Personalities

Building upon a curiosity which began in his teens, Michael Barone has been involved with the pipe organ for more than 50 years. As host and senior executive producer of Pipedreams, he is recognized nationally for his outstanding contributions to the world of organ music. Pipedreams began in 1982, and it remains the only nationally distributed weekly radio program exploring the art of the pipe organ. Michael’s talent and commitment have been recognized with numerous awards, including the American Guild of Organists President’s Award in 1996, the Distinguished Service Award of the Organ Historical Society in 1997 and the 2001 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. In November 2002 he was selected for induction to the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.

Commended for his “masterful artistry” (The Diapason), David Baskeyfield has earned a reputation for creative programing, showcasing virtuoso facility tempered by intelligent interpretation, authoritative command of registration and informed above all by intuitive and communicative musicality. “From the first few notes, Baskeyfield’s musicianship let the audience relax. He has that kind of unruffled technique an audience likes in a star, and lent palpable architecture to longer works … His rubato was the most natural of anyone’s; by not over-lingering on details early on in pieces, he won the listener’s indulgence in his grander rhythmic gestures later on.” (Choir and Organ, UK).

Mr. Baskeyfield specializes particularly in the music of the French composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. One of relatively few organists in North America to improvise regularly in recital, his interest in organ improvisation is informed by study of the apostolic succession of teachers and students at the Paris Conservatoire; this was a school of playing in which composition and improvisation were closely linked. However, his concert repertoire is wide and eclectic, at home with the music of the Old Masters of the 17th century as with that of the great 19th-century virtuosos. “Baskeyfield knows how to tell a story with the organ, and there seems to be no literature he cannot interpret convincingly.” (The American Organist)

His two recorded albums to date, both showcasing instruments of particular significance, have been received to consistently high praise: on his debut recording (ATMA Classique): “the perfect combination of organ and organist” (American Record Guide); “His choice of tonal colours is masterful … The disc is a fabulous recording and an important document for this historic instrument now more than a century old.” (theWholeNote). His latest, “Dupré: the American Experience” (Acis) was recorded on the landmark Franco-American organ of St. Mary the Virgin, Times Square, NY, the ideal vehicle for the music of a Frenchman who was so strongly influenced by the instruments he encountered during his multiple American tours. It includes the US premiere recording of his edition of an unpublished orchestral transcription by Dupré. Choir and Organ notes “astounding virtuosity and musicality.”

Mr. Baskeyfield was an organ scholar at St John’s College, Oxford, where he read Law. On the encouragement of David Higgs, he crossed the Atlantic to begin graduate work at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Higgs, studying improvisation with William Porter. His doctoral research examined the influence of the Paris Conservatoire organ improvisation curriculum on the composed repertoire of Dupré and Vierne. He is the recipient of an unusual number of first prizes in playing competitions; these include the Canadian International Organ Competition, St Albans, Miami, and the AGO National Competition in Organ Improvisation, all with audience prize.

He has taught on the Sacred Music curriculum at the Eastman School of Music and is the Director of Music at Christ Episcopal Church, Pittsford, NY.

Aside from solo performance he enjoys work as a collaborative pianist and organist, continuo player, and occasional cocktail pianist. He has been broadcast a number of times on American Public Media’s Pipedreams, as well as NPR’s With Heart and Voice and, more locally, as part of the daily playlist on classical station WXXI. He has occasionally given theatre organ recitals. He is currently enthusiastic about cooking, brewing, sports fishing and aquarium fish (in particular the species endemic to the East African Rift Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika). He shares his house with two springer spaniels, Lucy and Wilbur.

He is represented in North America by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.

