Please note program changes for the final two weeks of our summer series.

Randy Steere will close the series next week, August 26.

We hope to reschedule the originally slated 8/26 performer Victoria Shorokhova for next season.

The 2025 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jennifer Hsiao, organ & Timothy Macri, flute. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Jennifer Hsiao is the organist at Old West Church (Boston) and one of the three principal organists at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Boston). She has performed as a recitalist on organs in the Boston area and was a guest organ soloist with the Bay Colony Brass. She began her organ studies with Eric Plutz at Princeton University and continued them at the Yale School of Music with Chelsea Chen and in Boston with Christian Lane.

Jennifer has won numerous competitions and has performed concerti as both a piano and violin soloist with numerous orchestras including the Princeton University Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra, and Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

Jennifer graduated from Princeton with an A.B. degree in Chemistry and certificates in Latin and Musical Performance. She holds a Masters in Music Performance (violin) from the Yale School of Music and a PhD in Biological in Biomedical Sciences from Harvard University. She is a resident tutor in biology and music at Dunster House at Harvard. She recently joined Shelter Music Boston as a violinist and pianist. In her free time, she enjoys playing violin and piano with various chamber music groups in the Boston area.

Timothy Macri is Principal Flute of the New Bedford Symphony and Atlantic Symphony orchestras. He also serves as Director of Music for the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Macri runs a successful YouTube channel (@IWantMyTimTV) where he has faithfully presented a new video performance every Sunday for the past 4 years. www.timothymacri.net

The 2025 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Kevin Lyczak. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Kevin Lyczak, originally from Bucks County, PA is the Director of Sacred Music at St. Adelaide Parish in Peabody, MA, where he oversees music for both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Form of the Mass. He previously served as the Director of Music at St. Mary’s Church in Holliston, MA, leading an active RSCM program of youth and adults.

Kevin has composed works for choir and organ, and in 2020, released an album of original piano music, entitled Asylum Improvisations. He has performed at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Holy Cross Cathedral, Heinz Chapel, First Lutheran Church and St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh. Kevin holds his Colleague certification from the American Guild of Organists.

Kevin studied composition with Luke Mayernik, Ketty Nez, and Martin Amlin, organ improvisation with Robert Nicholls, Jeffrey Brillhart and Vincent Carr, and choral conducting with Jameson Marvin and Daniel Parsley. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Duquesne University, where he was a student of Ann Labounsky, and a Master’s Degree in Organ Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Janette Fishell. He is currently pursuing a DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) at Boston University, studying with Peter Sykes.

The 2025 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Gavin Klein. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Gavin Klein is a native of rural Massachusetts, and is a skilled organist and harpsichordist. He is currently a rising senior at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where he serves as an organ scholar. Gavin is a student of Dr. Ezequiel Menéndez, following previous instruction from C. Henry Mason and William Ness.

Growing up, Gavin was a chorister at All Saints Episcopal Church, Worcester, which he greatly attributes to his desire to study organ and sacred music. As one of America's oldest continuously running church choirs, the All Saints choral program is deeply rooted in the Anglican musical tradition and is affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music. Gavin has served as organist to a number of congregations around New England, and presently, is the organist at St. Bernard's Parish in Worcester. He also regularly plays for the Trappist Monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, MA.

In 2020, he assumed the role of Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at the Harvard Historical Society in Harvard, MA, a position he held until the commencement of his college studies. Notably, Gavin’s involvement was instrumental in preserving and disseminating the over 150-year-old George Stevens organ under the society's care. Aside from performing, Gavin is very involved in historic organ preservation and is actively working on several different fundraising projects for instruments around the Commonwealth. He is an active member of both the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society.

Gavin performs on a regular basis and has given performances across the United States, Europe, and even South America including notable venues such as Woolsey Hall at Yale University, Mechanics Hall in Worcester, the Church of the Heavenly Rest in NYC, the Salzburger Dom in Austria, Iglesia de San Juan Bautista in Buenos Aires, and the Kirche Mariä Geburt in Rottenbuch, Germany.

Gavin was recently named in the Diapason Magazine's 20 under 30 class of 2025.

