight, due solely to lack of space.

How has your knowledge of foreign languages and your living abroad given you insights into the music of those countries’ composers?

Music is inevitably tied to the social, historical, and cultural context in which it was conceived, even while its nature as organized sound allows it to have meaning outside a single context. My understanding of different languages and sensitivity to ways of comportment have helped me to get to know people all over the world, and I continually strive to connect with and understand them better. As an interpreter, I try to delve into the composer’s influences as well as my own, linking both to the present listeners as we undertake the aural tour of emotive depth and structure that is music performance. To do this, I strive to learn as much as I can of the time, place, and people that surrounded the music’s conception to make interpretative decisions that both link and are drawn from the past and present. The more I learn and study, the richer and more complex these relationships become, which results in further exploration and endless excitement!

Tell us about your recordings—those already made, and those planned for the future.

I have released two recordings on the Pro Organo label, working with Fred Hohman. The first of these, part of the prize package from the American Guild of Organists’ 2016 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, was recorded on the glorious 1935–1936 Aeolian-Skinner at the Church of the Advent in Boston where I was working. These winners’ CDs are typically variety programs, so I sought to showcase how this liturgical instrument can play a variety of repertoire brilliantly, with music by Bruhns, J. S. Bach, Mendelssohn, François Couperin, Alain, Vierne, Tournemire, Thierry Escaich, and Howells. The album title, Evocations, comes from Escaich’s Évocation III (this was its first CD recording). Two years later, Andover Organ Company approached me about a new recording on their magnum opus, Opus 114, at Christ Lutheran Church in Baltimore in honor of their company’s seventieth anniversary. For this CD, Inspirations, I played Rachel Laurin’s Finale, opus 78 (this was the first recording), Horatio Parker, Rheinberger, Buxtehude, Bairstow, de Grigny, Langlais, and Duruflé.

Over the last two years, recording has become more essential than ever. I now have my own video and audio recording equipment and, while none of it equals commercial-level recording equipment, I can use it to pre-record recitals for venues that want to “premiere” the recital on YouTube or Vimeo, particularly if they don’t have their own equipment, and I can also make recordings for my channels. I have a huge “dream list” of instruments on which I would like to record CDs and frequently tweak ideas for programs on them. One idea would juxtapose commissions of living composers with previously composed repertoire related by inspirational source or another contextual consideration—an idea that will hopefully come into being in the next few years!

Who are some of your favorite composers?

My favorite composers are those who wrote the music I’m currently playing! Similarly, the best organ in the world is the one on which I will perform next or am currently playing, and the best piece in the world is the one that’s on the music desk right now. While this might seem to be a cop-out, it’s a simple truth: we play music better when we like it—so we must like what we are working on in order to play it well.

When push comes to shove, I am happiest playing a variety of music. My music bag currently contains music by Parry, Bach, Taylor-Coleridge, Dupré, Demessieux, Reger, Sowerby, Alcock, Laurin, Duruflé, Price, Widor, Whitlock, Franck, and Scheidemann, as well as a few others.

Tell us about your teaching.

After beginning at Oberlin, I was asked to help guide incoming students as an academic ambassador, explaining the sometimes-overwhelming collegiate administration and helping them to choose courses that would feed their curiosity. I tutored French, music theory, and organ at Oberlin, and taught music theory at the local community music school.

Since graduating, I have continued teaching, both privately and in masterclass and lecture settings, holding general question-and-answer sessions that follow tangents of interest as well as structuring courses that focus on specific topics. I enjoy connecting sometimes disparate ideas and exploring possibilities, discussing why decisions can be made this way or that, and, above all, searching for the many nuanced ideas that make an individual “tick.” 

My teaching studio is loosely divided into three groups: those working on interpretation, those seeking to improve practice strategies, and those learning about injury prevention or working to recover from injury. Of course, most are tackling all three! 

Interpretation, at its core, requires working with ideas, examining options, and then seeking physical means to translate them convincingly into sound. Since we organists cannot modulate volume with touch as pianists can, nor can we swell or diminish sound via the breath of wind or the bows of string players, much of our playing is about manipulating smoke and mirrors to turn our intention into aural reality. Since we can now so easily record ourselves, I hold even greater admiration for how players listen in the moment to what is going on, and particularly for how each of my students has a different way of perceiving the sounds swirling around them. Couple this with learning about the context of the composer, their influences, the instruments they may have known, and the time and place in which the piece was composed, and we have rich, unique “readings” of the repertoire that can link to the interests of any student, all while we explore techniques to help bring that perspective to reality. 

Time is short for everybody, and practice must be as efficient as possible. Having studied with excellent teachers of practice methods and having experienced fairly limited practice time during study and travel, I continue to explore ways to break down repertoire for efficient practice. I often make a game of turning difficult sections into manageable chunks, isolating them from the context that can distract from them. Sometimes, I encourage a student to leave it in that “practice mode” for days or even weeks, which allows the subconscious mind to digest novel movement. The best part of this technique is the excitement with which a student brings me new ideas for this “game,” ideas that I can then share with others when similar sections come up!

Surveys indicate that somewhere between 60% and 90% of professional musicians in the United States have experienced some kind of performance-related musculoskeletal disorder, most often due to overuse. The enthusiasm with which the work of pedagogues such as Roberta Gary and Barbara Lister-Sink has been received, the many stories shared by colleagues and students, and both the unnatural perch on the organ bench and the similarity in how organists use their hands and upper body to that of pianists all make me suspect that this prevalence is much the same in organists.

At age fourteen, I developed bilateral tendonitis in my wrists and forearms. Giving music up was not an option, so I undertook technical retraining with Arlene Kies, late professor of piano at the University of New Hampshire. Arlene helped me to completely rebuild my technique, as I had had almost no technical training in my six years of study. Through her work and that of my mother, a certified hand therapist and occupational ergonomist, I regained my ability to make music and developed a deep respect for my body. By paying attention to its abilities and limitations, I overcame many flare-ups throughout the next decade (including several during competitions). 

This firsthand experience with how playing and practice techniques can couple with contributing factors for tragic consequences inspired me to deepen my understanding of these complex issues so I can work with musicians, particularly organists, to prevent injury and, when injury happens, collaborate with the individual and their medical specialists to work towards recovery. We discuss healthier practice techniques that utilize mental involvement to balance out physical repetition that can lead to overuse, review postural considerations, and discuss ways to give whatever part of the body that is most at risk a little relief, whether avoiding using force when opening jars or cans or making small changes to computer and office workstations. If a student is experiencing pain or discomfort or is recovering from an injury, I always strongly recommend that they work with a medical professional for treatment in addition to exploring adjustments at their instrument.

Being a teacher and being a student go hand in hand. We teach ourselves while in the practice room, but the added variable of joining another person on their journey of learning means that we are continually exposed to different vantage points and ideas. 

How have things been for you during the time of covid?

In spring of 2020, I was based in Germany, but, when rumors that international borders might close began to proliferate, I was on tour in the United States. Fortunately, I made it back to Baden-Württemberg just a few days before flights were grounded. Despite the restrictions, I was able to complete my final semester of my master’s study, performing a program of Froberger, Messiaen, and Reger to an audience of fourteen (including the jury) in the Stuttgart Musikhochschule’s concert hall. That summer was spent waiting and then moving quickly as restrictions changed, but my husband, David Brown, who then worked for Glatter-Götz Orgelbau while I completed my studies, and I managed to return to the United States in September 2020 so he could resume work at Buzard Pipe Organ Builders.