Dr. Damin Spritzer is Area Chair and Associate Professor of Organ at the University of Oklahoma and continues to work with the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew in Dallas as Artist-in-Residence for Cathedral Arts. Formerly Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas teaching Organ Literature and Sacred Music, she is active in the Dallas and Oklahoma City Chapters of the American Guild of Organists and serves on various committees for the Organ Historical Society, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and Organlive Media Foundation. She received her doctorate from the University of North Texas, her Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music, and her Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

She has performed at historic churches and instruments including the Nicolaikirche in Leipzig, Germany; Sainte-Croix in Orléans, France; Igreja Nossa Senhora de Fátima and Paróquia Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagemin in Sao Paolo, Brazil; the La Verna Festival in Italy; performances with the Terra Sancta Festival in Israel; Wells Cathedral in England; and the Arctic Cathedral in Norway. She has been honored to contribute to convention performances and lectures for the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, and the Anglican Association of Musicians.Spritzer’s acclaimed fifth CD for Raven Recordings was recorded in England where she was the first American and the first woman to record at historic Hereford Cathedral on the landmark Fr. Willis organ. It received five stars from Organists Review, which said, “Damin Spritzer’s performance is spellbinding – and her wide-ranging program notes are fascinating….on so many levels this CD impresses as a serious undertaking.”
Alsatian-American composer René Louis Becker (1882-1956) was the topic of her doctoral research. Spritzer’s first two discs for Raven Recordings are world premier recordings of Becker’s music performed in France, the first recorded in Pithiviers on the renovated Cavaillé-Coll organ of Saint-Salomon-Saint-Gregoire. Choir & Organ magazine gave it five stars, writing, “Damin Spritzer serves both instrument and music well, alert to the music’s lyrical mien and harmonic muscle, negotiating the III/49 machine with an easy command of drama and a real feeling for Becker’s melody-led, cleanly-executed music…A second volume is eagerly awaited.”

Her second volume of Becker was recorded in Orléans, France at the Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans, receiving four stars from Choir & Organ: “This second installment in Damin Spritzer’s enterprising rehabilitation of the prolific but largely-unknown [Becker] comes…three years after the first volume. Happily, it’s been worth the wait.” Her third volume of Becker was recorded on the historic Kimball organ of St. John’s Cathedral and received a four star review from Choir & Organ magazine and a glowing review from the American Record Guide. Her fourth recording, “Fantasia,” was a collaborative project with Dr. Donald Pinson, trombone, recorded in Texas at St. Monica Catholic church in Dallas. Future recording projects are planned in England, France, and the United States.

Acclaimed as a sensitive and rock-solid performer with a delicate, yet commanding use in registering the many colors of the instrument (The American Organist), Scott Montgomery holds an active career in all facets as a musician. He is currently the Associate Director of Music and Organist for Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a private instructor of piano and organ, and a widely respected concert organist.

Scott became nationally recognized in 2006 by winning both the Lilian Murtagh Memorial Award (first-prize) and the Audience Prize of the prestigious American Guild of Organists' National Young Artist Competition in Organ Playing (NYACOP), the first person to win both prizes in the history of the competition. Scott has been a prize winner in several other notable competitions including first-prize in the American Guild of Organists' Region V Competition in Evansville, Indiana (1997), second-prize in the Arthur Poister National Organ Competition in Syracuse, New York (2002), and was also the first recipient of the M. Louise Miller Scholarship (2002) sponsored by the Greater Bridgeport Chapter of the American Guild of organists. Scott is a member of the Concert Artist Cooperative, a roster of national and international concert artists.

Scott is widely active as a concert organist throughout the country and abroad. Notable performance venues have included Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia, PA), Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA), Ball State University (Muncie, IN), and Heinz Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA). He has performed for both regional and national conventions for the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the Organ Historical Society (OHS), National Pastoral Musician Conferences (NPM), and for Pipe Organ Encounters (POE) in the Midwest for both youth and adults. His performances have been broadcast on nationally syndicated radio programs "Pipedreams" and "With Heart and Voice."

Scott has produced three critically acclaimed compact disc recordings. Water and Light, released in 2008 by the Pro Organo label, features the tonally resourceful Mander Organ at Peachtree United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. His second CD, Inspirations From England, released in 2009 by the Regent Record label, featuring the two Mander Organs at St Peter’s Episcopal Church in St Louis, Missouri. Most recently, Scott released his third CD, Organo Plano: Music for a Joyous Occasion, on the Raven label, showcasing the large Reuter Organ at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas.