The 2025 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Mi Zhou. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Mi Zhou is a Chinese organist and serves as Sacred Music Associate at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, North Carolina. Mi earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance from the University of Michigan and the Artist Diploma from the Conservatoire de Versailles in France. Prior to this, she received the Master of Music in Organ Performance and the Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Her organ professors include John Walker, James Kibbie, Todd Wilson, Nicole Keller, and Jean Baptiste Robin. Mi has given recitals at notable venues, including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (Charleston), St. Peter’s Church (New York City), National City Christian Church (Washington D.C.), Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament (Detroit), and Notre-Dame de Versailles (Versailles, France), Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral (Raleigh).

The 2025 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jennifer Velázquez. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Jennifer Velázquez served as Associate Director of Music and Worship and Organist at Independent Presbyterian Church (IPC) in Memphis, TN for 25 years. After moving to the Boston area in 2021, she has been active as a recitalist and substitute organist/director. She also serves on the Boston AGO Executive Committee. Recent local performances include recitals at King’s Chapel and Trinity Church.

During her tenure with IPC’s robust music program, Jennifer accompanied numerous masterworks and collaborated with musicians such as Alice Parker, Dan Forrest, and the Westminster Brass. She also played organ and celeste with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mei-Ann Chen and Robert Moody and has performed internationally in England, Scotland, and Ukraine. She may be heard on A Christmas Legacy and This Light So Fair, two albums published by Ligonier Ministries. In 2008, Jennifer released a solo album, Lauda Anima, with collaborative trumpeter David Spencer.

Jennifer holds a Master of Music in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music as well as a Bachelor of Music from Houghton College. She spent time in London studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her teachers and mentors include Susan Klotzbach, Graham Elliott, Russell Saunders, Michael Farris, and Peter Sykes.

The 2025 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Andrew Sheranian. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Since 2010, Andrew Sheranian has been Organist and Master of Choristers at the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont (Episcopal) in Boston, a church known for its commitment to excellence in liturgy and music. His duties at Ashmont include recruiting, training, and conducting the choir, as well as playing the parish’s two pipe organs: C.B. Fisk Opus 103 of 1995 and Skinner Opus 708 of 1929, the latter installed in 2015 during Mr. Sheranian’s tenure. He is also organist on staff at The College

Church of Seventh-Day Adventists in Lancaster, MA, and at the Parish of St. Ignatius of Loyola (RC) in Chestnut Hill.

Prior to Ashmont, Mr. Sheranian served seven years as Organist and Choirmaster at Christ’s Church in Rye, New York. Mr. Sheranian holds degrees in organ performance from New England Conservatory and Yale University, and as a student held positions at the Parish of All Saints in Boston, and Christ Church in New Haven.

As a recitalist, Mr. Sheranian has performed at major venues throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. In late spring of this year, he concluded a tour of Sweden and the United Kingdom with the performance at Westminster Abbey in London. A lifelong disciple of Johann Sebastian Bach, Mr. Sheranian is the founding director of The Bach Project, a baroque ensemble of instrumentalists and singers aiming to perform the full spectrum of Bach’s music in performances in the greater Boston area, now in its seventh season. Recent concerts have included such works as the St. John Passion, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, as well as the Coffee Cantata. He is also in demand as an accompanist, continuo player, guest conductor, teacher, and coach; and has worked in Jewish liturgical music for the past twenty years.

Mr. Sheranian is a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and has served as a Regional Chair of that organization. He has also served as co-manager and manager of the Massachusetts (formerly Montreal) Boys Choir Course, is one of the founding directors of the St. Thomas Girls’ Choir Course in NYC, and has guest conducted the Dallas’ Boys Choir Course and Nashville Diocesan Chorister Festival. He is currently serving on the Board of the Early Music America, as well as on being a member of the Young Organists’ Initiative and on the Executive Committee of the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Passions include languages, weight-lifting, cycling, travel, and performing in a band, or solo on keys in night clubs and cabarets, with his husband and better half, jazz vocalist and songwriter João Santos.