Many people I have spoken with have described challenging months, yet they have almost always also shared silver linings like cherishing time with family and friends or pursuing new projects. My 2020 and 2021 were the same: over seventy concerts were postponed (incredibly, very few canceled entirely), which broke my heart, but my time was filled with writing articles, teaching in person and over Zoom (which I had been doing while traveling, even before 2020!), and learning new repertoire. I also took a course in occupational ergonomics to support my teaching of injury prevention. The world felt like it was on hold for so long, but hope was always on the horizon with wonderful events scheduled for the future—many of which are taking place now! 

What are some of your hopes and plans for the future?

We live in such an exciting time. No previous generation has had so much information at their fingertips, just a click away. The work of thousands of previous performers and researchers—and the life experiences of millions of human beings—is there for our perusal and for us to build on. 

It is incredibly easy to pour through stacks of music and literature, both physically and online, and I’m constantly noting repertoire that I want to learn and share with people. Including some of this less-familiar music in programs requires that I show why this music matters and why audiences should care about it. Without knowing the context or inspiration of a particular piece, how could a listener attending a concert after a busy workday be expected to respond to it? They often have nothing to hold onto, particularly with a longer or more esoteric work, so why should they come back to hear more? Highly aware of this, I seek to share my passion for each piece, proposing some ways through which to relate to it. Connecting a particular piece of music with the heart of the listener has become one of my highest performance priorities.

I would also like to help to evolve the definitions of success for us musicians and organists. I have spoken with so many who did not experience their “big break” before age thirty and who desperately strive to feel successful. We are so often told what success should look like that we can no longer hear our internal voice showing us how our unique skills could create something quite different. This leads to discouragement, depression, and sometimes a heartbreaking lack of self-compassion. I tackle this with my students and work with musicians in all stages of life to help curate their unique careers and pursue whatever they hope to achieve. My own path has been rather unusual, with several gap years that opened Europe and Asia for performance and study, and with my primary income from performing and teaching. The latter is integral to who I am as a person and a musician, as is writing articles that continue conversations about a diverse range of ideas.

While I don’t yet have the answer to this challenge, I try to work with my students and colleagues to explore ways to find our place in a world large and varied enough for all of us. We all may play the pipe organ, but our unique backgrounds—culture, language, family, and everything else—cause us to approach life and this instrument so vastly differently that each of us have the potential to fill a gap that the field didn’t even know was there.

It just takes listening.

Thank you, Katelyn!

Katelyn Emerson’s website: katelynemerson.com

Thomas H. Anderson

Thomas H. Anderson, 86, of North Easton, Massachusetts, died December 30, 2023. Born May 25, 1937, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he met his late wife Susan in Belfast, where they grew up on the same street.

Anderson started working at age 14 as an apprentice pipe maker at an organ pipe manufacturer in Belfast. At age 19, he emigrated to the United States, where he worked at the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Boston, Massachusetts, as a pipe maker. Later he started his own company, Thomas H. Anderson Organ Pipe Company. He traveled around the country working on various projects including the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In his later years, he traveled to teach others to make organ pipes.

Anderson’s wife Susan died December 31, 1996, almost 27 years before the date of his death; they were married 38 years. They raised four children who survive him: Gail McGill and her husband Mark of Raynham, Massachusetts; Thomas Anderson of Lake Wylie, South Carolina; Cheryl Dekeon of Haverhill, Massachusetts; and Elizabeth Lehr and her husband Donald of Berryville, Virginia. He is also survived by six grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

The funeral for Thomas H. Anderson, Jr., was held January 6 at Southeast Funeral and Cremation Services, Easton, Massachusetts, with burial following at South Easton Cemetery. Memorial gifts may be made to Old Colony Hospice and Palliative Care (oldcolonyhospice.org).

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr.

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr., of High Point, North Carolina, died December 3, 2023. He was born March 31, 1932, in Framingham, Massachusetts, and grew up in Centerville on Cape Cod. At the age of eight, under the tutelage of Virginia Fuller, his first piano teacher, Andrews played services at the local Unitarian church. After his 1949 high school graduation, he attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance. After college, he served in the United States Army for two years as an organist at West Point. He then moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, playing first at First Friends Meeting House and then at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. During this same period, he began his long tenure as a professor of organ at Greensboro College, where he remained until 1988. The C. B. Fisk, Inc., organ, Opus 102 (1993), at Finch Memorial Chapel of Greensboro College was donated and installed through his efforts. He also co-founded the Greensboro Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Leaving Guilford Park Church, Andrews took the position as organist and master of choristers at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, where he would spend the next 55 years. While working at St. Mary’s, Andrews completed a Master of Music degree in organ and church music at Oberlin Conservatory and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University.

Andrews founded and owned Organ Craft, a local organbuilding company. He built and installed pipe organs all over the east coast, including part of the organ at Christ United Methodist Church in Charlotte and the organ at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro. The organ at St. Mary’s in High Point was also significantly altered over the years by Andrews.

As an organist, he offered recitals in Europe, including at Canterbury Cathedral; St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Saint-Sulpice, Paris; and Chartres Cathedral. In his retirement, he finished his manuscript for a study of music in the works of William Shakespeare.

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr., is survived by one brother, Robert Francis Andrews. His funeral featuring Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem was held at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, on January 27. Interment in the church columbarium followed. Memorials may be directed to the music endowment at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 108 West Farriss Avenue, High Point, North Carolina 27262.

Charles Edmund Callahan, Jr.

Charles Edmund Callahan, Jr., 72, died December 25, 2023, in Burlington, Vermont. He was born September 27, 1951, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Callahan was a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and earned graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He held the Associate and Choirmaster certificates of the American Guild of Organists. In 2014 he was honored with the Distinguished Artist Award of the guild.

Callahan taught at Catholic University; Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont; Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida; and the Bermuda School of Music, Hamilton, Bermuda. He served as organist and music director for churches in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., New York, Vermont, and his native Massachusetts. Callahan moved to Orwell, Vermont, in 1988.

He was consulted often on the design of new organs and restorations and improvements of existing instruments. His two books on American organbuilding history, The American Classic Organ and Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, became standard reference works on 20th-century American organ history.

Callahan was a prolific composer; his compositions include commissions for Papal visitations to the United States and from Harvard University. His four-movement orchestral work, Mosaics, was premiered at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri, and other works have been performed at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton universities.

Charles Callahan was laid to rest with his parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Memorial contributions in his memory may be made to the music programs at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 326 College Street, Middlebury, Vermont 05753, or Cornwall Congregational Church, 2598 Route 30, Cornwall, Vermont 05753.

James P. Callahan

James P. Callahan of St. Paul, Minnesota, died December 28, 2023. Born in North Dakota and raised in Albany, Minnesota, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964 from St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in piano and a Ph.D. in music theory and composition from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. In addition, he studied at the Mozarteum University, Salzburg, Austria, and Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Vienna, Austria. His teachers included Anton Heiller, organ; Willem Ibes and Duncan McNab, piano; and Paul Fetler, composition.

