On this album, David Heller plays an eclectic program of organ literature upon the Opus 35 Kegg pipe organ at Texas A & M International University in Laredo, Texas. David Heller has risen to prominence as an outstanding organist and pedagogue in the United States. The American Organist has described him as “an eloquent performer,” and his playing as “an excellent demonstration of outstanding music making on a contemporary American organ.” He holds degrees from Lawrence University and the Eastman School of Music, which awarded him the Performer’s Certificate in Organ. His teachers have included Miriam Clapp Duncan and Russell Saunders in organ. Colin Tilney and Lisa Goode Crawford in harpsichord, and Gerre Hancock in improvisation. He has continued his post-doctoral study with David Craighead.

On this new release from Pro Organo, Marlo Petricic plays a program of French 19th and 20th century organ masterworks on the Aeolian-Skinner organ of First Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Marko Petricic holds DMA and MM degrees from Indiana University where he studied with Christopher Young, and a Bachelor of Music Degree, summa cum laude, from Ohio University where his teacher was H. Joseph Butler. Dr. Petricic is a member of the music faculty at the University of Indianapolis where he initiated a program in organ and sacred music. He also taught applied organ literature at Indiana University. He is the Music Associate/Organist at Northminster Presbyterian Church and was Music Director/Organist at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Indianapolis. He was the Assistant Organist/Choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, between 2003 and 2006. His performance of Hakim’s “Messe Solennelle” with the Indianapolis Festival Chorus at Christ Church Cathedral from 2005 was broadcast nationally on “Pipedreams.”

For this new release Leon W. Couch III provides a program of baroque interpretations of four of the most notable organ composers of the high baroque era, upon the Noack pipe organ of Christ the King Lutheran Church, in Houston, Texas. Leon W. Couch III presents organ recitals, masterclasses, and lecture recitals throughout the United States. He is represented by the Concert Artist Cooperative, as advertised in The Diapason and The American Organist. As a scholar, Dr. Couch concentrates on pragmatic applications of contemporary and historical music theory to keyboard performance. Dr. Couch has presented at numerous international, national, and regional conferences, and particularly enjoys giving workshops and lectures to local American Guild of Organists chapters, colleges, and the public.

This album features Oberlin Professor of Organ Haskell Thomson playing a program of organ works by Cesar Franck upon the Kay Africa Memorial Organ - C. B. Fisk Opus 116 - in Finney Chapel of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. Haskell Thomson is one of the nation’s foremost artist/teachers. His tenure as Professor of Organ and Director of the Division of Keyboard Studies at Oberlin Conservatory of Music spans more than four decades. Evidence of his influence on organ performance is apparent through the impressive number of his students who have attained positions of stature in the music teaching, church music, and concert organist professions. Olivier Messiaen hailed Thomson as “a great organist” following his performance of the French composer’s Pentecost Mass. He wrote that the performance “was magnificent in both execution and interpretation, with a superb technique, and with great intelligence of registration, a perfect choice of tone colors.”

The Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, under the direction of Earl Rivers, present a program of choral music for the Christmas season, spotlighting American and European 20th-century composers. Founded in 1979, for over 30 years VAE has brought the power of spectacular, powerful and thrilling choral performances to audiences of all generations. Their mission: Vocal Arts Ensemble is greater Cincinnati’s premier professional vocal ensemble dedicated to presenting passionate and innovative performances of choral music that raise and nurture the public’s appreciation of the life-enriching qualities of the choral arts. Because of the small size of the choir, as well as the distinctive venues chosen each year across the area, VAE is uniquely able to present diverse performances that engage and enchant a range of music lovers. Works presented each season range from emerging composers to the well-loved pieces of the choral canon, and it is this intimate balance of traditional yet innovative programming, as well as the creativity and passion brought to the stage by Johnson that makes VAE so unique. VAE is committed to the presentation and development of modern chamber music, and new works by internationally-known composers are annually premiered through the “Meet the Composer” series. Additional community engagements throughout the year include appearances with the May Festival and collaborations with area arts organizations.