The 2025 Old West Organ Society Summer Series commences with a performance by Dr. Ryan Enright. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Dr. Ryan Enright has performed recitals in Canada and the U.S.A. in organ repertoire ranging from around 1530 to the present day. Improvisation plays a crucial role in his activities, from reharmonizing hymns to improvising on the spot after being given a theme or two.

A native of Montreal, Quebec, Enright studied the organ privately with

Marc-André Doran then, while enrolled at the Conservatoire de Musique et d’Art Dramatique de Montréal, with Gaston Arel and Jean LeBuis. He continued studies with Doran for two further years at Vanier College. Enright received the bachelor’s, master’s, and Artist Diploma degrees in Organ Performance Solo from McGill University. His professors were John Grew and William Porter. Enright received the DMA in Organ Performance & Literature from the Eastman School of Music (2012), where he studied organ with William Porter. He also played harpsichord and organ continuo for Eastman’s Collegium Musicum. His DMA lecture recital was on the Zwichenspiel in the playing of hymns during the 17th and 18th centuries. Enright has studied improvisation most closely with William Porter and Julian Wachner, also taking workshops with renowned improvisation teachers from Europe and the U.S.A. Enright has competed internationally, receiving first prizes at the Canadian Music Competition (1997), Quebec Organ Competition (2004), and National Organ Playing Competition of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (2007). He was a finalist in the CIOC (Canadian International Organ Competition), 2011.

Enright relocated to Sacramento in October of 2011 to become Organist of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Accompanist for the Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra (SCSO), accompnist to Sacramento State’s three choirs, and guest organist for the Schola Cantorum of Sacred Heart Church, Sacramento. In August of 2016 Enright recorded an album entitled “St. John’s Resounds” with harpist Dr. Beverly Wesner-Hoehn. Recorded at St. John’s on the splendid Bedient organ, the album consists of Rachel Laurin’s “Fantasy for Organ and Harp” plus solo organ and harp works. In California, Enright has performed in Chico, Yuba City, the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as in the states of Washington and New York. Enright accompanied the SCSO on their tours of Italy (2012), Northern France, Paris, and England (2015), Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia (2019), and most recently to Northern Italy (June 2024). Since fall 2018 Enright is Staff Accompanist II at Sacramento State University, where he accompanies two classical choirs, half of the students of two voice studios, and the Opera Theatre Workshop. From 2021-2023 he was Co-Dean of the American Guild of Organists, Sacramento Valley Chapter. He was Sub-Dean for two years previously. Enright teaches a few organ students privately. Passions away from the organ loft include dancing the Argentine Tango, hiking, camping, and whitewater kayaking.

Join us for our annual concert to celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.

We are thrilled that concert organist Erica Johnson is able to perform for us this year.

She presents this program of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, with proceeds benefiting Old West Organ Society.

More information and tickets may be found here.

In celebration of the life of Yuko Hayashi, founder of the Old West Organ Society and Professor at New England Conservatory, please join us for the fifth annual Yuko Hayashi Memorial Recital.

This is a benefit recital. All ticket proceeds directly benefit Old West Organ Society. Even if you can’t attend, please consider making a donation.

Tickets and more information can be found here.

{Photo © Ryoichi Yamashita}

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series concludes with a performance by Robert Barney. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Organist Robert Barney, a resident of Littleton, Massachusetts, has distinguished himself as a recitalist, conductor, and teacher with performances in Europe, Canada and the U.S., and for the Organ Historical Society, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and the American Guild of Organists. As Artistic Director for The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus from 1985-1997, he led first performances of that group in Boston’s Jordan and Symphony Halls, Avery Fischer Hall in New York City, and similar halls in Minneapolis, Denver, and elsewhere. Mr Barney currently serves as Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord, Massachusetts, private teacher in organ, piano, and voice, and Artistic Director for Youth pro Musica in Newton, Massachusetts (currently on hiatus because of the pandemic). Robert holds degrees from Concordia College, Bronxville, New York and The New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts. His mentors included Robert Owen, Ralph Schultz, Frank Taylor, Donald Teeters, and Yuko Hayashi.

