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.

The 2022 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 currently a graduate student at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music studying organ performance. Jacqueline serves as Minister of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in Milford and is Piano Faculty & Music Coordinator at Durham Academy. 

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. She 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. 

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jonghee Yoon. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Jonghee Yoon is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Sacred Music and Organ
Performance at East Carolina University, and she is organ scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Greenville North Carolina, studying and working with David Arcus. Jonghee graduated from EWHA Woman’s University in Seoul, South Korea and studied organ there with Okjoo Park, and Min-Jung Gaang.

Jonghee is an active musician, and has performed in South Korea, the Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark and the United States. She was selected a Rising Star and played a solo in concert with the Raleigh Symphony. She was invited to play a concert at the Haderslev Cathedral in Denmark. Jonghee has played a solo concert on the St. Paul’s Greenville. She has served as organist at the Daeshin Church in Seoul and has been music director in several musical theatrical productions. She has given a recital for the Nevelson Chapel Recital series in NewYork City. She played her debut recital at St. Peter’s Church in New York City in 2019.

In addition to peforming her solo repertoire, Jonghee has developed an interest in chamber music; she has played continuo in Bach’s Cantata with the Saint Peter’s Bach Collegium and played the solo organ with the Gödi Baroque Ensemble in Hungary. She has played with the Early Music Collective Concert with the ECU Baroque Ensemble, the Bach Birthday concert at St. Paul’s, and is organ accompanist for the ECU Chamber Singers Choir. Jonghee has also performed with Eastern and Western instruments in the chapel of Ewha Women’s University.

She spent a semester in the US studying organ with Bryan Ashley in Boston and Bálint Karosi in New York City, and organ building at the Fisk Shop in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she observed and participated in pipe making, design, installation, and tuning. These experiences broadened her understanding of the organ and the relationship between instrument and music.

Jonghee took part in masterclasses with Peter Westerbrink in Holland, Christiaan Teeuwsen in Holland and Germany, and Franz Liszt Academy of Music Professor of Organ and improvisation, Pálúr János in Hungary. Participating in these, as well as her experience at the EROI conference in Rochester and the ISO conference in Udine, Italy, had a great appreciation for studying at an institution that provides the instruments and the support needed to play the repertoire on appropriate instruments.

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Matthew Dion. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Matthew Dion, 23 is a native of Somerset Massachusetts and a M.M. candidate in Sacred Music/Organ at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music where he studies organ with Daryl Robinson and serves as a musicology teaching assistant.

Matthew received his Bachelor of Music degree in Organ and a Minor in Music History at the OberlinConservatory of Music in Oberlin, OH where he studied organ with Dr. Jonathan Moyer, James David Christie, and Arvid Gast.

His other teachers include Jean-Baptiste Robin, Dr. Steven Young, Madeleine Grace, and Normand Gingras for organ; Erik Thompson for piano; and Mark Edwards for harpsichord and continuo. He has also traveled to France to coach with numerous French organists including Marie-Louise Langlais and Vincent Warnier.

Matthew additionally has been involved in masterclasses for many keyboard organizations including TheMontreal Organ Festival, American Guild of Organists, and the Westfield Keyboard Society. He has appeared in classes taught by Kola Owolabi, Cherry Rhodes, Peter Sykes, Christa Rakich, Nicole Keller, Alan Morrison, Ken Cowan, and Matthew Dirst. Matthew is also an active member of the American Guild of Organists, currently serving as sub-dean of the Southeastern Massachusetts Chapter.

Matthew performs as a solo organist throughout the United States. As a collaborative musician, he has recently been a featured accompanist and soloist with the West Shore Chorale in Lakewood, OH, the Oberlin College Choir/Musical Union, and the Oberlin Arts and Sciences orchestra. At Oberlin, he performed and recorded the Saint-Saëns "Organ Symphony" (2019) and movements of Cécile Chaminade's Messe pour deux voix égales (2021). In addition, Matthew is a founding member and organist in Reeds and Keys, an oboe and organ duo where he performs with his partner and oboist, Anne Pinkerton.

Some notable performance venues include National City Christian Church, Washington DC, Christ ChurchCathedral, Houston TX, Old West Church, Boston, MA, King’s Chapel, Boston, MA, Village Church UCC,Wellesley, MA, Grace Episcopal Church, Providence, RI, Saint Anne's Church and Shrine, Fall River, MA, Saint Anthony's Church, New Bedford, MA, Saint Mary's Church, Newport, RI, Saint Stanislaus Church, Cleveland, OH, Trinity Lutheran Church, Cleveland, OH, and Church of the Covenant, Cleveland, OH.

Matthew is a 2019 winner of the Audrey Mollard Scholarship for Organ from the Tuesday Musical Association in Akron, OH. He is also a 2019 Second prize winner of the AGO RCYO/Quimby Organ Competition (chapter round) held in Boston, Massachusetts.

Matthew serves as Organ Scholar at Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal) in Houston, Texas. In addition to his duties as organist at the Cathedral, he also serves as accompanist of the Treble Choir of Houston. Mostrecently, Matthew served as organist and director of "Music under the Steeple" concert series at FirstPresbyterian Church in Huron, OH.