Scott received his formal training at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, earning his undergraduate and graduate degrees in organ performance studying with Dr Dana Robinson.

A Dayton, Ohio native, Grant Wareham began organ studies in 2007. He earned his BMus at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied organ with Ken Cowan, graduating Cum Laude and with Distinction in Research and Creative Work. While at Rice, Grant served as Moseley Memorial Organ Scholar at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Houston, and then as Associate Organist at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church.

Winner of both the First and Audience Prizes at the 2017 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition in Hartford, CT, Grant has appeared as a featured artist at the 2017 National Convention of the Organ Historical Society in St. Paul, MN, and as a semifinalist in the 2019 Longwood International Organ Competition.

A second-year MM student Yale Institute of Sacred Music and School of Music, Grant studies organ with Jon Laukvik. He serves as the Organist and Choirmaster for the Episcopal Church at Yale, and also as Organ Scholar at Christ Church New Haven, where he works alongside Choirmaster Thomas Williford and Yale University Organist Emerita Thomas Murray.

Yun Kim is widely hailed for her vibrant performances and is passionate about presenting engaging programs of diverse musical styles to her audiences. Concert reviewers have described her performances as “remarkable” (The American Organist), “uniquely spectacular” (Hope College Anchor), and that she “plays with great sensitivity and great élan” (The Diapason). She has been a featured recitalist at National Conventions of the Organ Historical Society and the American Guild of Organists as well as several AGO Regional Conventions. Her performances have been broadcast nationally on Pipedreams.

After completing undergraduate organ study with Carole Terry at the University of Washington, Yun received both her master’s and doctoral degrees in organ performance from Indiana University where her principal teachers were Christopher Young and Elisabeth Wright. She is honored to be the 2015 recipient of the Oswald Ragatz Distinguished Alumni Award from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

A prize winner at both regional and national American Guild of Organists competitions, Yun has served as an adjudicator at regional and national organ competitions and as Competition Coordinator for the AGO Great Lakes Region. She is past Dean of the Dayton (Ohio) Chapter of the AGO, has served on the faculties of Pipe Organ Encounters, and has chaired the Dayton Church Music Workshop. She is currently on the faculty at Sinclair Community College and serves as organist and director of music at Christ Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio.

Yun’s recent CD recordings include Wild Card on the Raven Recordings label and Of Another Time on the MSR Classics label.

Gregory Crowell has appeared as organist, harpsichordist, clavichordist, lecturer, and conductor in Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada, and the United States. He has performed in many international festivals and conventions, including the Boston Early Music Festival, Regional Conventions of the American Guild of Organists, nine National Conventions of the Organ Historical Society, the Saugatuck Chamber Music Festival, the Valparaiso Bach Institute, the Boston Clavichord Society, and numerous meetings of the Southeastern and Midwestern Historical Keyboard Societies. Particularly noted for his performances of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Crowell has been a featured performer at the Weener (Germany) International Bach Series, the Grand Rapids Bach Festival, the Old West (Boston) Bach Marathon, and the Valparaiso Bach Institute. In the spring of 2000, Dr. Crowell was invited to perform and lecture in the Bach Organ Festival held at St. Luke's in Tokyo, during which time he also served as visiting scholar at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In July 2006, Crowell was invited to speak on interdisciplinary models of teaching music history at Oxford University as part of the Oxford Round Table.

Broadcasts of Gregory Crowell’s performances have been heard on WCRB Boston, WGUC in Cincinnati, Northwest German Radio, Belgian Public Radio, WBLU in Grand Rapids, WMUK in Kalamazoo, WFMT (Chicago), and NPM’s Pipedreams. His compact disc recordings include live organ performances on the OHS label, and, with hornist Paul Austin, the compact disc Moons and Ancestoers: The Music of Robert Shechtman.

Crowell's solo performances have been described as "beautiful, flexible, expressive" (The Diapason), "full of panache and expression" (Ostfriesen Kurier), "reliable as a sunrise, steady as a rock, especially in the virtuoso finale" (The Grand Rapids Press), and "this listener cannot recall ever having heard better" (The Boston Herald).