Callahan was Professor Emeritus at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he taught piano, organ, composition, music theory, and piano literature over a 38-year period, retiring in 2006. As an organist, Callahan performed recitals in the upper Midwest, New York, and Austria. His performances appeared on the nationally broadcast radio program Pipedreams. He was instrumental in overseeing the commissioning of the organ for the chapel at the University of St. Thomas, Gabriel Kney Opus 105, completed in 1987. On this instrument he recorded a disc for Centaur, James Callahan: Oberdoerffer, Reger, Rheinberger, Schmidt. He also performed solo piano recitals and made concerto appearances. In addition to his solo performances, he was a member of the Callahan and Faricy Duo piano team, performing throughout the upper Midwest.

James Callahan composed over 150 works for piano, organ, orchestra, band, opera, and chamber ensembles. Cantata for two choirs, brass, percussion, and organ premiered at St. John’s Abbey Church and was performed at the Cathedral of St. Paul in 1975. His Requiem was premiered by Leonard Raver in 1990 at the University of St. Thomas. Callahan’s music was published by McLaughlin-Reilly, GIA, Paraclete Press, Abingdon Press, and Beautiful Star Publishing. Awards included a study grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Bush Artist Fellowship.

Quentin Faulkner

Quentin Faulkner, 80, died December 30, 2023, in Houston, Texas. He was Larson Professor of organ and music theory/history (emeritus) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a writer of scholarly books in the areas of church music and J. S. Bach performance practice, the translator of German treatises of the 17th and 18th centuries, and an organ recitalist.

Faulkner earned his undergraduate degree in organ and church music from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, where he studied organ with George Markey and Alexander McCurdy. He received graduate degrees in sacred music and theology from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, where he studied conducting with Lloyd Pfautsch, organ with George Klump, and liturgics with James White. Faulkner completed his doctoral studies at the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he studied organ with Alec Wyton. Each of these schools subsequently awarded him its distinguished alumni award for his contributions to the field of church music. While a student in New York City, he served for three years as assistant organist at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, during which time he led the musical celebration honoring Wyton at his retirement and was the organist for Duke Ellington’s funeral.

For 32 years Faulkner served on the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he developed a comprehensive cycle of courses in church music and received numerous teaching awards. He and his colleague George Ritchie were co-coordinators of a distinguished series of organ conferences at the university, each conference with a distinct topic of scholarly investigation and culminating in the first conference held in Naumburg, Germany, at the newly restored 1746 Hildebrandt organ in St. Wenzel’s Church. In 1998 Faulkner was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach as guest professor at the Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Halle, Germany, a position to which he returned for the academic year 2006–2007 following his retirement from the University of Nebraska.

Faulkner’s professional career included both academic and practical pursuits. He was equally respected for his scholarly investigation in the field of church music (Wiser than Despair: The Evolution of Ideas in the Relationship of Music and the Christian Church, Greenwood Press, 1996) and in historical performance practice of the organ works of Bach (J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Technique: A Historical Introduction, Concordia, 1984; The Registration of J. S. Bach’s Organ Works, Wayne Leupold Editions, 2008; Johann Sebastian Bach, The Complete Organ Works, Series II, Volume I, The Performance of the Organ works: Source Readings, Leupold Editions, 2020). He translated historic German treatises into English, and then edited and annotated the translations to make them accessible to contemporary students and scholars (Jacob Adlung, Musica mechanica organoedi, Parts 1, 2, and 3, Zea E-Books, 2011; Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II: De Organographia, Parts III–V, Zea E-Books, 2014).

Faulkner reveled in working at the intersections of various disciplines, particularly enjoying the interplay of the scholarly and the performing musician and extensively studying the relationships between and among religion, culture, and the arts. He served as a member of the advisory board for the Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments for Garland Publishing Co., as consultant for the J. S. Bach Tercentenary publishing project of Concordia Publishing House, as editor for performance issues for the Leupold Edition of J. S. Bach’s organ works, and as a member of the advisory board of the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. He also led multiple tours of Bach’s Organ World in eastern Germany, sharing his passion and knowledge with participants as they studied, played, and listened to instruments with direct connections to J. S. Bach.

Throughout his career and in retirement, Faulkner remained a performing musician, presenting organ recitals, workshops, and lectures. He and his wife served as church musicians in Dothan, Alabama; New York City; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Greenfield, Massachusetts. He was particularly concerned with music in small churches and wrote numerous practical articles for professional journals, composed anthems for small choirs, and served as a clinician for more than fifty church music workshops in Nebraska. He served the American Guild of Organists on various local and national committees and as its national councilor for education. He was an honorary lifetime member of the Lincoln Chapter of the AGO.

Quentin Faulkner is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary Murrell (Bennett) Faulkner, three brothers, a daughter and son-in-law, a son and daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. A memorial service will be held April 20 at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (Attention: Donor Services, 225 North Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, Illinois 60601; alz.org/donate), Church Music Institute (5923 Royal Lane, Dallas, Texas 75230; churchmusicinstitute.org/donate), or the charity of one’s choice.

Brian E. Jones

Brian E. Jones, 80, organist and choir director, died November 17, 2023. A native of Duxbury, Massachusetts, he began piano studies at age eight and discovered the pipe organ soon thereafter. During his first visit to Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, as an eager ten-year-old, he was said to have exclaimed, “I want to be the organist here someday!” Some three decades later, his dream became a reality.

After earning an undergraduate degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Jones landed a teaching position at Noble and Greenough School, Dedham, a post he would hold for the next twenty years. Concurrently he completed the Master of Music program at Boston University. While at Noble and Greenough he conducted numerous choral groups and expanded the music program to include the production of a wide variety of musicals.

Soon after commencing his teaching career, Jones was appointed music director of the Dedham Choral Society, a position he held for 27 years. During his tenure, the group grew in size from 25 to 150 members, expanding their audiences by performing in Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston. In 1984 Jones fulfilled his childhood dream when he was appointed director of music at Trinity Church, Boston. Over the next two decades he and his choirs produced five recordings, including the Christmas CD, Candlelight Carols. In addition to his work as a choral conductor, Jones enjoyed a solo organ career, performing concerts and dedicatory recitals in churches and cathedrals throughout the United States and England. Upon assuming the mantle Emeritus Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church in 2004, Jones accepted interim positions from as far afield as Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2007 a number of former Trinity choir members coalesced to form The Copley Singers under Jones’s direction. This semi-professional group of musicians began performing together several times each year, most notably during the holiday season.

Brian E. Jones is survived by his husband, Michael Rocha, with whom he shared the past 35 years, as well as two children, Eliza Beaulac and her husband, Joe, and Nat Jones and his wife, Kiera; four grandchildren and one great-grandson. A celebration of life is planned for spring. Memorial gifts in memory of Brian Jones may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation (parkinson.org).

Uwe Pape

Uwe Pape, 87, died August 13, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. He was born May 5, 1936, in Bremen, Germany. In his early life, he studied mathematics, physics, pedagogy, and philosophy at Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, graduating in 1959, earning a doctorate in computing technology at Technische Universität Braunschweig in 1971.

From 1971 to 2001 Pape was professor of business informatics at the Technische Universität Berlin. He was visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1974 and in 1984–1985; at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1975; at the University of Texas at Austin in 1976; and at the University of Szczecin, Poland, from 1988 until 1998.