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Takeshi Kondo. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Takeshi Kondo is a Japanese organist and composer/arranger. He is the hall organist at Yokohama Minatomirai Hall (Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture), a lecturer at the Department of Organ at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and at the Department of Composition at Kunitachi College of Music, where he actively teaches younger students. He is a member of the Japan Organist Association.

After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts with Faculty of Music in Department of Composition, he completed a Separate course (Organ) at the same university, and then completed a master's degree in Graduate School of Music (Organ) at the same university.

In 2006, he studied in Paris, France as an overseas trainee for Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists with the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

In addition to organ recitals and other solo performances in Japan and abroad, he has performed with ensembles and major orchestras in Japan, and collaborated with artists of other genres. As an organist and arranger, he has performed many of his own compositions in the organ and other genres, as well as commissioned works for concert halls and cultural foundations. He is also highly trusted by Japanese composers, and has premiered numerous Japanese organ works and ensemble works, all of which have been well received.

He served as the hall organist of the Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall (Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture) from its opening in July 2004 until the end of March 2018.

He is also the author of an organ instructional book, published in 2020, "Organ Techniques - Let's Talk on the Pipes! Let's Sing with the Pipes!" (Dowa-Shoin, Tokyo), for which he is the editor and author, and which has received very high acclaim from all quarters.

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Edwin Lawrence. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Edwin Lawrence enjoys a career as a performer on piano, organ and harpsichord and as a conductor and composer. He recently retired as Minister of Music for the First Congregational Church, UCC of Williamstown MA. He is an Artist Associate at Williams College. Mr. Lawrence served as Music Director for the Bennington County Choral Society for more than 38 seasons. As a producer for Dorian Recordings, he was directly involved with more than 20 recording projects. In 1976, he was one of the composers chosen to represent Vermont in the Bicentennial Parade of American music in the nation’s capital. Still in the era of the LP, he recorded “Organ Music from Hildene” at Robert Todd Lincoln’s Manchester, VT home. Lawrence is a founding member of the Consortium of Vermont Composers and has served as a guest conductor of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. In 1990, he received a Citation of Merit from the Vermont Council of the Arts for his contributions to the vitality of the arts in the Green Mountain State.

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Janet E. Hunt. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Dr. Janet E. Hunt, FAGO, received performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Southern Methodist University, and University of North Texas. Equally proficient on organ and harpsichord, she has been a finalist in several international competitions, including Boston’s Bodky Competition and the Prix André Marchal in Biarritz, France. She has recorded two compact discs of works by César Franck and Louis Vierne. She publishes editions of early seventeenth century motets for voices and continuo, and has an article on the genre forthcoming in a future issue of Sacred Music. Her website is www.huntmusic.us. She is the organist at St. Anthony’s in Allston.

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jerrick Cavagnaro. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Jerrick Cavagnaro is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where he earned a master’s degree in organ performance studying under Jon Laukvik and Thomas Murray. He completed his undergraduate studies at Westminster Choir College where he earned bachelor’s degrees in sacred music and organ performance studying under Alan Morrison. A native of New Jersey, Jerrick was most recently the assistant director of music and organist at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte, NC and currently serves as the associate director of music at Trinity Episcopal Church (Copley Square) in Boston, MA. In 2022, Jerrick received the second prize in the National Competition in Organ Accompaniment sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the American Guild of Organists, third prize in the Quebec Organ Competition in Quebec City, Canada and was a semifinalist in the 2022 Boston Bach International Organ Competition. In 2023, Jerrick competed as a quarter finalist in the St. Alban’s organ competition. Also an active composer, Jerrick’s choral music has been performed by choirs around the globe and was recently featured in Oxford University Press’ latest edition of Carols for Choirs 6.

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Sarah Johnson. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Sarah Johnson is the Associate Director of Music at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven Connecticut, and a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music, where she studies with David Higgs. A native of Garland, Maine, Sarah began her organ lessons with Kevin Birch, organist and music director at Saint John’s Catholic Church in Bangor. In her undergraduate degree at Vassar College, she studied organ with Gail Archer and piano with Todd Crow. Sarah holds a Master of Sacred Music from Boston University, where she studied organ with Peter Sykes.

