Joshua Stafford is appointed interim organist for the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York, for the 2020 summer assembly season. In this interim capacity, Stafford, a native of neighboring Jamestown, will succeed his mentor and teacher, the late Jared Jacobsen, as the principal performer on the institution’s Massey Memorial Organ.
Stafford serves year-round as director of music for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Morristown, New Jersey, where he conducts an RSCM-based program with choirs of boys, girls, and adults. In 2016, he was awarded the Pierre S. du Pont First Prize of the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition. He is a member of The Diapason’s 20 Under 30 Class of 2017.
During Stafford’s childhood, Jacobsen, Chautauqua’s longtime organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music, became one of several mentors and instructors who guided Stafford’s development as an organist. He will begin his service as the Institution’s interim organist at the first ecumenical worship service of the 2020 summer assembly season, June 28. Stafford is represented by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists.
For information: www.concertartists.com