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Chris Rakovec. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Chris Rakovec is a music minister and educator. An Ohio native, he has been playing throughout Greater Boston for over a decade.  He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Boston College and is currently pursuing a Master of Sacred Music degree at Boston University.  Chris serves as Coordinator of Liturgical Music at St. Columbkille Church in Brighton and accompanist for the Liturgical Musicians at Boston College High School. As a modern language faculty member at BC High, Chris teaches all levels of Spanish. 

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Carson Cooman. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Carson Cooman is an American composer and organist. He holds degrees in music from
Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University and since 2006 has held the position of Composer in Residence at the Memorial Church, Harvard University. As an organ recitalist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him. Cooman has made many recordings as organist, including more than 10 complete CD releases of music by Thomas Åberg, Paula Diehl, Carlotta Ferrari, Lothar Graap, Eva‐Maria Houben, Marian Sawa, and Andreas Willscher, along with several multi‐composer albums. His recordings of more than 4,000 additional contemporary organ compositions can be heard freely from YouTube and his website. As a composer, Cooman has created a catalog of works in many forms—ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His work has been performed on all six inhabited continents and appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty‐five complete CDs on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions, Convivium, Altarus, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels. For more information, visit carsoncooman.com          

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jonathan Schakel together with soprano Megan Sharp. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Megan Sharp earned her undergraduate degree in music from the College of Wooster in Ohio and holds a master's degree in opera from the Boston Conservatory. Following graduation and a period of intense study of Baroque singing with Sally Sanford, Baroque dance with Ken Pierce, and French art song with Carole Bajac, her career has focused on performing, especially early music, and increasingly on choral conducting. She has sung with the Boston Early Music Festival, the Connecticut Early Music Festival, Ensemble Chanterelle, the Schola Cantorum, and Longwood Opera. Ms. Sharp often collaborates with organist and harpsichordist Jonathan Schakel, including concerts in Germany, the Netherlands, Boston, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia.  In 2011 Ms. Sharp was named music director of the Charlottesville-based vocal ensemble Zephyrus.  She has led Zephyrus in summer residencies at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh; Trinity Cathedral in Dublin; and Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Ms. Sharp has directed choirs in churches and schools for over 20 years, and currently serves as director of fine arts at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville.  In addition, she maintains a private voice studio and teaches T'ai Chi at the Charlottesville T'ai Chi Center.

Organist and harpsichordist Jonathan Schakel earned a doctoral degree in performance practice at Cornell University, where he studied with Annette Richards and David Yearsley.  He holds a master’s degree in organ and early music from Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA, where he studied organ and harpsichord with Peter Sykes and continuo with Frances Conover Fitch.  He has pursued additional studies with Lorenzo Ghielmi, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, and Olivier Latry, and has participated in the summer organ academies in Smarano, Italy; in Haarlem, the Netherlands; and at McGill University in Montreal.  He has given organ recitals in the Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, and many of the United States, including performances at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC; Harvard University; Princeton University; Trinity Church, Boston; St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh; the Ludgerikirche, Norden, Germany; and de Engelse Kerk, Amsterdam.  His editions of Renaissance vocal music have been performed in the US, England, and Germany, and he serves as artistic director for the early music vocal ensemble Zephyrus.  He is currently organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series continues with a performance by Jennifer McPherson. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Jennifer McPherson serves as Director of Music and Liturgy at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, NH. She holds a Master of Music in Historical Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received her undergraduate degree from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where she was Organ Scholar of the class of 2013.

As a recitalist, Ms. McPherson has performed throughout the United States and Canada including Methuen Memorial Music Hall (Methuen, MA), Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (Richmond, VA), First (Scots) Presbyterian Church (Charleston, SC), and Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, QC, Canada. At the age of 21, she was awarded Third Prize in the 2012 International Organ Competition Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam. She won First Prize in the 2013 American Guild of Organists Quimby Competition and was featured as a Rising Star at the 2014 National AGO Convention. As a collaborative artist, Ms. McPherson has performed with fellow students of the Oberlin Conservatory at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, at the Boston Early Music Festival, and has been featured with the Bach Society of Charleston, SC.

A committed teacher of young musicians, Ms. McPherson is co-director of The Choir School at St. John’s, an after-school tuition-free music program for children grades 3-8. She also serves on the board and as an instructor for the Young Organist Collaborative, based in Portsmouth, NH. She has been a judge for the Young Organist Competition of the Columbia, SC AGO, and has served on the board for the L’Organo Series of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.

The 2022 Old West Organ Society Summer Series commences with a performance by Douglas Witte. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted in support of the Society.

Douglas Witte received his organ training with Victoria Wagner, and subsequently, Peter Sykes, at the Longy School of Music, and later attended the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, studying with Jacques van Oortmerssen, followed by independent studies in Ost-Friesland under the auspices of the North German Organ Academy. He has been the  Music Director at St, John's Episcopal Church in Charlestown since returning to the United States in 1993.  Besides harboring an abiding passion for the music of 17th century Northern Europe, Douglas is also keenly interested in non-Western musical traditions, and has recently taken up learning to play the Turkish saz.