The 2026 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Leonardo Ciampa. This season, we are grateful to First Lutheran Church for hosting the series — featuring its splendid Richards, Fowkes & Co. instrument, Op. 10 — while Old West Church awaits necessary building repairs. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.
Leonardo Ciampa
Born in Boston in 1971, composer, organist, and pianist Leonardo Ciampa is a musician of international repute.
Ciampa is Director of Music at Our Lady of the Angels in Worcester, MA (since 2024), where he directs the Schola Cantorum and Parish Choir and presides over the church’s renown J. W. Walker pipe organ. Ciampa is also Founding Director of the Organ Festival of Worcester (since 2023), and Maestro di Cappella Onorario of the Basilica in Gubbio, Italy (since 2015). Previously, he was Mechanics Hall Composer-in-Residence (2021-2023), Artistic Director of the “Music for a Great Hall” concert series at Mechanics Hall (2023-24), founding director of Arts MetroWest (2012-2019), and artistic director of organ concerts at MIT (2009-2016).
As an organ recitalist, Ciampa has made more than a dozen European tours encompassing Italy, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. He is particularly admired in Italy, where he has played in numerous international festivals (Festival Perosiano, Festival Organistico Lauretano, Le Voci della Città, Pistoia Musica Antica, Organi Storici della Valsesia, Festival Biellese, Organi Vespera, Reate Festival, Festival Organistico Salemi, etc.). He has given organ recitals at cathedrals in Vienna, New York City, Boston, Lucca, Altenberg, Brandenburg, Tortona and Biella; at basilicas in Rome, Turin, Loreto, Tortona, Gubbio, Absam, and Rieti; and at abbeys in Dürnstein and Camaiore.
Ciampa’s compositions include Suite Siciliana (for two violins, piano and orchestra), commissioned by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston to open their 25th anniversary season at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre; several cantatas (including the Helen Keller Cantata, premiered by the Heritage Chorale, and the Worcester Cantata, premiered by the Salisbury Singers, and several organ symphonies (including the Kresge Organ Symphony, premiered at MIT, and the Worcester Organ Symphony, premiered at Mechanics Hall); Missa Pamphyliana, premiered at the Basilica di Sant’Ubaldo in Gubbio by the Cantores Beati Ubaldi; Missa Brevis, premiered at the Chiesa Maria Santissima della Confusione in Salemi, Sicily; a piano quintet (premiered by the Lavazza Chamber Ensemble); Suite Divina (Three Dances for Organ), premiered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; and numerous organ works which have become part of the active repertoire of organists throughout the United States.