Since beginning college, Sarah has performed in New York City at Central Synagogue, in Boston at Old West, Trinity Copley, and Holy Name Parish, in Atlanta at the Cathedral of St. Philip, and recently in Naumburg, Germany at St. Wenzel. She was named an E. Power Biggs Fellow of the Organ Historical Society in 2013 and featured as a rising star and guest recitalist at the 2017 Musforum Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a board member of the Saint John’s Organ Society in Bangor, dedicated to the preservation of E. & G.G. Hook Opus 288, and recently performed on their 29th annual concert series. Sarah has also performed at Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Methuen, MA on their 74th and 76th annual concert series.

During her time in Boston, Sarah was Organ Scholar at Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury and Assistant Librarian at the Organ Library of the American Guild of Organists. In Rochester, Sarah was the Organ Assistant (VanDelinder Prize Winner) at Christ Church Episcopal from 2018-2020 and Minister of Music at Church of the Ascension from 2020-2023.

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Bridgette Wargovich. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Bridgette Wargovich is Director of Sacred Music and Organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Maine.

A native of Massachusetts, she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance in 2018 and a Master of Sacred Music degree summacum laude in 2014, both from Boston University.

Her doctoral dissertation was entitled, “The King of Musical Instruments and the Spirit of the Liturgy: The Pipe Organ and Its Liturgical Repertoire Analyzed in Light of Ratzinger’s Theology of Liturgical Music.” The dissertation explored the theology of Pope Benedict XVI, linking his main themes to the pipe organ and its repertoire.

Her principal organ teacher was Peter Sykes.

Bridgette has a special love for sacred and liturgical music; she is dedicated to preserving and promoting this musical treasure.

The 2024 Old West Organ Society Summer Series commences with a performance by Cathy Meyer. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Cathy Meyer is originally from Seattle, where she was raised in a very musical family; by the time she was 16, not only did she have her first church music position but also played trumpet in a professional big band. She earned her Bachelors of Music in Organ Performance from the University of North Texas and Masters of Sacred Music from Boston University. She is the Minister of Music and organist for South Church (UCC) in Andover, Massachusetts, where she directs a large music ministry of choral and instrumental music.

Cathy is an active recitalist, and has recently performed organ and piano recitals on both coasts, including at the Trinity Church in Copley Square, St. Alban’s in Cape Elizabeth Maine, First Night Boston at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and was featured on the nationally-syndicated Pipedreams radio show. Cathy sings alto with the New Hampshire-based choir Capella Nova Mundi. She is also a fully certified teacher in the Orff-Schulwerk pedagogy for children.

Cathy is the Dean for the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and is heavily involved in their Young Organist Initiative, and also maintains a private organ studio. In her free time, she is an Acutonics and Sound Healing practitioner, and a Reiki Master of Masters.

resonantmusicandenergy.com

Join us for our annual concert to celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.

We are thrilled that concert organist David Eaton is able to perform for us this year.

He presents this program of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, with proceeds benefiting Old West Organ Society.

More information and tickets may be found here.

In celebration of the life of Yuko Hayashi, founder of the Old West Organ Society and Professor at New England Conservatory, please join us for the fourth annual Yuko Hayashi Memorial Recital.

Performed by former Hayashi student, concert organist Mark Dwyer, we will hear works of composers Hayashi championed.

This is a benefit recital. All ticket proceeds directly benefit Old West Organ Society. Even if you can’t attend, please consider making a donation.

Tickets and more information can be found here.

{Photo © Ryoichi Yamashita}

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series concludes with a performance by Rhonda Sider Edgington. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Rhonda Sider Edgington is often commended for her innovative programming, colorful use of registrations, and exciting playing.  Seven years spent studying, working and performing in Bremen, Germany (originally with a Fulbright scholarship), led to her passion for the repertoire and organs of 17th century Germany, as she worked closely with Prof. Harald Vogel.

Edgington has played recitals at venues such as St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh, West Point Cadet Chapel in NY, and Arizona State University, as well as on important historic instruments in Germany. She has performed at numerous national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society and has been heard on the radio program Pipedreams.   Rhonda co-lead an educational tour for the European chapter of the AGO to visit organs of Northern Germany, and was AGO Dean of the Holland (MI) chapter for 8 years.

