Joshua Stafford to Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists

Appointments

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.

Bryan Anderson 

2023 First Prize Winner of the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition

The exceedingly great level of musicality, the fearlessness of his performance, and the exacting technical prowess exhibited by Bryan Anderson compelled the jury of the 2023 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition to name him, out of 10 stellar competitors, the First Prize Winner of this illustrious event, where he received the $40,000 Pierre S. DuPont Prize (the largest cash prize of any competitive organ event). The Diapason, which named Bryan to its “20 under 30” Class of 2017, has called his playing “brilliant;” Classical Voice of North Carolina has described his playing as “simply first class.”

In the 2023 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, Bryan also received the Philadelphia AGO Chapter Prize for the best performance of a prescribed work by the judges. He also took prizes at the 2021 Canadian International Organ Competition and the 2019 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, and is a past first-prize winner of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition. Bryan has performed at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society and has been featured numerous times on American Public Media's Pipedreams. He appeared on the album Pipedreams Premieres, vol. 3, performing music of Henry Martin alongside Isabelle Demers, Stephen Tharp, and Ken Cowan. Bryan has completed nearly one dozen original orchestral transcriptions, including works by Duruflé, Alkan, Debussy, and Dave Brubeck, and enjoys utilizing these arrangements in recitals.

In addition to solo work, Bryan enjoys an active performance life as a musical collaborator. As a continuo artist at the organ and harpsichord, Bryan is a regular performer with the early-music groups Harmonia Stellarum Houston and the Oklahoma Bach Choir, and has also appeared recently with Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, Kentucky Baroque Trumpets, and the viols of Les Touches. Bryan is also an experienced collaborative pianist and chamber musician, with many years of work as an instrumental and choral accompanist, including as the current concert accompanist for the Houston Children’s' Chorus. In the realm of orchestral music, Bryan has performed in works such as Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie, Copland's Appalachian Spring, Poulenc's Organ Concerto, Saint-Säens' Organ Symphony, and the chamber orchestration of the Duruflé Requiem. He is also one of the few current organists to tackle large oratorio repertoire at the organ without orchestra, having performed works such as Poulenc's Gloria and Mendelssohn's complete Elijah score alone in choral performances.

Bryan is employed as Director of Music at Saint Thomas’ Episcopal Church and School in Houston, Texas, where he trains all ages of choirs from elementary ages through adults, oversees eight sung services per week, and organizes a concert season of guest artists and in-house ensembles. He serves as Co-Manager of the RSCM Gulf Coast choral residency program and has also worked as the Preparatory Choir Director for the Houston Children’s’ Chorus. He previously held positions at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston; Wells Cathedral in Somerset, England; and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and Tenth Presbyterian Church, both in Philadelphia. He also served as an assistant organist of the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, Philadelphia.

Bryan received his master’s degree in organ performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 2018, where he studied with Ken Cowan. His undergraduate work was completed at the Curtis Institute of Music, resulting in his bachelor’s degree in organ with Alan Morrison and an Artist Diploma in harpsichord with Leon Schelhase  Previous teachers were Jeannine Morrison (piano) and Sarah Martin (organ).

Bryan Anderson, as part of his Longwood prize, is represented in North America exclusively by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC. 
www.concertartists.com
E-mail:  [email protected]
Phone: 860-560-7800
10 Abbott Lane, Dearborn, MI 48120-1001

Photo credit: Tam Lan Truong