Pape was recognized worldwide for his expertise in pipe organs, especially historic mechanical-action instruments. Pape had his first contact with organbuilding in 1953 at the Liebfrauenkirche, Bremen, where he studied with Harald Wolff and had contact with the organ builder Paul Ott. Pape began to document the organs of the Braunschweig Lutheran Church in 1959. In 1962 he founded a publishing house for works on organbuilding history, which exists today as Pape Verlag Berlin. He became a freelance organ expert for regional churches and foundations in Berlin, Bremen, Lower Saxony, and Saxony. From 1985 to 2016 he led a research project on organ documentation that resulted in an organ database at the Technische Universität Berlin. With Paul Peeters of Gothenburg and Karl Schütz of Vienna, Pape was one of the founders of the International Association for Organ Documentation (IAOD) in 1990. He made significant contributions to the documentation of historic north German organs. Among his many book-length publications is The Tracker Organ Revival in America/Die Orgelbewegung in Amerika, first published in 1978. One of his most recent publications is Organographia Historica Hildesiensis: Orgeln und Orgelbauer in Hildesheim, printed in 2014. For The Diapason, he wrote “Documentation of Restorations,” which appeared in the December 2006 issue, pages 20–22.

Alice Stuart Parker

Alice Stuart Parker, 98, born December 16, 1925, in Boston, Massachusetts, died December 24, 2023, in Hawley, Massachusetts. Having grown up in Winchester, Massachusetts, she graduated from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1947, having studied organ and composition. After earning a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from The Juilliard School in New York City two years later, she began teaching in a high school. Parker would then study and begin a long collaboration with Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chorale. She would meet and marry one of the chorale’s singers, Thomas F. Pyle, in 1954.

As a composer she would pen more than 500 choral works and arrangements, from choral anthems to cantatas and operas. In 1985 Parker founded Melodious Accord, which presents choral concerts, singing workshops, and other events. The Musicians of Melodious Accord, a 16-member chorus, made several recordings with her. Parker authored books including The Anatomy of Melody in 2006 and The Melodious Accord Hymnal in 2010, both available from GIA Publications. She conducted masterclasses and seminars widely.

Alice Stuart Parker was predeceased by her husband in 1976. Survivors include her sons David Pyle and Timothy Pyle; daughters Katharine Bryda, Mary Stejskal, and Elizabeth Pyle; 11 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Michael Radulescu

Michael Radulescu, 80, born June 19, 1943, in Bucharest, Romania, died December 23, 2023. He studied organ and conducting with Anton Heiller and Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, Austria, at the Academy (now University) of Music and Performing Arts, where he taught as professor of organ from 1968 to 2008. His career encompassed work as a composer, organist, and conductor. With his debut in 1959 he presented concerts throughout Europe, North America, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. He regularly presented guest lectures and masterclasses in Europe and overseas, focusing mainly on the interpretation of Bach’s organ and major choral works.

As a composer, Radulescu wrote sacred music, works for organ, voice and organ, choral and chamber music, and orchestral works. He was frequently engaged as a jury member in international organ and composition competitions and as an editor of early organ music. Radulescu conducted international vocal and instrumental ensembles in performances of major choral works. As an organist, he recorded among other items Bach’s complete works for organ, without any technical manipulation.

For his musical and pedagogical contributions, Radulescu was awarded the Goldene Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien in 2005. In 2007 he received the Würdigungspreis für Musik from the Austrian Ministry of Education and Art. In December 2013 Michael Radulescu’s book on J. S. Bach’s spiritual musical language, Bey einer andächtig Musiq: Schritte zur Interpretation von Johann Sebastian Bachs geistlicher Klangrede anhand seiner Passionen und der h-Moll-Messe, focusing on the two passions and the B-Minor Mass, was published. For The Diapason, his article, “J. S. Bach’s Organ Music and Lutheran Theology: The Clavier-Übung Third Part,” was printed in the July 2019 issue, pages 16–21.

The Diapason staff

Matthew Buller

Matthew Buller is a native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and a candidate for the Artist Diploma at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, where he studies with Arvid Gast. He earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Oberlin in May 2017, where he had the privilege of studying with organists such as Nathan Laube, Liuwe Tamminga, Jean-Baptiste Robin, and Marie-Louise Langlais, in addition to his regular studies with James David Christie and Jonathan Moyer. He also studied harpsichord under Webb Wiggins and fortepiano under David Breitman. Since 2017, Matthew has been director of music and organist at Holy Family Catholic Church in Parma, Ohio. As a performer, he has performed extensively around the United States, in Montreal, Québec, and in Paris, France. He also performed on the 2015 Danenburg Honors Recital, in addition to performing on the Songsun Lee Memorial Concert in Vero Beach, Florida, in 2016.

An interesting fact: I am a collector of old organ scores and old hymnals.

Proudest achievement: A major scholarship to study at Oberlin Conservatory and many opportunities in the world of church music.

Career aspirations and goals: I hope to be a director of music in a major cathedral and to perform large choral, orchestral, and organ Masses in their original context, namely during the Catholic Mass.

Katie Burk

Originally from Lawrence, Kansas, Katie Burk is an organist, conductor, vocalist, and composer pursuing the Doctor of Music degree in organ performance at Indiana University, where she is a student of Christopher Young. An active organ recitalist and choral clinician, she currently serves as music intern at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bloomington, Indiana, under the direction of Marilyn Keiser, where she directs and accompanies both youth and adult choral ensembles and coordinates the Evenings at Trinity music and liturgy series. Additionally, she teaches undergraduate aural skills courses at the IU Jacobs School of Music. She holds the Master of Music degree in organ from IU and Bachelor of Music degrees in organ and music education summa cum laude from Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, where she sang in the Saint Olaf Choir and studied organ with Catherine Rodland, conducting with Anton Armstrong and Christopher Aspaas, and voice with Karen Wilkerson. This summer, Katie will be a faculty member at both the Royal School of Church Music in America’s King’s College Training Course in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians Conference on Worship and Music at Montreat, North Carolina.

An interesting fact: I am an identical twin; my sister Maggie is a choral conductor and composer (who moonlights as an organist!) about to start her doctorate at the University of Michigan!

Proudest achievement: Though it’s still a little way off, I predict that once I finish everything up, I will be very happy to have earned a doctorate in organ (an instrument I didn’t play until college!). For the moment, however, I’m excited that my choral compositions are being performed in venues such as the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and Saint Mark’s Church in Philadelphia!

Career aspirations and goals: Whether I find myself in academia or working as a church musician (or both), I’d like my job to be multifaceted. I’ve always enjoyed a wide variety of musical activities—playing the organ, conducting, singing, teaching, composing—and I hope to be in a setting where I can continue to pursue all of my interests!

Jared Cook

Jared D. Cook is a native of Houston, Texas, where he began his formal organ study at age seventeen with Stephen Morris. He is currently a junior organ performance and French major at Baylor University, where he studies with Isabelle Demers. In the 2018 William C. Hall Pipe Organ Competition, he was awarded first place in the undergraduate division, as well as the prize for outstanding hymn playing. During his sophomore year, he was selected as the organ division winner in the 2018 Baylor School of Music Semper Pro Musica Competition. An active recitalist, Jared has performed recitals at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, New York City, Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, among others.

Jared has served as organ scholar at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Houston and as principal organist at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, Waco, Texas, where his responsibilities included accompanying the Chancel Choir and playing for services. Currently, he is serving as organ scholar at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas.

An interesting fact: I speak three languages (English, Spanish, and French) and enjoy traveling frequently!

