Kalle Toivio, the 2018 First Prize Winner in the American Guild of Organists' National Competition in Organ Improvisation, performs standard literature and improvisations upon the Mander organ at Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City. Dr. Kalle Toivio is a Finnish-American virtuoso concert organist and pianist living in New York City. Organist and Director of Music at the Church of Notre Dame in New York City, Dr. Kalle Toivio previously served as the organist of Christ Church Bay Ridge (Episcopal) for five years and served concurrently as the Cantor-Organist of the New York Finnish Lutheran Congregation. He founded and was the leader of the Christ Church Schola Cantorum. Dr. Toivio is on the organ faculty of Manhattan School of Music Precollege as well as on the piano faculty of the Stamford Music Arts Academy.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, San Francisco, under the direction of conductor Benjamin Bachmann, present a program spotlighting 20th century composers and choral arrangers in the Anglican choral tradition. The voice of a cathedral choir soaring upward like the great building it fills is a thrill and an inspiration to even the most unmusical listener. Grace Cathedral has had a men’s choir since its founding in 1906, but it was not until 1913 that boy’s voices were added. The centuries-old Anglican tradition of a men and boys choir has since blossomed here, as one of a handful of such choirs in the US. The Cathedral music staff oversees an extensive program of choir rehearsals (including mixed-voice volunteer choirs), music classroom work with the choristers, education for the cathedral congregation, concerts, choir tours, and a wide variety of other musical activities in the life of this cathedral and beyond. The choir tradition continues to flourish into Grace Cathedral’s second hundred years, inspiring those who are privileged to hear it, and bringing back fond memories to old choristers.

On this album, Frederick Hohman plays a virtuosic program of his own symphonic organ transcriptions, transcriptions of Edwin Lemare, and standard organ literature upon the Great Organ of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City. Frederick Hohman is one of the best-known American organists, primarily through the frequent worldwide broadcasts of his concert excerpts and recordings through the radio series Pipedreams, through his popular YouTube videos, and on internet radio where in 2015 he was the most highly rated and most frequently rated organist on the OrganLive! internet channel. In addition to his career as a concert organist, he is also a sought-after classical music audio-video producer-director and engineer. He is also gaining regard a s a composer and arranger of organ and choral music, with over a dozen published scores now distributed under the Wayne Leupold Editions and Zarex Scores insignias.

American organist James D. Hicks continues his exploration of organ music by Nordic composers, with performances upon the 1980 Virtanen pipe organ of Turku Cathedral, and the 2002 Gronlund's organ of St. Michael's Church, Turku, Finland. This installment features works by Fridthjov Anderssen, Peter Askergren, Juhani Pohjanmies, Arild Sandvold, and more. James D. Hicks lives and works in Bernardsville, New Jersey, and holds degrees in music from the Peabody Institute of Music, Yale University, and the University of Cincinnati. Other studies include instruction at the Royal School of Church Music in England. He is an associate of the American Guild of Organists. Hicks held liturgical positions throughout the eastern United States, and in 2011 retired after 26 years of service at The Presbyterian Church in Morristown, New Jersey. He has recorded seven collections of music on the Pro Organo label.

American organ virtuoso Frederick Hohman plays an exciting and dramatic program of original organ works and symphonic organ transcription by Edwin Henry Lemare, upon the Mighty Kotzschmar Memorial Organ in Merrill Auditorium, in Portland, Maine City Hall USA. Since his St. Louis concert debut in 1973, where a critic with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch heralded his pedal technique as "the best you'll ever hear," Frederick Hohman has excelled in many facets of the organ trade: as a concert organist, as an award-winning composer, as a creator of organ transcriptions, as a classical music audio-video media producer, and most recently as an instrument designer and an on-line music instructor.

On this new release, Charles Callahan plays a program of short, tuneful original organ works spanning the baroque to the 20th century on the great Kilgen organ of the Cathedra Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri USA. Charles Callahan, born 1951, is a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Callahan is well-known as an award-winning composer, organist, choral conductor, pianist, and teacher. He is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pa., and The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Additional study has been in England, France, Germany and Belgium. He holds the Associate and Choirmaster certificates of the American Guild of Organists. An active church musician and concert organist, Callahan has conducted many of the major choral works with orchestra and has performed on many of the great organs of the world. He has a dozen solo organ recordings to his credit. Callahan is an award-winning member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He has most recently been honored by the American Guild of Organists with its 2014 Distinguished Artist award, "for his illustrious career as composer, performer, teacher and consultant, and his lifelong service to the sacred music profession."

James Kealey, the 2022 First Prize Winner in the American Guild of Organists' National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance (NYACOP), plays a program of English, American and French organ works from the 19th and 20th centuries upon the historic Centennial pipe organ of St. Joseph's Cathedral, Buffalo, New York.

