Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #121!

Today's guest is an American organist, carillonneur and choir conductor Dr. Mark Konewko. Mark has been carillonneur at Marquette University since 1999 where he began as Interim Chorus Director in fall 2010. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University as well as a Masters of Music Degree in Organ Performance from the American Conservatory of Music. He studied carillon at the University of Utrecht in Amersfoort and has played worldwide in places such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.

In addition to being carillonneur at Marquette, he has an extensive back ground in vocal music and choral conducting, and he teaches courses in music appreciation, business of music, carillon discovery, and music technology. He also serves as Director of Music at Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

We have met in Vilnius where Mark presented his research on "La Nativite" by Olivier Messiaen for the international conference on music composition at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater.

In this conversation we talk about his finding in La Nativite and his experience of playing carillon.

Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

​Listen to the conversation

You can reach Mark by email at:
mark dot konewko at marquette dot edu

Relevant link:
http://www.marquette.edu/music/faculty.shtml

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #120!

Today's guest is Dr. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra who is an American organist, international performer, composer, liturgical musician, scholar, and pedagogue.

She returns to our show to introduce our listeners to the newly published Vol. 2 of her treatise "Bach and the Art of Improvisation". Here's our previous conversation about Vol. 1.

Simultaneously revolutionary and realistic, Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra resuscitates historic improvisation from relevant treatises and documentation of Bach's improvisation pedagogy in counterpoint with tried and true applications. She incrementally guides the reader from improvising cadences, chorales, partitas, and dances in Volume One to improvising interludes & cadenzas, preludes, fantasias, continuo playing, and ultimately, fugues in Volume Two of Bach and the Art of Improvisation. The chapters on continuo playing alone beckon reform of current practice.

Pamela invites those willing to immerse themselves in improvisation to embody consummate musicianship as theory, history, aural perception, and soul-communicative playing come to life in practice and performance.

​Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

​Listen to the conversation

Relevant links:
http://www.pamelaruiterfeenstra.com/bach__the_art_of_improvisation_2​
http://www.pamelaruiterfeenstra.com/bach__continuo_bai_2_audio/

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #119!

Today's guest is Nicholas Papadimitriou, an organist, pianist and composer originally from Greece but currently studying and working in the Netherlands.

Born in June of the year 1993, he started studying the piano at the age of six with his first teacher Domenica Mikaits.
Two years later he joined an orchestra for young children, in which he participated for six years.

At the age of thirteen, he joined the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens where he studied the piano with Athanasios Grozas.

At the age of fifteen, he started studying the Organ privately with Zafeiria Vassiliou in the Megaron Concert Hall and in the Anglican Church in Athens.

In 2009 he enrolled in the Conservatory's Department of Music Theory where he studied with Michalis Rousselakis. During this time, he also participated in Choir Direction classes with Valeri Oreskin and has been a member of the Conservatory's choir.

In 2012 he received his degree in Music Theory with a Distinction.

In 2011 he was accepted in the Music Department of the Ionian University in Corfu, but he interrupted his studies there as he decided to pursue his goals abroad instead.

After extensively exploring the possibilities offered by various music institutions around Europe, he decided to turn his attention to the Netherlands.

In 2013 he was admitted to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he has since been studying the organ with Jacques van Oormerssen, Pieter van Dijk, and Matthias Havinga. In this time he also studied piano with Peter Besseling, Improvisation and Basso Continuo with Miklós Spányi and followed conducting lessons with Lucas Vis and Jos Vermunt.

In the period of 2013-2017, he participated in various concerts and has performed in venues such as the ‘Orgelpark’, the Waalse Kerk, the Oosterkerk and the Moses en Aaronkerk in Amsterdam. During this time he also participated numerous times in Masterclasses by Louis Robilliard.

In September 2015 he was appointed Organist/Conductor in the Pastoor van Arskerk in Haarlem.

In September 2016 he was appointed student assistant in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam for certain theory subjects.

In October 2016 he started working as an Organist in the Pelgrimskerk in Badhoevedorp.

​​In June 2017 he graduated from the Bachelor's and was admitted to the Master's Program, where he is currently focusing on Improvisation & Innovative Music Pedagogy. 

In the meantime, he also published his first book, 'The Misleading Tone', an innovative teaching method about keyboard improvisation.

In this conversation Nicholas shares his insights about his misical experiments, storytelling and translating the message of the composer to the listener. Make sure you listen to the very end of this interview because I ask him about what are the 3 steps in becoming a better organist. I ask this question nearly every guest on the show and all of them give a different answer. Nicholas is not an exception.