Crowell has also published widely on subjects related to early keyboard instruments and their repertoire in such periodicals as The Diapason, The American Organist, Harpsichord and Fortepiano, Clavichord International, The Tracker, and De Clavicordio. From 2004 to 2008, Crowell served as Director of Publications for the Organ Historical Society, in which capacity he served as editor of The Tracker, a quarterly scholarly journal dedicated to the historic pipe organ. He now serves as the editor of Clavichord International, the only scholarly journal devoted entirely to the clavichord.

Dr. Crowell holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Cincinnati, and has studied further at the North German Organ Academy, Academia del Organo (Pistoia, Italy), and Musika Hamabostaldia (San Sebastian, Spain). His teachers include Yuko Hayashi, Bernard Lagacé, Mireille Lagacé, Roberta Gary, and Harald Vogel. Dr. Crowell serves as University Organist and Affiliate Professor of Music General Education at Grand Valley State University, and Director of Music at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Dr. Crowell performs under the auspices of Independent Concert Artists.

Equally at home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano, David Schrader is "truly an extraordinary musician ... (who) brings not only the unfailing right technical approach to each of these different instruments, but always an imaginative, fascinating musicality to all of them" (Norman Pelligrini, WFMT, Chicago). A performer of wide ranging interests and accomplishments, Mr. Schrader has been invited to perform at the American Guild of Organists’ national convention on three occasions performing as a featured artist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1994), the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (1984), and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (1998). Mr. Schrader has appeared as a soloist on organ and on harpsichord with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra having performed under the direction of Sir Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, and Pierre Boulez. He has also appeared with the Grant Park Symphony under Carlos Kalmar, and with many other orchestras throughout the United States and Canada.
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Mr. Schrader has appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as the repetiteur and principal harpsichordist in Chicago Opera Theater’s highly acclaimed production of "Orfeo" under Jane Glover. In May of 2002 he performed five concerts as the featured performer at the prestigious Irving Gilmore Keyboard Festival, performing concerts on organ, harpsichord and clavichord. And, in the summer of 2002 Mr. Schrader appeared as a soloist at the Ravina Festival under the direction of Nicholas Mc Geghan performing all six of the Bach Brandenberg Concertos.

Bruce Stevens is active as a recitalist across the United States and Europe. He frequently plays for the annual national conventions of the Organ Historical Society, and he has performed for regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and for the national convention of the American Institute of Organbuilders. After receiving degrees in music from the University of Richmond and the University of Illinois, he moved to Europe, going first to Denmark for a year of organ study in Copenhagen with Finn Viderø and Grethe Krogh. Later, he moved to Vienna to become a student of Anton Heiller for several years. He also studied at the Royal School of Church Music near London. Mr. Stevens has been a finalist in the American Guild of Organists competition as well as in other national competitions held in Los Angeles and Fort Wayne. Active as a recording artist, he has produced seven discs for Raven Recordings, including a series of four CDs devoted to Josef Rheinberger’s organ sonatas played on various historic American organs.

Mr. Stevens is director of Historic Organ Study Tours (HOST), which he founded in 1994 to further the study of historic organs in Europe and elsewhere. He also works as a writer-editor for the Virginia Department of Education.

Don Verkuijlen serves as the Director of Music at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland. At First Baptist, he leads a dynamic program which performs a wide range of music and manages their active concert series. Don is also the Artistic Director of the Singers’ Club of Cleveland, the city’s oldest performing arts organization. In this capacity, he led the organization in commissioning a new setting of the Requiem Mass, written by the internationally renowned concert organist, David Briggs, in memory of those who lost their lives to COVID-19. Beyond his professional engagements in Cleveland, he is an active member of the performing arts scene, serving as Sub-Dean of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. In this role, he coordinates the chapter’s concert series, bringing in organists of both national, and international acclaim to Cleveland.

