Organ Recital Series

Tickets

Tickets for Organ Recital Series concerts are $8 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and students. All seats are general admission. Tickets are available for pre-sale through the Goshen College Welcome Center by calling (574) 535-7566. VISA/MasterCard/Discover accepted.

1. Crista Miller, organ

Sunday 10.22.2006 4:00 pm Rieth Recital Hall
Born in Elkhart, Indiana, Crista (Saik) Miller is much in demand as solo artist, choral conductor, sacred musician, scholar, and teacher. She has performed in Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, throughout the US, and live on WXXI radio. As Music Director and Cathedral Organist at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Texas, she is developing a graded music program and oversees the Music Committee responsible for the new cathedral's new organs.

Miller earned both the DMA in organ performance and the sacred music diploma at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, studying under Hans Davidsson. There she received the graduate award for the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI), a project to deliver multiple historic-styled organs to the Rochester area. She also served as Assistant Organist at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, working under Peter DuBois. In 2004, she was one of twenty-eight organists, and the sole US citizen, chosen to participate in the Odense International Organ Competition and Festival in Denmark. In 2002, she was named one of seven semifinalists in the prestigious American Guild of Organists National Young Artists' Competition in Organ Playing and played at the National Convention in Philadelphia. Other notable performances include her world premiere of Michael Remson's Whistle Stop! at the 2003 EROI Festival, and US engagements in Buffalo's Slee Hall and St. Paul's Cathedral; and in New York, Texas, Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oklahoma. Her doctoral research is on cultural influences, particularly Lebanese, in the organ works of Naji Hakim, and she has studied with the composer in Paris and southern France.

2. John Fast, organ

Sunday 1.28.2007 4:00 pm Rieth Recital Hall
John Fast, a member of the Eastern Mennonite University music faculty since 1975, teaches organ, piano, class piano, and music theory. In addition he teaches in several humanities courses and in the new church music program in the music department. An active church musician and accompanist, Mr. Fast is currently organist at Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, and is the accompanist for the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir and the Bach Festival Choir. During his time in the Shenandoah Valley, Fast has also held positions of organist in several other churches and of accompanist for numerous choral organizations. Mr. Fast’s undergraduate degree in Music was from Bethel College, Kansas. He received the Master of Music degree from Indiana University, where he also received the Performer’s Certificate in Organ Performance. In the past year he has performed four recitals in the Shenandoah Valley including an all Bach program for the Charlottesville, Va., American Guild of Organist’s Chapter.

3. GC Chamber Choir with Christine Thögersen, organ

Friday 2.09.2007 7:30 pm Rieth Recital Hall
As part of her sabbatical research and performance, professor of music Debra Brubaker collaborates with assistant professor of music Chris Thögersen on a program of organ and choral music. In addition to combined organ and choral pieces, this concert will feature a cappella voices in large and small ensembles, harp, and other instruments. Compositions include the Baroque stylings of Monteverdi, Mozart's Ave verum corpus to commemorate his 250 th anniversary year, and works by 20th century British composers John Sanders and Benjamin Britten.

On the music faculty at Goshen College since 1997, Thögersen presently teaches a variety of courses along with applied piano and organ. Her own organ study began in 8th grade and has taken her to a variety of locations: Goshen College for undergraduate study, Illinois State University for graduate work, and in between, a longer sojourn in Berlin, Germany. There she completed her B-Exam (post-Masters) in church music at the Church Music School in Berlin-Spandau after which she took a position in Berlin-Neukölln as organist and choir director. Her work then, and since, has included teaching a wide range of ages: early childhood music groups (Berlin), middle and high school piano and organ students in the Music Center's Community School of the Arts, as well as holding a half time position at Benton Elementary teaching music to first through sixth graders. A continuing interest in Music Therapy has led to working with students with special needs through the CSA and the local Foundation for Music and Healing, Inc.

4. Gail Walton, organ

Sunday, 5.13.2007 4:00 pm Rieth Recital Hall
Organist Gail Walton is Music Director for the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame, in Notre Dame (Ind.) [Full biography forthcoming]