She has envisioned and realized programs as creative as Music of Japan: for organ, marimba, and Taiko drums, with her duo Thunder & Wind (Carolyn Koebel, percussion); Jazz and the Organ, with Hammond B3 master Tony Monaco;  programs of music by all women for organ and trumpet with Great Lakes Duo (Dr. Brian  Reichenbach, trumpet), and collaborations with many unique duos (including tuba, bassoon, clarinet, and french horn). 

Edgington is the Organist and Music Director at Hope Church, and teaches organ at Calvin University, while traveling to perform regularly around the US and in Europe. She also enjoys riding her bike, visiting farmer’s markets, and writing a monthly column in the Holland Sentinel, her local newspaper. 

You can find her pipe organ photos on Instagram at i_luv_schnitgers, and her writings on her website rhonda.edgington.info under Musings. 

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Bridgette Wargovich. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Bridgette Wargovich is Director of Sacred Music and Organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Maine. A native of Massachusetts, she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance in 2018 and a Master of Sacred Music degree summacum laude in 2014, both from Boston University. Her doctoral dissertation was entitled, “The King of Musical Instruments and the Spirit of the Liturgy: The Pipe Organ and Its Liturgical Repertoire Analyzed in Light of Ratzinger’s Theology of Liturgical Music.” The dissertation explored the theology of Pope Benedict XVI, linking his main themes to the pipe organ and its repertoire. Her principal organ teacher was Peter Sykes. Bridgette has a special love for sacred and liturgical music; she is dedicated to preserving and promoting this musical treasure.

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Raymond Hawkins. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Since beginning his musical training at age ten, Raymond Hawkins has honed his skill at the organ through an active career in both solo performance and sacred music. As a performer, Mr. Hawkins has given recitals at venues across the United States, including the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco and Adolphus Busch Hall at Harvard University. His performance at the 2015 Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina was praised in The American Organist as being “superbly played and registered.”

Since 2019, Mr. Hawkins has served as Director of Music and Organist at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the oldest Episcopal Church in New England still standing on its original site (1714). There, he oversees choral and organ music for weekly Mass, monthly Evensong, and a variety of other occasions. Mr. Hawkins began his career in church music at the age of fourteen as organist at the First Baptist Church of Holly Hill, South Carolina. While studying in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he served as music intern at Augsburg Lutheran Church and subsequently as organist at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church. Mr. Hawkins also serves as Member-at-Large and Newsletter Editor for the Merrimack Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Mr. Hawkins has also won prizes in a number of regional and national competitions. As a high school junior, he received First Prize and the Hymn-Playing Prize in the 2014 UNCSA/Salem College High School Organ Competition as well as Third Place and the Hymn-Playing Prize in the American Guild of Organists Greater Columbia Chapter Young Organist Competition; the following year he earned Second Place in the same competition. In 2014, he won Second Place in the Senior Division of the Peter Perret Youth Talent Search and consequently performed with the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra.

In 2019, Mr. Hawkins completed his undergraduate degree in organ performance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied as a Kenan Organ Scholar under Dr. Timothy Olsen and had previously received his high school diploma. Earlier on, he studied organ with Donna Swanson, Angela Kraft Cross, and Porter Remington. Mr. Hawkins has also studied abroad in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, advancing his skills as both musician and language aficionado.

Mr. Hawkins’ particular affinity for the music of French composer, Louis Vierne, led him to celebrate the composer’s sesquicentennial birth year in 2020 by recording Spicy Sauce, an album featuring a selection of Vierne’s organ works. This album, as well as more information about Mr. Hawkins, can be procured on his website, www.raymondhawkinsmusic.com.

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jonathan Wessler. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Jonathan Wessler has served since 2016 as the Kantor at First Lutheran Church of Boston, where he oversees a thriving music program specializing in the finest liturgical music of the Lutheran tradition. Under his direction, the FLC choir and orchestra present music of Bach, Praetorius, Schütz, Handl, Hassler, Senfl, and others, as well as liturgical chant as retained in the Lutheran missals. He is honored to play the church’s fine Baroque pipe organ, built in 2000 by Richards, Fowkes & Co. Known as “Boston’s Bach Organ,” it renders the music of Bach and his contemporaries with the utmost authority. Wessler also serves as the artistic director of the annual Boston Bach Birthday, which draws hundreds in celebration of Bach’s contributions to sacred music. He additionally conducts research in early Lutheran liturgy and music.