​Listen to the conversation

Relevant link:
https://www.nicholaspapadimitriou.com

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #118!

Today's guest is Angela Kraft Cross, San Francisco Bay Area organist, pianist and composer. She graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in 1980 with bachelor's degrees in Physics and Organ Performance. She then earned her Doctor of Medicine degree at Loma Linda University, where she subsequently completed her residency in ophthalmology.

In 1993, she completed her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the College of Notre Dame with Thomas LaRatta, with whom she continues to study. Her organ teachers have included Louis Robilliard, Marie-Louise Langlais, Sandra Soderlund, S. Leslie Grow, William Porter and Garth Peacock. In 2001, she was awarded the Associateship credential of the American Guild of Organists (AAGO) after passing rigorous playing and written examinations. She has studied composition with Pamela Decker in recent years.

​Dr. Kraft Cross has performed extensively on both organ and piano, having given over four hundred concerts across the United States, in Canada, England, Holland, France, Hungary, Lesotho and Guam, including such venues as Notre Dame Cathedral, St. Sulpice and the Madeleine in Paris, Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., St. Patrick's Cathedral and St. Thomas Church in New York City, Methuen Memorial Music Hall and Trinity Church in Boston, E. Power Biggs' organ at Harvard, and Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and Southwark Cathedral in London.

She has been featured soloist with local Bay Area ensembles; Master Sinfonia Orchestra, Soli Deo Gloria, Sine Nomine, Masterworks Chorale, Viva la Musica and the San Jose Symphonic Choir as well as Seattle's Philharmonia Northwest Chamber Orchestra and the Skagit Symphony in northern Washington. In May 2014, Masterworks Chorale premiered her new choral work Solomon's Love. In July 2011, she was a featured recitalist at the San Francisco AGO Region IX Convention.

She has released seven CDs; three with Arkay Records: two on organ (French Romantic and North German Baroque) and one on piano (Classical Piano Sonatas); and three with Compass Audio in Europe: (200 Years in the Germanic Tradition, the Majesty of Cavaillé-Coll and a 2CD set of Mendelssohn's organ works recorded on the 1801 organ of St Margaret's Lothbury, London).

​Three of her organ albums have received critical acclaim in The American Organist magazine. Most recently she has released a CD of her organ compositions entitled Sharing the Journey, recorded at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. She has served as the organist of the Congregational Church of San Mateo since 1993, and is currently the Artist in Residence. She is also a staff organist at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

In addition to her musical career, Dr. Kraft Cross retired in 2011 having worked for 22 years as an ophthalmic surgeon at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Redwood City, and now practices ophthalmology with the Peninsula Ophthalmology Group.

Dr. Kraft Cross is committed to the musical education of young people, and since 1997 has been instrumental in organizing an annual Organ Camp for young pianists headquartered at her church. She is the founding director of the San Francisco Peninsula Organ Academy, a nonprofit organization formed in 2014 to support young concert organists with scholarships on short intensive overseas study trips.

​Dr. Kraft Cross also served as faculty and or performed in Pipe Organ Encounters in San Francisco 2005, San Diego 2012, and Stanford 2013. She is the Regional Coordinator for Education for Region IX AGO and a member of the executive board for the Junior Bach Festival in Berkeley. She is also a member of the Concert Artist Cooperative.

In this conversation, Angela is joined by her husband Robert who records her performances. They shares insights about her practice procedures, her challenges, her organ recordings, her passion for Mendelssohn organ works and Germanic organ tradition and about her future project recording organ symphonies of Vierne.

We have recorded our conversation at Vilnius University St. John's church before Angela's concert with San Francisco Viva la Musica choir and orchestra.

​Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

Listen to the conversation

Related Links:
https://www.angelakraftcross.com
http://www.sfpeninsulaorganacademy.org

Trinity Cathedral in Auckland. In his eleven years in the choir he developed an interest in composing organ and choral music.

After graduating from the University of Auckland with a Master's Degree in composition he began a career as a music teacher. He was at the forefront of music education in New Zealand for almost 30 years having taught variously at Westlake Girls High School, St Paul's Collegiate School, Scots College, and Marsden School for Girls. He retired recently from the position of Director of Music at Mill Hill School in London (UK).

Currently Nigel is musical director of the Tauranga Civic Choir for whom he is composing a large scale cantata style work for performance in 2019.

He has always maintained an active life as a musician and composer in the community. In Hamilton NZ Nigel established a regional orchestra and jazz band festival for schools.