Jeremy S. Bruns is the Organist-Choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Buffalo, New York. At St. Paul’s, he will prepare four choirs to sing five weekly choral services, as well as additional services, concerts and guest appearances. Before this, he served as Associate Organist at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue in New York City where, under the leadership of John Scott, he trained and conducted the Junior Choristers, coordinated the Sunday Organ Recital Series, and held primary responsibility for service playing. He studied with David Higgs at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, earning his M.Mus in Performance and Literature and the Performer’s Certificate. He has won prizes in major competitions, including the 2003 Dallas International Organ Competition. He was also one of four North American finalists chosen to compete in the 1998 Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition and was second prize winner in the 1993 International JS Bach Organ Competition held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. On this release he plays the music of Nicolas deGrigny, Charles-Marie Widor and Olivier Messiaen.

On this release, Scott Montgomery, the First Prize Winner of the American Guild of Organists' National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, plays a virtuosic and varied program upon the Mander pipe organ of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, Atlanta. Prior to his 2006 first prie at AGO’s NYACOP, Scott had competed successfully in numerous other competitions as early as 1993, with the Indianapolis AGO competition and the Illinois State Music Teachers’ Association Organ Competition, and continuing in 1997 as winner of the AGO Region V Competition. He appeared in the “Rising Stars” concert at the 1998 Denver AGO National Convention and earned second place at the 2002 Arthur Poister National Organ Playing Competition (Syracuse, New York). He completed a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance at the University of Illinois in May, 2005 and, in 2007, he pursued a Master of Music degree as a student of Dr. Dana Robinson.

American organist James D. Hicks continues his exploration of organ music by Nordic composers, with performances upon the 1980 Virtanen pipe organ of Turku Cathedral, and the 2002 Gronlund's organ of St. Michael's Church, Turku, Finland. This installment features works by Kaj-Erik Gustafsson, Marko Hakanpaa, Fredrik Isacsson, Armas Maasalo, Jack Mattsson, and more. James D. Hicks lives and works in Bernardsville, New Jersey, and holds degrees in music from the Peabody Institute of Music, Yale University, and the University of Cincinnati. Other studies include instruction at the Royal School of Church Music in England. He is an associate of the American Guild of Organists. Hicks held liturgical positions throughout the eastern United States, and in 2011 retired after 26 years of service at The Presbyterian Church in Morristown, New Jersey. He has recorded seven collections of music on the Pro Organo label.

James D. Hicks continues his exploration of organ literature by Nordic composers with a 25-track recording made upon the Tostareds pipe organ of Kalmar Cathedral, Kalmar Sweden. James D. Hicks lives and works in Bernardsville, New Jersey, and holds derees in music from the Peabody Institute of Music, Yale University, and the University of Cincinnati. Other studies include instruction at the Royal School of Church Music in England. He is an associate of the American Guild of Organists. Hicks held liturgical positions throughout the eastern United States, and in 2011 retired after 26 years of service at The Presbyterian Church in Morristown, New Jersey. He has recorded seven collections of music on the Pro Organo label.

Jonathan Rudy, the 2014 First Prize Winner in the American Guild of Organists' National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, plays the Fisk Organ in Alumni Hall and the Fisk Organ in Auer Hall at Indiana University, Bloomington. Jonathan D. Rudy is recognized by colleagues and audiences for excellence as a performer, church musician, improviser, educator, and conductor. A native of Batavia, Illinois, Mr. Rudy’s recent concert appearances, including recitals, master classes, competitions, and dedicatory/commemorative events, have included locations all across the United States. Recent performances include an appearance at the 2016 AGO National Convention in Houston TX. Jonathan D. Rudy currently serves as Director of Musical Arts and Administration at St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Chicago, where he lives with his beautiful wife, Katie. He tutors students privately in Aural Skills, Music Theory, Piano, and Voice, and maintains an amateur recording studio. Mr. Rudy has served as Music Director at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Cookeville, TN, Organist at Central Presbyterian Church, Terre Haute, IN, as Associate Instructor of Music Theory and Aural Skills at Indiana University, and as Dean and Member-At-Large of the American Guild of Organists Bloomington Chapter (Region V).

Dr. J. William Greene plays a program of free compositions and chorale preludes of Dieterich Buxtehude upon the Taylor & Boody organ of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynchburg, Virginia. J. William Greene, organist-choirmaster at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and Performers Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. An organ student of Russell Saunders, Wolfgang Rubsam, and H. Max Smith, he also studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt at the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam under an ITT International Fellowship. He is also an active composer with more than 100 choral and organ compositions appearing in the catalogs of CanticaNOVA, GIA, Paraclete Press, St. James Music Press, National Music Publishers, Concordia Publishing House, and Barton Rhodes Press/Yelton Rhodes Publishing.