Wessler received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music, studying with William Porter. He previously earned the Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying with David Boe, and the Master of Sacred Music degree from the University of Notre Dame, studying with Craig Cramer. He additionally mentored under Sherry Seckler and Christiaan Teeuwsen. He holds the Associate certificate from the American Guild of Organists and was a finalist in the 2007 Arthur Poister Organ Competition.

Wessler previously worked as the Assistant Organist at the Church of St. Paul in Harvard Square and St. Paul’s Choir School, where he accompanied the Choir of St. Paul’s, trained the Probationers, directed the St. Paul Parish Choir and the Schola Cantorum, and taught music theory in the Choir School.

Wessler lives in suburban Boston with his wife, Joy, and their children, Julia, Matthew, Benjamin, and Lucas.

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Richard Benefield. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Richard Benefield (DMA, MM, BM) has had parallel careers in both art museums and classical music, beginning his training in art and piano at the age of six. He has performed as organist, singer, and conductor across the United States, and in more than 30 years in the art world, has served in leadership roles for art museums at Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Harvard University, as well as the Walt Disney Family Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (de Young and Legion of Honor). Even with a busy career in arts management, he has served as organist-choirmaster of St. Peter’s Church, Osterville, MA; St. Stephen’s Church, Providence, RI; and Old First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA, among others. He has had the distinction of overseeing famous organs at two of the museums under his leadership: the great Spreckles Organ (E.M. Skinner) in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco and the renowned D.A. Flentrop Organ in Adolphus Busch Hall at Harvard.

In 1977, Dr. Benefield began a long and fruitful professional relationship and friendship with composer Daniel Pinkham when he was contracted to sing the role of Simon in the Southwest (Dallas, TX) premiere of Pinkham’s The Passion of Judas, a “chancel opera,” which the composer conducted. Subsequently, in the 1984-85 season, he performed the same role for the Peabody-Mason Music Foundation at Harvard University, with the composer conducting. That performance was broadcast from Sanders Theater over the NPR affiliate, WGBH radio in Boston. Benefield conducted the New England premieres of Pinkham’s Advent Cantata (1992) and A curse, a Lament, and a Vision (1985), and the world premieres of Pinkham’s The Small Requiem (1992) and The Guiding Star (1993). He has played many keyboard works by Pinkham including the world premieres of Sonata No. 3 for organ and strings (1987) and The Garden of the Muses for solo organ (2006).

Dr. Benefield has written on the music of Daniel Pinkham for The American Organist. He is also the author of Motets for One Voice by Franck, Gounod, and Saint-Saëns: The Organ-Accompanied Solo Motet in Nineteenth-Century France, published in 2003 by A-R Editions of Madison, Wisconsin, in its series “Recent Researches in Musicology.”

He currently serves as executive director of the George Rickey Foundation, Inc., and lives with his husband John Kunowski and their two Lagotti Romagnoli, Rupert and Lizzy, in the Seacoast Region of New Hampshire.

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Justin Brueggeman. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Originally from East Tennessee, Justin Brueggeman began his piano studies in 2009 and organ studies in 2013. During high school, Justin served as Organist/Choirmaster at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and Organist at St. Dominic Church in Kingsport, TN. As an active recitalist, he has played recitals nationally throughout East Tennessee, Connecticut, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, as well as internationally in England and Romania. In 2017, he performed the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony along with the Symphony of the Mountains Youth Orchestra and made his European debut in Medias, Romania, performing in the 17th annual Orgelsommer International Organ festival as the youngest organist to have performed in the festival’s history. Justin has competed in national organ competitions in North and South Carolina, including the Columbia AGO Chapter Competition, where he placed 3rd (2018), and the East Carolina University Young Artist’s Organ Competition, where he placed 2nd (2018). His previous teachers include Dr. Joby Bell and Dr. Edie Johnson. Justin holds a BS in Biochemistry and Cellular Biology (with a minor in organ performance) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He now resides in Boston, where he is a PhD student in Biomedical and Biological Sciences at Harvard Medical School, working in the fields of immunology and cell biology.