Taking advantage of St Paul's Collegiate new Letourneau organ he established an international organ festival to further promote the playing of the organ in New Zealand. He was Director of Music at Hamilton's St Peter's Cathedral for several years and established choral scholarships to ensure a quality of choral singing at the Cathedral and establish an enduring link with Hamilton's Waikato University's Music Department. 

In Wellington NZ Nigel served as chair of the Wellington regional committee of the New Zealand Choral Federation. During his seven years as musical director of the Bach Choir of Wellington he enjoyed the opportunity of directing over twenty five concerts with an emphasis on the larger scale works of J.S. Bach. He was fortunate to forge a relationship with members of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra which lead to the formation of the Chiesa Ensemble. Nigel's last concert with the Bach Choir was a complete performance of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor.

In this conversation, Nigel shares his insights about his love for twelve tone technique, modal music and of course, the polyphony.

​Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

Listen to the conversation

Related Links:
http://www.nigelwilliamscomposernz.com
Nigel's music on Sheet Music Plus: ​http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/search?Ntt=nigel+williams&aff_id=454957

Improvisation Competition held in conjunction with the 2016 AGO National Convention in Houston, Texas. In the Semifinal at the 2017 Montreal Organ Festival, Kalle Toivio was chosen as a finalist of the 2018 AGO NCOI, which will be held in conjunction with the 2018 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Kansas City, Missouri.
 
Kalle Toivio has played organ recitals and performed at the Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Riverside Church, St. Mary the Virgin and at the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage in Washington D.C. In honor of the Jean Sibelius 150th Anniversary Celebration, Kalle Toivio gave a recital featuring organ music and song cycles of Jean Sibelius together with soprano Sharon Harms at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in November of 2015. This recital was featured in the 2015-2016 Season of 'the Great Music in Great Space's Great Organ Recital Series.' In April of 2016 Kalle Toivio gave a recital at the Central Lutheran Church of Minneapolis, where he improvised an entire organ symphony in four movements, a feat Dr. Toivio repeated at the 2017 Mänttä Music Festival.
 
Kalle Toivio has toured in Europe, Japan and the United States. He has performed in Television and Radio in Finland, England, Belgium and Austria. In the United States Kalle Toivio has played recitals at the Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago and at the Carnegie Hall. Before moving to the United States, Kalle Toivio performed at numerous Mänttä Music Festivals since their founding in 1999.
 
Besides being a versatile career as a soloist and a chamber musician, Mr. Toivio is a producer of cultural events and concerts. As the Music Chairman of the Finlandia Foundation New York Chapter, Kalle Toivio arranged and produced the New York Debut Recitals of accordionist Veli Kujala and composer Sampo Haapamäki. Together with Mr. Leland Hoch, Kalle Toivio produced the first full performance of Rautavaara's 'Vigilia' in the United States, conducted by Kent Tritle at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in November of 2016. Dr. Toivio is the founder and Sub-Dean of the Finland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
 
Kalle Toivio is the Organist and Director of Music at the Church of Notre Dame in New York City. Before his tenure at the Church of Notre Dame, Mr. Toivio served for five years as the organist of Christ Church Bay Ridge (Episcopal) and served concurrently as the Cantor-Organist of the New York Finnish Lutheran Congregation. Kalle Toivio founded and was the leader of the Christ Church Schola Cantorum. Dr. Toivio is in the organ faculty of Manhattan School of Music Precollege as well as on the Piano Faculty of the Stamford Music Arts Academy.
 
Kalle Toivio has graduated from the Sibelius Academy with Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Church Music as well as Master of Music degree in Piano Performance. After moving to New York City Kalle Toivio continued his organ studies at the Manhattan School of Music. He received a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance and was honored with the Bronson Ragan Award, given to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding ability in Organ Performance. For more than seven years Kalle Toivio studied the Art of Organ Playing and Improvisation with the late McNeil Robinson. For almost two decades Kalle Toivio has studied the Art of Piano Playing with Nina Svetlanova.
 
In May of 2017 Kalle Toivio received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Dr. Toivio was once again honored with the Bronson Ragan Award. The doctoral dissertation of Dr. Kalle Toivio is on transcriptions for the organ of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. ​
​
In this conversation, Kalle shares his insights about organ improvisation and the great McNeil Robinson tradition.

​Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

Listen to the conversation

Related Links:
http://kalletoivio.com/
Kalle Toivio on Facebook and YouTube

showcasing repertoire from the 14th-21st centuries with “impressive technical facility and musicianship” in performances that are “thrilling from beginning to end” (Cleveland Classical).