Proudest achievement: I’m the proudest of making the organ accessible to non-organists. I enjoy showcasing the colors and abilities of the instrument, and helping people develop an appreciation for the organ.

Career aspirations and goals: I’d like to inspire people as a concert organist, pedagogue, and church musician. It is my goal to continue making the organ an accessible instrument and to give back to the community through music. I want to help educate others about the organ and help them develop a passion for the “King of Instruments.”

Carolyn Craig

Carolyn Craig of Knoxville, Tennessee, is the 2018–2019 organ scholar at Truro Cathedral in Truro, England, where her duties include playing for at least three Evensongs per week and training the youngest boy choristers daily. She will begin a Master of Music in organ performance in 2019. Carolyn graduated summa cum laude from Indiana University in 2018, where she held the Wells Scholarship and was one of five graduating seniors to receive the Elvis J. Stahr Award for leadership and academic excellence. Carolyn graduated with a Bachelor of Music in organ performance in the studio of Christopher Young with minors in conducting and German. While at Indiana University, Carolyn was organ scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church with Marilyn Keiser.

Carolyn began her keyboard studies as a pianist and performed in Carnegie Hall at age 14 as a winner of the American Protégé International Talent Competition. At the age of seventeen, Carolyn won the Region IV Quimby Competition for Young Organists and performed a Rising Star recital for the 2014 American Guild of Organists national convention in Boston, Massachusetts. She has since been heard on Pipedreams and in recital domestically and abroad, in venues such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, England.

An interesting fact: I love to sing. I study voice privately whenever I have the chance, currently with Margaret Kingsley, professor emerita of the Royal College of Music, and studied privately at Indiana University and, as a high school student, at the University of Tennessee. At Indiana University, I sang in Dominick DiOrio’s new music choir NOTUS, in the early music group CONCENTUS, for many colleagues’ composition premieres, and in the student-led chamber choir Burgundian Consort (Hannah McGinty, director). I have also done some musical theater and enjoy singing a cappella with the Choral Scholars of Truro Cathedral.

Proudest achievement: I’m proudest when my teaching is successful—when I see my organ students playing their first postlude, when the youngest boy choristers I train have their first solos, when theory concepts and sight singing click, and when community choirs get German vowels right.

Career aspirations and goals: I would like to be the choir director and organist at a church where vibrant children’s choir and adult choir programs provide a foundation for faith formation and contribute to a sense of community and where the standard for choral and organ music is excellence. Additionally, I would like to concertize as an organist and would like to perform as a collaborative pianist and professional choral soprano. I would also like to continue teaching organ lessons.

Bryan Dunnewald

Conductor and organist Bryan Dunnewald of Arvada, Colorado, has performed in numerous venues across the country, from the Washington National Cathedral to the Mormon Tabernacle. From 2015 to 2018, he served as organ scholar at Saint Mark’s Church, an Anglo-Catholic parish in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and as assistant organist at Macy’s (formerly Wanamaker’s) department store, giving frequent concerts on the largest organ in the world. Bryan enjoys collaborating with ensembles large and small and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and numerous chamber ensembles as an organist and harpsichordist. As a conductor, Bryan has led a variety of ensembles, from orchestras at Curtis to choirs in Denver. He is an active composer and recently conducted the premiere of his Missa Brevis: Saint Mark with Saint Mark’s Parish Choir. Bryan currently lives in New York City where he pursues a master’s degree in orchestral conducting with David Hayes at the Mannes School of Music. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy, earning over the course of his studies the highest honors in music, academics, citizenship, and character. Bryan’s teachers and mentors include Alan Morrison, Robert McCormick, Jonathan Coopersmith, Leon Schelhase, Thomas Bara, Steve Larson, Martha Sandford-Heyns, and Joseph Galema. In the summer of 2018, he worked at Schoenstein & Co., developing his love of organbuilding as an apprentice to Jack Bethards.

An interesting fact: I love architecture and public transit. I have a very real dream to drive a bus one day.

Proudest achievement: My proudest professional moments are those in which I create something great with others. These achievements can be in- or outside of music. Some recent examples include conducting the premiere of my Missa Brevis at Saint Mark’s, working for years with administrators at Curtis to make positive changes to the orchestra program, conducting my friends at my graduation recital in a performance of one of my very favorite pieces, Poulenc’s Le Bal Masqué, and voicing my very first rank of pipes (with some success!) at Schoenstein.

Career aspirations and goals: I want a career in which I build something special. There are many disciplines that make me feel fulfilled, so I look for a career with variety, one where those disciplines complement each other. Being a leader and fostering an environment of healthy, serious artistry are important to me. Outside that I expect to have a career that involves, in some form, playing, conducting (orchestras and choirs), working with others, organbuilding, and bus driving (likely in retirement).

Website: www.bryandunnewald.com.

Daniel Ficarri

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Daniel Ficarri is a graduate student at The Juilliard School, studying with organist Paul Jacobs. Ficarri is recognized as a performer of both new music and standard classical repertoire—The New York Times listed his performance of John Cage’s Souvenir under the “Week’s 8 Best Classical Music Moments,” and WQXR broadcast his live all-Bach performance as part of their “Bach Organ Marathon.” He has performed around the country and at New York City’s Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Saint Thomas Church, and Trinity Church Wall Street. His orchestral performances have included engagements with the Florida Orchestra and the Juilliard Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall. Ficarri has also composed extensively for the organ—his Exultation was commissioned by Choir & Organ magazine for the dedication of the Miller-Scott Organ at Saint Thomas Church. An active church musician, Ficarri is currently organ scholar at Church of Saint Paul the Apostle in Manhattan, where he founded the organ concert series “Sacred Sounds at Saint Paul’s.” Previously, he served as organ scholar at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, New York. For more information, and to purchase sheet music, visit www.danielficarri.com.

An interesting fact: I began my musical training as a violinist and studied privately for ten years. Though I no longer study the violin, I still have a great love of music for strings and orchestra and enjoy transcribing these works for organ.

Proudest achievement: I find the greatest satisfaction in composing my own works for the organ. My favorite of these compositions is Exultation, a fanfare. Composing allows me to push the limits of the instrument while sharing my unique voice.

Career aspirations and goals: I hope that my work is able to bring awareness to the potential of the organ and the enduring relevance of its music. Whether through performing, composing, or serving in churches, I hope that I am able to educate and inspire others to take interest in the voices of history’s great artists. The organ and its repertoire are greatly misunderstood—by the musically ignorant in society and also by the most advanced classical musicians. My greatest aspiration is to enlighten others, and in doing so, enrich their lives in some way.

Julian Goods

Raised in Chicago, Illinois, Julian J. Goods is a senior at the University of Michigan pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in choral music education. He has a primary focus in voice and secondary focuses in pipe organ and conducting. Over the last few years, Goods has worked closely with the choral conducting and music education faculty to help find ways in which he can become a successful and effective teacher in schools with primarily African American student populations. In the fall, he will be starting a Master of Music degree in choral conducting at the University of Michigan. Goods serves as the music director for the Michigan Gospel Chorale and organist at both Hartford Memorial Baptist Church and Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit. He is a member of the American Guild of Organists, American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association of Negro Musicians where he serves on the Collegiate Board and as the recording secretary for the Central Region.

An interesting fact: I am a proud Eagle Scout.

Proudest achievement: My proudest achievement is every time an ensemble or someone I work with experiences a success.