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jacqueline Nappi. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Hailing from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Jacqueline Nappi is an organist, harpsichordist, pianist, and teacher. She is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music studying organ performance. 

Previous collaborations include Duke Performances, the North Carolina Symphony, the Duke Chapel Bach Cantata Series & Vespers Choir, Duke University's Dance Program, the North Carolina Historically Informed Performance (HIP) Music Festival, the Mallarmé Chamber Players, the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Music Department, Boston Early Music Festival fringe concerts, and piano improvisation for yoga classes at Global Breath Yoga Studio in Durham. 

Before beginning her studies at Yale, Jacqueline was Minister of Music at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Durham and taught basso continuo lessons at UNC-Chapel Hill. Jacqueline was also Dean of the Durham-Chapel Hill Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and a member of the Board of Directors for the Mallarmé Chamber Players. 

Jacqueline holds a Master of Music degree in Harpsichord Performance from SUNY Stony Brook where she studied with Arthur Haas, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from The Hartt School. 

In her free time, Jacqueline enjoys training for Triathlons and improving her fluency in Spanish and German.

The 2023 Old West Organ Society Summer Series commences with a performance by Thomas Vozzella. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Thomas R. Vozzella, DMA, is Director of Music-Organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri and a Staff Organist at the Community of Christ World Headquarters, Independence, Missouri. He has served AGO as Dean (Black Hills Chapter), ACDA (Regional and National Chair for Music in Worship). Alliance, Augsburg, Abingdon, Selah, CanticaNOVA, St. James Music Press, Sheet Music Plus and Music Notes publish his compositions receiving five ASCAP Plus Awards. As a presenter/performer he has presented at state, regional and national ACDA and AGO Conventions, toured in twenty-six states, the District of Columbia and eleven countries, most recently Ukraine, Spain, and Germany. His choirs have sung for Tennessee ACDA, The White House by invitation of President and Mrs. George W. Bush, The Harlem Globetrotters, and received invitations for Kansas MEA and Texas ACDA conferences. Thomas holds degrees from the University of South Carolina, The University of Louisiana-Monroe, and  Eastern Nazarene College. Additional work completed at The Royal School of Church Music-UK, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Nazarene Theological Seminary, with advanced conducting study at the Conductor’s Institute of South Carolina; in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Russia. Organ study has been with Lambert Brandes, John Ditto; masterclasses with Peter Hurford, Marie-Claire Alain, and John Obetz; organ improvisation with Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvard, Samuel Liégeon, Frédéric Blanc.

Join us for our annual concert to celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.

We are thrilled that concert organist Bryan Ashley is able to perform for us this year.

He presents this program of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, with proceeds benefiting Old West Organ Society.

More information and tickets can be found here.

In celebration of the life of Yuko Hayashi, founder of the Old West Organ Society and Professor at New England Conservatory, please join us for the third annual Yuko Hayashi Memorial Recital.

Performed by former Hayashi student, concert organist Gregory Crowell, we will hear works of composers Hayashi championed.

This is a benefit recital. All ticket proceeds directly benefit Old West Organ Society. Even if you can’t attend, please consider making a donation.

Face masks are required inside Old West Church.

Tickets and more information can be found here.

{Photo © Ryoichi Yamashita}

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series concludes with a performance by Mary-Katherine Fletcher. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Mary-Katherine Fletcher is the director of music and organist at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet, MA and serves as treasurer for the Southeastern Massachusetts chapter of the American Guild of Organists. A recent graduate, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Bridgewater State University. During her time at Bridgewater, she studied both the piano and organ, before choosing to focus on the organ, which she studied with Dr. Steven Young. She continues to study with Dr. Young this summer as she prepares to enter graduate school in the fall. She will be pursuing a Master of Sacred Music degree from Boston University, where she was awarded a Dean’s Fellowship, and will study the organ with Peter Sykes.