Upcoming and past recital venues include such illustrious locations as Walt Disney Hall (Los Angeles, California), Hallgrímskirkja (Reykjavík, Iceland), Cathédrale Saint-Omer (France), Kurhaus Wiesbaden (Germany), the Riverside Church (New York, New York), the American Cathedral (Paris, France), Musashino Civic Cultural Hall (Japan), Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic Hall (Russia), Cathédrale St-Quentin (Hasselt, Belgium), the Hauptkirche St. Petri (Hamburg, Germany), Merrill Auditorium (Portland, Maine), Bradford Cathedral (England), the Cathédrale Poitiers (France), Severance Hall (Cleveland, Ohio), among others.

As first prizewinner of the American Guild of Organists’ (AGO) 2016 National Young Artists' Competition in Organ Performance (Houston, Texas), the Guild's premier performance competition, Katelyn will be honored with a recital at the 2018 National Convention of the AGO in Kansas City (Missouri). She received the Second Jean Boyer Award in the 2014 Fifth International Organ Competition Pierre de Manchicourt (Béthune and Saint-Omer, France), the second prize of the 2015 Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition (Syracuse, New York), and the third prize of the VIII Musashino International Organ Competition (Tokyo, Japan).

​Katelyn was awarded the title of “Laureate” and Third Place, among other prizes, in the VIII Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition (Kaliningrad, Russia). Winner of the 2011 Region V AGO/Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists (Lexington, Kentucky), she has also received a number of scholarships for her musical and academic work, including the 2013 M. Louise Miller Scholarship and the 2015 McClelland Community Music Foundation Scholarship.

Katelyn Emerson released her first recording, Evocations, on the Pro Organo label in May 2017. Her interviews and performances can be heard on radio programs on such programs as Radio Russia, NPR’s Pipedreams and Radio Présence Toulouse, France. 

As recipient of the prestigious J. William Fulbright Study/Research Grant, Katelyn studied at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in Toulouse, France for the 2015-2016 academic year with Michel Bouvard, Jan Willem Jansen and Yasuko Uyama-Bouvard.

In May 2015, she graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory (Oberlin, OH) with double bachelor's degrees in organ performance and French as well as with minors in music history and historical performance (fortepiano). During her time at Oberlin, she taught music theory at the Oberlin Community Music School, received the Selby Harlan Houston prize for distinguished work in organ and music theory, and was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honors society. Katelyn began her organ studies in 2005 through a scholarship of the Young Organist Collaborative (Portsmouth, New Hampshire).

She has studied with James David Christie, Olivier Latry, Hans-Ola Ericsson, Ludger Lohmann, Marie-Louise Langlais, Ray Cornils, and Dr. Abbey Hallberg-Siegfried. She has also studied organ improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart, Marie-Louise Langlais, and Bálint Karosi, piano with Arlene Kies, fortepiano with David Breitman, both harpsichord and continuo with Webb Wiggins, flute with Trisha Craig, and voice with Ellen Hargis. 

In addition to her travels, performances, and teaching, Katelyn is Associate Organist & Choirmaster at the Church of the Advent (Boston, Massachusetts), where she works with the historic Aeolian-Skinner organ, the professional Choir of the Church of the Advent, and the volunteer Parish Choir. From 2010-2015, Ms. Emerson was music director of St. Paul Lutheran Church (Amherst, Ohio). In January 2012, Katelyn served as the Oberlin Sacred Music Intern under music director Keith Tóth at the Brick Presbyterian Church (New York, New York), where she also substituted for Mr. Tóth for the months of July 2012-2015.

​Katelyn has been on the faculty of the McGill Student Organ Academy (Montréal, Canada), numerous AGO-sponsored Pipe Organ Encounters, and the Oberlin Summer Organ Academy (Ohio). She regularly presents masterclasses on organ interpretation and church music for AGO-sponsored events and was invited to present workshops on recently published organ music for church services in the 2013 Regional Convention of the AGO (Hartford, Connecticut) Regions I & II, and the 2015 Northeastern Regional Convention of the AGO (New Haven, Cnonecticut) and serves on both the Executive Committee of the Boston Chapter of the AGO and as an officer of the Northeast Division of the AGO Young Organists.

Katelyn Emerson's North American appearances are managed by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc., www.concertorganists.com.

In this conversation, Katelyn shares her insights about dealing with wrist pain, panic attacks and unpredictability of rehearsals before public performances.

​Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

Listen to the conversation

Related Link:
https://www.katelynemerson.com

class,’ ‘dynamic and consummately musical,’ ‘meticulous and powerful,‘ and ‘the zenith of musical talent.’

​His appearances in the great Cathedrals and Churches in Europe, and various venues throughout North America, including Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, The Piccolo Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, The Concordia Organ Series at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York, The Old West Organ Society Summer Evening Concerts at Old West Church in Boston, and St. Thomas Church in New York City, have been met with great enthusiasm.

As church musician, he has held appointments in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Austin, Wisconsin, Iowa, and South Carolina. Dr. Eaton served as Director of Music at The Church of St. John the Evangelist on Beacon Hill in Boston, and as Director of Music at historic St. Helena's Episcopal Church (founded 1712) in Beaufort, South Carolina.

For ten years Dr. Eaton served parishes in Texas, first as Director of Music & OrganistChoirmaster at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas, and then at All Saint’s Episcopal Church on the University of Texas at Austin campus. Dr. Eaton is currently Director of Music & Organist at The Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester, Massachusetts.

While at St. Luke’s, Dr. Eaton reinvigorated a dormant music ministry that became recognized for exhibiting the highest standards of choral and organ music. Dr. Eaton passionately developed a Chorister Training Program based on the Royal School of Church Music model; was Founder and Artistic Director of the Music at St. Luke’s Concert Series which hosted over twenty-five musical events annually and focused on partnerships and collaboration with musicians and musical organizations within the community; managed the St. Luke’s Friends of Music which emphasized the cultivation of relationships that produced financial support for the music program; and led the Parish Choir on their first ever Pilgrimage to England where they sang in Canterbury, Southwark, St. Albans, Wells and Exeter Cathedrals.

Dr. Eaton has been the recipient of numerous academic and performance awards including the Elizabeth Margaret Meyer Award for Excellence in Music at Concordia College, Bronxville, New York. He was a finalist in the Arthur Poister National Organ Playing Competition in 1992; an E. Power Biggs Fellow with the Organ Historical Society; a Recipient of Fredrick Rahn Scholarship for excellence in academic achievement at the University of Iowa; is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society; and was received as a Distinguished Member of Sigma Alpha Iota, International Music Fraternity.

Currently, Dr. Eaton serves on the Board of Directors for the Old West Organ Society (Executive Director, pro tempore), and as the Region I Chair for the Association of Anglican Musicians. Eaton has held numerous academic appointments. He was awarded a Graduate Instructor faculty position at the University of Iowa to teach undergraduate theory.

Dr. Eaton was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music (Organ) and College Organist at Bethany College where he taught organ, harpsichord, piano, church music and theory. He held an appointment within the performance faculty as Lecturer in Music at the University of Massachusetts at Boston where he taught organ.

He also served as Assistant Professor of Organ and University Organist at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where he taught organ, piano, and theory. While on the faculty of The Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival, he taught organ, music history, theory and directed the Collegium Musicum, and then was appointed Executive Director.

From 2004 through 2014, Dr. Eaton served as The Bess Hieronymus Fellow on the music faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio where he taught organ and harpsichord. Eaton earned a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia College-New York, Bronxville, New York; a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts; and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

While in residence at the University of Iowa, he taught organ, keyboard harmony, and completed the Theory Pedagogy Minor. Eaton also attended the North German Organ Academy. His organ teachers include Richard Heschke, William Porter, Yuko Hayashi, Delores Bruch, John Chappell Stowe, Delbert Disselhorst and Harold Vogel.

In this conversation, David shares his insights about the importance of enjoying yourself when you play the organ, about slow, concentrated and careful practice, and being open for other people's suggestions.

​Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

Listen to the conversation

Related Link:
https://www.daviddanielsoneaton.com

studies at the age of twelve in Germany under the instruction of Tassilo Schlenther. For twenty-five years, Robert has held Director of Music positions in German Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Evangelical Lutheran churches. Robert holds a Bachelor's of Music degree in Organ Performance from Malone University in Canton, Ohio. While at Malone, Robert received instruction from W. Robert Morrison, FAGO and also earned a piano teaching certificate.