On this album organist Harry Wilkinson plays a program of solo organ literature from the 19th and early 20th-centuries upon the Ernest M. Skinner pipe organ at Girard College Chapel, Philadelphia. Harry Wilkinson was Professor Emeritus, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, in the theory and organ departments. He chaired the theory/composition departments for nearly ten years. He held the Ph.D. in theory from Eastman School of Music and was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists. He chaired the AGO National Examination Committee from 1973-1980, and for years was organist-choirmaster at the Church of Saint Martin in the Fields. He passed away at the age of 92 in 2015.

The Choirs of St. Paul's Parish, K Street, in Washington, D.C. under direction of Robert McCormick perform 20th century choral music in the Anglican tradition, with two organ selections played by Robert McCormick. Robert McCormick, a native of Macon, Georgia, is Director of Music at St. Paul’s Parish, K Street, Washington, D.C. At St. Paul’s he holds primary responsibility for conducting the semi-professional Parish Choir, the Choir of Men and Boys, the Girls’ Choir, and the Youth Choir. Prior to this position, he served for seven years as Organist and Music Director at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City, one of this country’s most celebrated Anglo-Catholic parishes. At St. Mary’s he administered a busy liturgical music program, including conducting one of the city’s most highly regarded professional choirs, a choir of volunteers, oversaw a weekly organ recital series, and played the historic four-manual, 91-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ. He assumed this prominent position at the age of twenty-two.

Christopher Wells plays a program of original new organ music by American composer Craig Phillips on the Casavant Organ of Christ Church in Bronxville, New York. Christopher Wells is from Annapolis, Maryland, where he began his organ studies with James Dale at the United States Naval Academy. Mr. Wells received his undergraduate degree in organ performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music on the Dean’s Talent Grant. During these years, he absorbed elements of the Anglican tradition serving as Organ Scholar at Saint Paul’s in Washington, D.C, and taking lessons at Washington National Cathedral. Mr. Wells took his master’s in organ from the University of Michigan as a student of Robert Glasgow. While in Michigan, Mr. Wells also served as Assistant Organist at Christ Church, Cranbrook, in Bloomfield Hills. In addition to accompanying Christ Church’s four choirs, he was soloist for Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings as well as the premieres of Enid Sutherland’s ‘Alpha’ and Emma Lou Diemer’s ‘In Hope We Sing, Alleluia!’

When Kent Tritle and Nina Stern first devised this recording project of music from the Four Quarters of the Old City their aim was to create a soundscape that reflected Jerusalem's reality as well as it's role in the dreams and ideals of the great Abrahamic religions. Our program offers music one might hear in walking through Jerusalem today, but it also interposes visionary works from other times and places. Both remind us of what Jerusalem has meant to generation after generation of believers. Some gritty historical truths reveal themselves at once, while others may be glimpsed as through a haze of memory and desire. The Choir of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Kent Tritle, director, and the ensemble Rose of the Compass, Nina Stern, director, combine musical talents to present a program that speaks of common ground and unity among the various faiths found in the four quarters of the city of Jerusalem. This album is modeled after a concert performance given by the ensembles at the New York City Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 2015.

On this album Benjamin Saunders plays a programme devoted to the pipe organ music of legendary American jazz musician-organist-composer Dick Hyman, upon the organ of Leeds Cathedral, Leeds, United Kingdom. Benjamin Saunders was educated at George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh. He received his first organ lessons at the age of sixteen at St. Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh and two years later won an Organ Scholarship to Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied with Peter Hurford. Upon graduating he held organist posts at the Cathedrals of St. Giles’ Edinburgh Blackburn, and Chester and continued organ studies with David Sanger, Ann Bond and Michel Bouvard. As an organist, Saunders aims to present a varied and accessible programme to delight audiences both young and old, be they new to organ music or lifelong devotees of the instrument. His solo repertoire includes classical, popular, and jazz works, some familiar and others new or recently rediscovered. He has also transcribed many orchestral works for the organ and these arrangements often form a popular part of his concert programmes.