Currently, Don is a student in Organ Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying organ with Professor Todd Wilson, and harpsichord with Dr. Peter Bennett. As part of CIM’s partnership with Case Western Reserve University, Don serves as both a Keyboardist of the Case Western Reserve Baroque Orchestra, and as a member of the Case Western Reserve Chamber Ensembles, where he provides continuo realization and keyboard accompaniment to various performances throughout the academic year. Before attending CIM, he studied Organ Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where his principal teachers were Madame Marie-Louise Langlais and Professor James David Christie. Beyond his primary lessons in organ, he has studied conducting with Mr. Daniel VanSickle, Dr. Jody Kerchner, and Dr. Raphael Jiménez, sacred music with Dr. Jonathan Moyer, as well as piano with Professor Derek Nishimura. Don has also participated in several masterclasses with several noted artists, such as Nathan Laube, John Ferguson, Olivier Latry, Christian Lane, Scott Dettra, and Dr. Marilyn Keiser. A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, Don began his organ studies with the late Frank Rippl, to whom he credits with helping him foster a life-long love of music.

A prolific recitalist, Don has performed around the globe. Selected organ recitals include performances at two Organ Historical Society Conventions (Columbus, OH and Sunderland, MA), the Cathedral of St. Paul (St. Paul, MN), the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (La Crosse, WI), Conservatoire de Paris (Paris, FR), Overture Hall (Madison, WI), and the Basilica di San Giuseppe al Trionfale (Rome, IT). During his trip to Rome, he was honored to be asked to play for a Solemn Pontifical High Mass, Celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter’s Basilica. Don is also a composer of works for organ and choir. His Toccata for organ was premiered at the 2016 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Houston, and is published by Selah. A recording of the premier performance is available on American Public Radio’s, Pipedreams.

At his most recent appointment before First Baptist, Don served as the Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Rocco’s Catholic Parish in Cleveland. At St. Rocco’s, he led the revival of the Tridentine Latin Mass, re-introducing Gregorian chant and polyphonic mass settings in their original liturgical setting. Beyond performing, he is the owner of the VerKuilen Organ Company, also based in Cleveland. He spends his free time restoring his Model T Fords and spending time with his wife, Caitlin.

Andrew Scanlon is the Associate Organist & Choirmaster at The Church of the Advent in Boston, Massachusetts. From 2009—2021, Scanlon was the organ professor at East Carolina University and Organist-Choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Greenville, NC. Prior to Greenville, Scanlon spent several years as adjunct organ faculty at Duquesne University and he previously held positions at Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church (New York), St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral (Buffalo), First Presbyterian Church (Pittsburgh) and Marquand Chapel at Yale Divinity School. A frequent performer at the organ, Scanlon has performed at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and the Organ Historical Society. He has been a clinician and workshop presenter, having given sessions for AGO chapters in Boston, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Knoxville, and Richmond, as well as teaching and performing for the Royal School of Church Music in Charlotte and in Nigeria. Scanlon has given recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Africa, performing in some of the world’s most significant religious venues including all the major churches in New York and Boston, Duke Chapel, Cadet Chapel at West Point, Notre-Dame Cathedral, The American Cathedral and La Trinité Church (Paris) and other venues in England, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Croatia, and Nigeria. Actively involved in the AGO, Andrew Scanlon holds the Fellowship diploma (FAGO), has been a faculty member for four Pipe Organ Encounters, serves on the National Board of Examiners, and served six years on the Committee on Professional Certification. He is a graduate of Duquesne University and Yale University. His CD recording, Solemn and Celebratory, featuring the Fisk organ at St. Paul’s in Greenville, was released in 2013. The Organists’ Review (UK, June 2014) called Scanlon’s playing on the recording “stately,” “well measured,” and “exemplary”; and The Diapason (Feb. 2015) describes it as “beautifully realized,” stating that “both performer and organ seem to excel in [the] French Romantic repertoire.” Andrew’s principal teachers have been John Skelton, Ann Labounsky, David Craighead, John Walker, and Thomas Murray.