It would be very easy for me to say that my proudest achievement would be any of the awards, honors, or recognitions that I have collected over the years; however, there is one achievement that I am especially proud of. My proudest achievement is the work that I do as a student teacher within the Detroit Public Schools System. As a student teacher I have the opportunity to spend time engaging with and cultivating young minds. On a daily basis, I am able to sow into these young minds and work to provide them with the resources they need. I am the most proud when I am able to see these bright individuals take those resources and utilize them to work toward a successful future. I am a giver to my very core, and watching my students take what I give them and produce success is truly my proudest achievement to date.

Career aspirations and goals: My ultimate goal is to one day serve as the director of choral activities at a university/college where my focus would be to build a choir that will continue the strong tradition of Western European Classical music while constantly displaying the diverse repertoire of choral music from around the world.

Conner Kunz

Conner Kunz was born in Delta, Utah, to Mark and Beverly Kunz and has always had a fascination with music, the pipe organ, and large mechanical devices. He graduated from Delta High School and currently studies business management at Utah Valley University and also works with Bigelow & Co. organbuilders as a part-time craftsman. His main areas of interest in the organ world include the mechanical creation of the organ, as well as voicing and tuning of pipes, and he hopes to continue to broaden his skills in those areas.

An interesting fact: Before I was employed at Bigelow & Co. I was a high-end furniture maker.

Proudest achievement: My furniture can be seen internationally in the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Career aspirations and goals: I hope to be able to take on the career of pipe organ building and more fully develop my capabilities in both the design and production of these beautiful instruments.

Colin MacKnight

Colin MacKnight is a third year C. V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School, where he also completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He studies with Paul Jacobs, Grammy award winner and chair of the organ department, and is working on his dissertation entitled “Ex Uno Plures: A Proposed Completion of Bach’s Art of Fugue.” Colin also serves as associate organist and choirmaster at Cathedral of the Incarnation on Long Island. Before Incarnation, Colin was assistant organist and music theory teacher at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue.

Colin’s first prizes and scholarships include the 2017 West Chester University International Organ Competition, 2016 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition, 2016 Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition, M. Louise Miller Scholarship from the Greater Bridgeport Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the 2013 Rodgers North American Classical Organ Competition, and the Ruth and Paul Manz Organ Scholarship. He also won the New York City and Northeast regional AGO competitions. In addition, Colin received the Clarence Snyder Third Prize in the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition and is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

An interesting fact: I was an extremely reckless and accident-prone kid. I went to the emergency room so often that I had my favorite hospital and the staff there knew me, and my mom says that my raison d'être was self-destruction. One of my more memorable injuries was when I concussed myself by diving into a bathtub with no water.

Proudest achievement: Most recently, acquiring two free leather couches and smuggling them into the Juilliard organ rooms.

Career aspirations and goals: I’m mainly interested in doing church music, concertizing, and perhaps doing some teaching. I particularly enjoy the variety of musical activities that are involved in church music: repertoire, improvisation, conducting, service playing, etc.

Website: colinmacknight.com.

Thomas Mellan

Born in Lyon, France, Thomas Mellan won first place in the Musical Merit Foundation’s national competition in 2016. In 2011, he recorded for the official documentary of the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ. He performed as a Rising Star in the American Guild of Organists’ West Region Convention and the Spreckels Centennial International Festival in 2015. As Young Artist of the Year, he played in the 23rd International Festival of St. Eustache in Paris, France. In 2018, his European tour included a residency at the Organ Hall in Lviv, where he gave the Ukrainian premiere of Messiaen’s Livre d’Orgue.

His compositions include orchestral, chamber, and solo works, which have been performed in France, America, Canada, and Ukraine. Mellan was the Outstanding Graduate of the undergraduate class of 2017 at the University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music, graduating with a double major in organ and composition.

An interesting fact: I pick hikes spontaneously and based on the elevation gain. If it’s below 700 meters (+- 3,000 feet), then it’s too pleasant!

Proudest achievement: Pushing organ technique to new possibilities, by playing and designing études (Chopin, Dupré, Liszt, my own), modern music (Xenakis and Barraqué, for instance, push keyboard technique and expression to new boundaries), and new works of my own, such as my Ballade de l’impossible.

Playing three concerts on three consecutive nights in Lviv, Ukraine, each with individual programs last summer.

Career aspirations and goals: Touring internationally as an organist with programs of music that I believe in (sometimes, but not always, organ repertoire: Ferneyhough, Bach, Louis Couperin, Schoenberg, Liszt, Xenakis, Reger, Webern, to name just a tiny bunch); teaching at a university or conservatoire; composing pieces that I feel need to be written (at the moment my backlog of commissions includes an organ concerto, violin inventions, and a percussion solo); touring as a harpsichordist (Couperin, Froberger!) and pianist (Boulez! Bartok!).

Alexander Meszler

Alexander Meszler is a Doctor of Musical Arts degree student in organ of Kimberly Marshall at Arizona State University. He currently lives in Versailles, France, on a Fulbright award where he investigates secularism and the organ and studies with Jean-Baptiste Robin. Meszler completed his master’s degree in organ performance and music theory at the University of Kansas where he studied organ with Michael Bauer and James Higdon and his bachelor’s degree in organ with Kola Owolabi while at Syracuse University.

Alexander has been a finalist in several performance competitions and, in 2016, he won second prize at the Westchester University Organ Competition. A strong advocate of music by living composers, he currently serves as a member of the American Guild of Organists’ Committee on New Music. He has collaborated with composers Huw Morgan, Hon Ki Cheung, and George Katehis on the premieres of their organ works.

In 2017, he was awarded a grant from the Arizona Center for Renaissance and Medieval Studies for a project titled, “Crossroads for the Organ in the Twenty-First Century: A Precedent for Secularism in the First Decades of Sixteenth-Century Print Culture.” He has presented papers and lecture-recitals at conferences including the Rocky Mountain chapter of the American Musicological Society, the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies, and the Historical Keyboard Society of North America. He is making his first significant interdisciplinary contribution this June at the European Association for the Study of Religions’ annual conference.

An interesting fact: I started my undergraduate career as a trombone major. Having taken some organ late in high school with Stephen Best in Utica, New York, I was warmly welcomed as a secondary student into the organ studio at Syracuse University. I found myself in the organ practice room for hours at a time—much, much more time than I spent practicing the trombone. The moment I knew I needed to approach Kola Owolabi, my organ teacher at the time, about the possibility of switching majors was when my trombone professor, Bill Harris, complimented my trombone playing in a rather distinctive way. He said, “You know, you play the trombone extremely well for an organ major.” Not an insult at all, he knew where my heart was. I am extremely thankful for both mentors!

Proudest achievement: I’m proud of a collaborative project that I initiated and organized with my mentor, Kimberly Marshall. Inspired by other artist-activists, we explored the negative environmental effects of a United States-Mexico border wall. We incorporated the art and music of many others including commissioning two new works funded by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York City. One resulting work was for two organs and fixed-media electronics by Huw Morgan, which incorporated sounds of the wall itself from musician-activist Glenn Weyant. Another highlight for me was working with a leading scientist in the field, Michael Schoon, to write an accurate, yet moving script that accompanied the program. The result, if nothing else, was that new audiences were exposed both to the organ and the science behind this important and timely issue.