The symphonic organ literature from the first three decades of the 20th century is vast. This music, which derives much of its majesty through a reserved and introspective approach, has, in recent years, been too often poorly regarded and mistakenly interpreted as weak. Modern scholars compound this assumption whenever they impart their prejudices to their students. It is no wonder then that this music is rarely heard in a convincing interpretation. Still, a few outstanding interpreters in this style do exist, although it is becoming more and more difficult to locate them. Dr. Harry Wilkinson is one such interpreter. His sensitivity both to the literature as well as to this one-of-a-kind masterpiece known as the 1933 Skinner organ at Girard College Chapel results in a powerful artistic union. Dr. Wilkinson, known to those around Philadelphia, deserves the wide audience afforded by this recording.

On this release, Kevin M. Clarke plays a program focused upon French 19th and 20th century organ literature on the Noack pipe organ of the Church of the Incarnation, Dallas, Texas. Kevin Clarke was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston. Upon graduation in 1984, he served as organist and choir master at St. John’s Anglican Church, Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands, leaving that post in 1986 to be Fellow in Church Music at the Washington National Cathedral. Dr. Clarke then traveled to Bristol Cathedral, England, to serve as the Cathedral organ scholar. Upon returning to the United States in 1988, he was Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at St. John the Divine in Houston, Texas, until his appointment to Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas in 1990. At his current post, which is one of the largest churches in America, he has built an extensive music programme.

On this new release Simon Nieminski plays all 3 volumes of Eugene Reuchsel's Promenades en Provence and 2 selections from the Bouquet de France upon the Kilgen Organ of the Cathedral of St. Louis the King, Saint Louis, Missouri. Simon Nieminski studied at the Royal College of Music where he gained their Associate diploma. He was then awarded the Organ Scholarship of Pembroke College, Cambridge. After graduating with honors, he was appointed Organ Scholar of York Minster for two years, during which time he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He is currently assistant organist at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, which is unique in Scotland in maintaining daily choral services, with the trebles drawn from its own choir school; his duties at St. Mary’s include playing the organ for all of the seven weekly choral services, and other services and concerts. He also writes reviews and articles on church and organ music, which have been published in Organists’ Review and the Musical Times.

Organist Grant Edwards plays an eclectic program of rarely-heard organ masterpieces upon the Bond pipe organ of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington USA. Grant Edwards is organist at First Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Portland, Oregon, having served there since 1995. He received his B.A. in Organ from Lewis & Clark college in 1994, where he was a student of Dr. Lee Garrett. During the course of his studies he also lived and studied for sixteen months in the cities of Munich and Weimar, Germany. He is also an excellent choral singer, and has been ­featured as a soloist in performances with the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus and other ensembles. No stranger to edgier styles of music, he enjoys composing as well, especially vocal settings of poetry. Few might suspect his ­favorite diversion from church music, however: a tendency to ­indulge in karaoke on a regular basis. The art of organ building is another long-standing interest, and the presence of many exceptional ­instruments by Richard L. Bond in the Pacific Northwest influenced him to learn the art himself. He has subsequently been a craftsman at Bond Organ Builders since 1993, and assisted in the construction, installation, and tonal regulation of the instrument recorded here.

For this new release Susan De Kam plays a varied program of organ literature spanning 3 centuries on the Kegg pipe organ, Opus 43, in Zion Lutheran Church, Wausau, Wisconsin. Dr. Susan De Kam is originally from Caledonia, Michigan. She completed her undergraduate studies in 2002 with a major in piano, studying under Joan Conway at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. It was in her freshman year there that she began studying organ as a secondary instrument with Huw Lewis, but it soon became her principal interest. In 2004, Susan earned her Master of Music degree from The University of Michigan. She studied organ with late, legendary Robert Glasgow, piano with Louis Nagel, and harpsichord with Edward Parmentier. As an organist and pianist, Susan has become a well-rounded musician not only through her solo concertizing on both instruments, but also as an accompanist, chamber musician, and teacher. In addition to being the recipient of numerous prizes and awards for her performances on piano and organ, she has been a prizewinner in the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Organ Competition, the Miami International Organ Competition, the Bank District Organ Competition, and the National Young Artists’ Competition in Organ Performance.