Over the years, Robert has earned three organ certifications: the D-Schein from the Lutheran Church in Germany, the Service Playing certificate from the American Guild of Organists, and the Colleague certification from the American Guild of Organists. Robert is an eighteen-year member of the American Guild of Organists, and has served on the Executive Committee for the Lehigh Valley chapter. He continued his organ studies in Allentown, PA with Stephen C. Williams. Robert has served as Director of Music at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Red Hill, PA, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Kreidersville, PA,  and as Contemporary Worship Coordinator at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Pennsburg, PA. In addition to managing his own piano studio in the Lehigh and Perkiomen valleys, he was the choral director of the Lehigh Valley Saengerbund in Allentown, PA.

In 2007, Robert received his Master's degree in Music History from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned a research award from the university for his work on the topics of Ralph Vaughan Williams' agnosticism. Robert's thesis was based on the jazz organ music of Dr. Joe Utterback of Rowayton, Connecticut. He also has played harpsichord and sung for the Renaissance and Early Music ensemble, Collegium Musicum, at West Chester. He also toured Germany performing organ concerts in Nochern, Wiesbaden-Bleidenstadt and Taunustein-Hahn.

In July 2009, Robert returned to the Pittsburgh area. Until May 2011, he was the Director of Worship and Music at Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA. Robert served as Director of Worship and Music at Beulah Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA from 2011-2016 leading a comprehensive music ministry that included nine music ensembles.

On August 1, 2016 Robert began his ministry at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Vienna, VA where he is the Director of Music Ministry /Organist and directs the Sanctuary Choir and Cross Generational Choir and plays with the Revelation Band. He also records and publishes on You Tube a “Hymn of the Week” series which includes history of a hymn from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship each week.

Robert also is the coordinator of his family’s Christmas Praise series: A Christmas benefit concert now in its 28th year of works from chant to modern which is performed at a different location every year during Christmas week.

Robert has also recorded four compact discs: The complete organ works of Antonin Dvořàk, from Mendelssohn to Morehead (various selections from Baroque to modern), Faith Musings (a recording of Christian songs) and  Christmas Piano Improvisations (improvisations for Christmas performed on the piano).

In his free time, Robert is a free-lance recitalist (recently performing a recital series of organ works based on the book “Rediscovering Jesus” ) and composer performing throughout the United States and Germany. On October 8, 2009 (Robert's birthday), Robert's wife, Miranda, gave birth to their son, Kieren Micah. Just recently, Miranda gave birth to a daughter Lauryn Elora on July 8, 2016.
In this conversation, Robert shares his ideas about his organ practice, coordination between hands and feet, fingering, hymn of the week and challenging your listeners in his work as a church musician.

I was very glad to hear Robert has found my Organ Sight-Reading Master Course challenging but helpful and he talks about his experiences with this course at the end of the conversation.

Enjoy and share your comments below.

​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful.

Thanks for caring.

Listen to the conversation

Related Links:
https://www.rmorehead.com
http://elcvienna.org
Robert's channel on YouTube with the hymns of the week:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIPoozArfbZNmNqXC4Xuqmw

She has received touring artist grants from the Arkansas Arts Council, California Arts Council, the American Embassies in Prague and Vienna, and the Czech Embassy in St. Petersburg. Dr. Scheide regularly performs chamber music with Le Meslange des Plaisirs and Voix seraphique on historic string keyboard instruments; and as Due Solisti (flute/organ) with Czech flutist Zofie Volalkova.

Scheide earned degrees in early music (with honors) and organ performance (organ department prize) at New England Conservatory and the University of Southern California. Her teachers have included John Gibbons and Cherry Rhodes. She teaches harpsichord at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton, and teaches online and sometimes traditional classes for Rowan College at Burlington. She lives in a 17th-century stone house Wiggan, and plays organ in the 1740 stone barn at Church of the Loving Shepherd, Bournelyf, West Chester.

A Founding Member of various early keyboard societies, Dr. Scheide was recently elected to a second term on the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Philadelphia Chapter., American Guild of Organists. She is also a Past Dean of the San Diego Chapter.

Dr. Scheide is also a published composer with a significant discography. Her compositions have been made available through Darcey Press, E.C. Schirmer, Piano Press, Time Warner, Wayne Leupold and World Library. Current commissions include a piece for the 10th Anniversary of the Kimmel Center Organ. Her recordings are available on Dutch HLM, Organ Historical Society, Palatine and Raven labels.

In this conversation, Dr. Scheide shares her insights about her fascination with the Nasard stop, Olivier Messiaen's cycle "L'Ascencion", "Labyrinth" by the Czeck composer Petr Eben, and her collaboration initiatives with chamber music. At the end she gives her 3 steps in becoming a better organist so make sure you listen to the very end.

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Listen to the conversation

Related Link:
http://kathleenscheide.com