Career aspirations and goals: While there is no doubt that we live in uncertain times for the organ, I remain optimistic about the future. I want to find a place that will support my continuing research on secularism and the organ, but no matter where life takes me, I will share my love for the organ through teaching, research, and concertizing. I am and will always be on the lookout for ways to keep the organ exciting and relevant.

Website: alexandermeszler.com.

Collin Miller

Collin Miller is a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, and is a junior organ performance major at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he is a student of Janette Fishell. He began playing piano at the age of five, receiving initial training from Rosa Lynne Miller and then studying with Susanna Garcia. In his freshman year of high school, Collin began taking organ lessons with Tom Neil and has since held church positions as pianist and organist at Northwood Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Lafayette. He was the winner of the 2017 American Guild of Organists Southwest Regional Competition for Young Organists and is a recipient of the Barbara and David Jacobs Scholarship.

An interesting fact: My primary interest outside of music is film, particularly the work of Béla Tarr, Federico Fellini, and the films of the French New Wave.

Proudest achievement: I am most proud of a few performances of lesser-known music I have given, including programming the Sonata on the 94th Psalm of Julius Reubke alongside the composer’s other more underplayed masterpiece, the Piano Sonata in B-flat Minor, as well as more recently performing the “Toccata” from the Second Organ Symphony of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, one of the most technically demanding sections of this massive work.

Career aspirations and goals: I aspire to become an organ professor at a university while continuing to advocate for and perform some of the neglected works of the repertoire, including eventually the three organ symphonies of Sorabji.

Ryan Mueller

Ryan Mueller holds a lifelong fascination of music, history, and all things mechanically inclined. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he credits the region’s landscape of instruments as inspiration for his love of pipe organs. Ryan began piano studies in third grade with Susan Eichstadt and began organ as a freshmen in high school with John Reim. Frequently called upon as a recitalist, lecturer, and writer, he recently founded Cream City Preservation, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the advocacy of historic instruments, buildings, and artifacts. Ryan has served in various local American Guild of Organists and American Theatre Organ Society chapters and is also an active member of the Organ Historical Society, AGO’s Young Organist division, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and National Trust for Historic Preservation. He was a recipient of an OHS E. Power Biggs Fellowship in 2014 and was a scholar at the 2017 American Institute of Organbuilders convention. Ryan currently resides in Ogden, Iowa, working for Dobson Pipe Organ Builders Ltd., of Lake City, Iowa. While he takes part in a wide variety of service work and shop activities, Ryan’s primary responsibilities at Dobson revolve around the tonal department. Outside of the organ scene, he thoroughly enjoys restoring classic cars, photography, cycling, and spending time with his fiancée Emily, to whom he will be married this June.

An interesting fact: One thing not too many people know about me is that I have a real fascination of fire trucks. (I was one of those little boys who wanted to be a firefighter when I grew up.) Growing up, we lived right across the street from a fire station, and so till this day I am usually able to identify, by the sound of the siren, whether it is a ladder truck, engine, ambulance, or police car, etc., coming down the street.

Proudest achievement: Being a part of our new instrument at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue is perhaps one of my bigger career accomplishments. Even though the project conceptualized many years before I began at Dobson, I was fortunate to be a part of the in-shop work, installation, and on-site voicing. Being but a small part of the team that brought Opus 93 to life and spending many months in Manhattan was a life changing experience. To me, there is no greater satisfaction than knowing that the fruits of your labor are going to stand, be used, and be heard by generations of people from around the world to the glory of God.

Career goals and aspirations: Though I am currently content with where I am at in my career, someday I would like to be the tonal director of a large firm and perhaps own my own company. Outside of career-oriented goals, I currently have two books in the works which I am hoping to complete in the next year or two.

Kevin Neel

Kevin Neel enjoys a versatile career as organist, collaborative pianist, conductor, singer, and arts administrator. He has been heard at the organ in numerous venues including Symphony Hall, Old South Church, Emmanuel Church, Old West Church, all in Boston, Massachusetts, as well as in the southeast. In December 2016 he co-founded The Brookline Consort, a choral ensemble for which he serves as co-artistic director, baritone, and primary accompanist, a group whose mission is to tell stories through diverse, thoughtful programming performed at the highest level. As a singer, he has sung with the Marsh Chapel Choir, Emmanuel Music, Cantata Singers, and VOICES 21C. He is organist and chapel choir director at Emmanuel Church, Boston, and serves as executive director for Coro Allegro and organist for Saint Clement Eucharistic Shrine. He holds degrees from Boston University in choral conducting and Indiana University in organ performance and is originally from the Charlotte, North Carolina, area.

An interesting fact: I trained in classical ballet.

Proudest achievement: Co-founding my own choral ensemble and serving as a singer, pianist, organist, and administrator for the ensemble.

Career aspirations and goals: I am excited to be able to work at the intersection of the choral and the organ worlds, both in and out of sacred music. I aspire to use my skills at the organ and as a choral musician to further the collaborative approach to music making. I’m drawn to collegiate music making, especially in university chapels, as it represents the intersection of the highest caliber music with inspired preaching and collegial youthfulness. I’m looking forward to an upcoming concert in October 2019 where I’m performing Duruflé’s Requiem (organ-only) and Kodaly’s Missa Brevis. And later that month, turning 30!

Website: www.kevinwneel.com.

Jessica Park

Jessica Park is a native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and is the chapel organist and assistant liturgical musician at the Chapel of Saint Thomas Aquinas of the University of Saint Thomas, Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she is the principal musician of the chapel and director of the Schola Cantorum. She received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, where she studied with Dean Billmeyer. Jessica received the Master of Music degree in Historical Performance and Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, where she studied organ with James David Christie, Jonathan Moyer, Olivier Latry, and Marie-Louise Langlais, and harpsichord and continuo with Webb Wiggins. She received first prize at the 2013 American Guild of Organists/Quimby Competition for Young Organists (Region VI) and performed as a “Rising Star” at the 2014 American Guild of Organists national convention in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the featured organist for the inaugural 2014 Twin Cities Early Music Festival and was also a performer at the 2017 Organ Historical Society Convention held in Minneapolis. Her performances have been broadcast on American Public Media’s Pipedreams.

An interesting fact: I run my own photography business as a specialist in portrait photography, and I like to paint on canvases and hang them around my place. I have not mastered the Bob Ross style yet, but I hope I can someday.

Proudest achievement: I am proud of my master’s degree harpsichord recital in 2014. I loved the music I was playing, and I remember being fully focused and enjoying the music. After the recital, I listened to the recording and was actually very pleased with my playing (which is rare)! It really was one of my happiest moments as a student, and I still love the harpsichord.

Career aspirations and goals: I would like to continue performing as a recitalist, playing in the church, and in the future, I would like to teach organ and harpsichord.

Jordan Prescott

Heralded by The Baltimore Sun as a “rising organ star,” Jordan Prescott has established himself as one of the leading organists, church musicians, and directors of his generation. A native of Greenville, North Carolina, Jordan holds the Bachelor of Music degree in organ and sacred music from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. While at East Carolina, Jordan spent two years as organ scholar of Duke University Chapel in Durham, North Carolina. He is now pursuing a Master of Music degree in organ performance at the Peabody Conservatory where he studies with John Walker. Jordan formerly studied with Andrew Scanlon and Christopher Jacobson. In 2018, Jordan won first prize in the 16th International Organ Competition at West Chester University. He was a 2015 E. Power Biggs Fellow with the Organ Historical Society and currently serves as the Mid-Atlantic Chair for the American Guild of Organists Young Organists. Jordan has research set for future publication in The American Organist, and his performances have been featured on WBJC radio. Jordan is in his seventh season as associate musical director of The Lost Colony, America’s longest-running outdoor drama. Under his direction, The Lost Colony Choir has risen to critical acclaim and was featured as part of the Sing Across America campaign honoring the centennial of the National Parks Service.