Chicago native Sol Rizzato is known for integrating the science of organbuilding with the art of performance. In July of 2021, Rizzato appeared as a presenter of organ maintenance at the American Guild of Organists’ National Pipe Organ Encounter. He is a service technician at the Muller Pipe Organ Company in Croton, OH, and previously trained at the Red River Pipe Organ Company in Norman, OK, and Messrs. Czelusniak et Dugal in Northampton, MA.

Rizzato is a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music (MM ’23) where he studies with Todd Wilson, and Organ Scholar at Plymouth Church, UCC in Shaker Heights, OH. As an organist, Rizzato began his formal keyboard studies at the age of eighteen, having come to the instrument with experience as a violist. His previous teachers include Dr. Adam Pajan, Dr. Melissa Plamann, and Dr. Damin Spritzer.

Rizzato continues to remain active as a professional violist and enjoys cooking and weightlifting. He also has a particular passion for education and outreach and hopes to be in a teaching role in some capacity.

Praised for his "top-notch technique and musicianship" by the Dallas Morning News, Jonathan Gregoire is an advocate for the power of music to transform lives. His engaging performances are praised for their “unfailing drive, energy, and expression.” He serves as organist and collaborative artist at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. Driven by the belief that through education we promote understating, which cultivates appreciation, Gregoire is the founder and director of the Arts Foundation of St. Andrew, works as adjunct faculty at Texas Woman’s University, and is the director of the OHS Biggs Scholars Program.

Gregoire received his DMA in Organ Performance from Arizona State University with Kimberly Marshall, where his final project, “Toward a ‘Green’ Organ: Sustainability and Organ Building” combined a personal passion and school-sponsored initiative of sustainability in assessing methods organ builders use to promote sustainable practices in organ building. Gregoire also pursued post-doctoral studies as a student of Professor Stefan Engels at Southern Methodist University in the highly selective Artist Diploma program, where he was awarded the Roy and Sue Johnson Award in Organ or Sacred Music in Memory of Robert T. Anderson, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the department.

Gregoire holds additional degrees in organ performance from the University of Kansas (MM), where he was inducted into the prestigious Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key International Honor Society; St. John’s University (BA summa cum laude), where he was named a Presser Scholar, which is given to one student each year by the music faculty for exceptional work within the department; and his high school diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he graduated Salutatorian and received the coveted Young Artist Award as well as Academic Awards in Mathematics and Chemistry. As a noted alumnus, he was a featured performer for the Interlochen Arts Academy’s 50th Anniversary Collage Concert. His instructors also include James Higdon, Michael Bauer, Kim Kasling, and Thomas Bara.

For additional information, including recordings, please visit: jonathangregoire.com

Katherine Johnson is a senior in the organ department at Oberlin Conservatory, where she studies with Christa Rakich. She is enrolled in Oberlin’s double degree program, studying Organ Performance and English. Katherine currently serves as Organist and Music Director at Church of the Redeemer in Lorain, O.H. Prior to taking this position, Katherine worked as Organ Scholar at Plymouth Church UCC in Shaker Heights, and before beginning at Oberlin, as the Cathee Jean Huber Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Greenville, N.C. In 2016, Katherine was awarded the first prize in the high school division of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition, and subsequently performed on the Winner’s Recital at the 2017 Schweitzer Festival. She has participated in a number of other competitions in the southeastern U.S., including the Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists, the Greater Columbia AGO Competition, and the 2014 ECMAEF competition in Greenville, N.C. Katherine spent the summer of 2019 working as Organ Teaching Assistant at Interlochen Arts Camp, with Thomas Bara. Her former teachers are Phil Valera, Samantha Koch, and Andrew Scanlon.

Sarah Schiener is a recent graduate (’22) of the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University, where she studied organ performance and sacred music with Joby Bell. In 2021, she was a featured performer in “The Year of the Student” recital series at Davidson College Presbyterian Church. She has played for churches of several denominations in and around Boone, N.C. Most recently, she served as assistant organist at St. Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church in Blowing Rock, N.C. Since graduating, she has relocated to southern New England.