An interesting fact: I am a distance runner and currently training for the Baltimore Marathon.

Proudest achievement: I am proudest of the collegial relationships that I have with other organists and my colleagues in the broader music profession and grateful for the network of support and collaboration that we have created.

Career aspirations and goals: I hope to follow in the footsteps of my teachers in developing a career that includes church music, teaching, and performing—in that order. Church music allows me to actively practice my faith and glorify God in thanksgiving for the gifts he has given me as well as enhance the spiritual and liturgical lives of the parishioners I am called to serve. Through teaching I will pass on the knowledge, passion, and kindness given to me by the mentors in my own life. Lastly, performing affords me the opportunity to share the music that I connect with and to do my part in the preservation of the incredible repertoire to which we have all been entrusted.

Website: www.jordanprescott.com.

Alexandria Smith

Alexandria Smith is a pipe organ technician currently employed at John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders. She has passionately trained as a musician since a young age, beginning with piano before starting oboe. Her journey as an instrument technician began while she was a freshman in college.

In spring 2017 through winter 2018, Alexandria studied organ with Joby Bell and was awarded the Wallace Organ Scholarship. Alexandria received the E. Power Biggs Fellowship of the Organ Historical Society in 2018, deepening her love of historic organs. She will graduate from Appalachian State University with a Bachelors in Music Industry degree: merchandising and manufacturing, with a minor in general business in May 2019. Alexandria spent two summers as an intern at Buzard before beginning full-time work in January 2019. She finds maintaining instruments and keeping the builders’ original style as alive as possible extremely rewarding. Her work lies mostly in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century organs.

An interesting fact: My primary instrument in college was oboe, English horn, and Baroque oboe.

Proudest achievement: Joining the service department at Buzard Organs. It is a well-rounded team, and everyone has so much knowledge to share and pass on, and I get to work on so many rewarding projects.

Career aspirations and goals: To manage a pipe organ company and to continue to grow my knowledge as much as possible on the instrument.

Emily Solomon

Emily Solomon is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in sacred music from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her prior degrees include dual Master of Music degrees in early keyboard instruments and sacred music from the University of Michigan and a Master of Arts in music research from Western Michigan University with a thesis on Johann Walter’s Geistliches Gesangbüchlein. Emily is the executive director for the Academy of Early Music in Ann Arbor and cantor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Detroit, Michigan. She is also a continuing visiting artist in harpsichord at Western Michigan University. In May 2018, Emily was invited to perform on the Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival in Kuopio, Finland. She toured Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic as the organist for the Concordia University Ann Arbor choir in May 2017. A proud Michigan native, Emily is a Certified Tourism Ambassador™ for Washtenaw County and serves on the board of the Soo Locks Visitors Association in the Upper Peninsula.

An interesting fact: I love Great Lakes freighters! I’m frequently involved with maritime activity in the Upper Peninsula and have been a long-time member of the American Society for Marine Artists.

Proudest achievement: When I began organ lessons at the age of 19, I had no idea that I would go on to earn advanced degrees in this field. I’m both proud of and humbled by what I have been able to accomplish in the last nine years.

Career aspirations and goals: I hope to continue my work in church music, performing arts management, and early music while also becoming an effective and influential pedagogue.

Website: www.emilysolomon.com.

Mitchell Stecker

Mitchell Stecker is director of chapel music and carillonneur at The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina. He is an alumnus of the University of Florida (Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts in linguistics, 2014), studying principally with Laura Ellis. In 2015, Mitchell spent six months at the Royal Carillon School (Mechelen, Belgium) before returning to UF to pursue the Master of Music (musicology), which he will receive in May of this year. Prior to his current role, Mitchell served as carillon fellow to Geert D’hollander at Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, Florida, from 2017 to 2018.

Mitchell is also an active composer, with titles published by the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and American Carillon Musical Editions, and with several commissions in progress. His scholarly interests include shape-note music, campanological topics, and the music of Peter Benoit and the Flemish Romantic. He is an active member of the GCNA, serving as the guild’s corresponding secretary since 2017; in 2016, he was awarded the guild’s Barnes Scholarship to study Roy Hamlin Johnson’s monumental Carillon Book for the Liturgical Year and its relation to Bach’s Orgelbüchlein. In his free time, Mitchell is an avid fasola singer, enjoys studying languages, and is passionate about good food and drink.

An interesting fact: In 2011, I took part in the “largest carillon recital in history.” Designed to commemorate the seventy-fifth congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, a novelty concert program was presented in which seventy-five individual performers all shared an hour-long recital program.

Proudest achievement: As a freshman at the University of Florida, I originally declared a major in engineering, with no intention of studying music. I had the occasion to re-evaluate my purpose and realized that my calling was elsewhere. The simple fact of being a church musician is a great source of pride for me. I find the work of leading God’s people in praise to be tremendously fulfilling and am proud that such a significant responsibility falls to me.

Career aspirations and goals: I hope to serve as a church musician in whatever capacity I am best suited for, for as long as I can. Additionally, I aspire to continue to grow as a scholar and eventually seek a doctoral degree in musicology. Avocationally, I am in the midst of compiling several new compilations of fasola music and hope to see these offerings find a place within the shape-note singing community.

Grant Wareham

A Dayton, Ohio, native, Grant Wareham began organ studies with Jerry Taylor in 2007. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Houston, Texas, where he studied with Ken Cowan, graduating cum laude and with distinction in research and creative work. While at Rice, Grant served as Moseley Memorial Organ Scholar and assistant organist at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, Houston, and as associate organist at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, Houston, where he worked with music director Brady Knapp and artist-in-residence and organist Ken Cowan.

Winner of both the First and Audience prizes at the 2017 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition in Hartford, Connecticut, Grant was also a featured performer at the 62nd annual convention of the Organ Historical Society in Saint Paul, Minnesota. This June, he will compete in the 2019 Longwood International Organ Competition at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

Grant is currently pursuing his Master of Music degree at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music and School of Music, New Haven, Connecticut, where he studies organ with Thomas Murray. He also serves as organ scholar at Christ Church, New Haven, one of America’s renowned Anglo-Catholic parishes, where he works alongside choirmaster Nathaniel Adam and organist and artist-in-residence Thomas Murray.

An interesting fact: I am an avid distance runner and completed two half-marathons in 2018.

Proudest achievement: Winning the first and audience prizes at the 2017 Schweitzer Competition, then playing the Fauré Requiem three days later with the University of Saint Thomas Singers under the direction of Brady Knapp.

Career aspirations and goals: I firmly believe in a very strong future for the organ, and every organist who feels this way has a duty to train and nurture successive generations in
the art of organ playing. Therefore, I want to teach at the collegiate level to pass on the incredible legacies that all of my teachers have given to me. I greatly enjoy serving in churches as a source of professional and personal fulfillment and would love be employed at a church with a vibrant music tradition. I also love learning new instruments and hope to have an active performing career.