Ted Davis, organist

Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Theodore S. (Ted) Davis is an active organ and harpsichord recitalist as well as a chamber music performer and conductor. He has achieved national recognition in organ-playing competitions, and is an active composer. Other musical interests have led to studies in a capella vocal music. He has also served as assistant to the music directors in Baroque opera productions at the Boston Early Music Festival and the Amherst Early Music Festival. He holds music degrees in organ performance from Birmingham-Southern College (B. Mus.), choral conducting from Northwestern University (M. Mus.), harpsichord from the Longy School of Music (A.D.), and organ performance from the Peabody Conservatory (D.M.A.). Following a nearly 20-year career in Richmond, Virginia and Cambridge, Massachusetts, He has been organist and choirmaster at Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore since 2005.

Christopher Holman, organist

Sunday, October 15, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Christopher Holman is Director of Music at Saint Gertrude Church and Priory in Cincinnati. Since winning the Albert Schweitzer Competition, he has performed at major international festivals, including the Leipzig Bach Festival in Germany, the Festival international de l’orgue ancienne in Sion, Switzerland, and the Festival Internacional de Órgano y Música Antigua in Oaxaca, Mexico. He is the Founder and Editor of the journal Vox Humana. He previously studied with Robert Bates at the University of Houston and Dana Robinson at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Joshua Stafford, organist

Sunday, February 11, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

The meticulous technique, innate and highly mature musicality, and constant musical engagement exhibited by Joshua Stafford compelled the jury of the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition to unanimously name him, out of 12 stellar competitors, the Pierre S. du Pont First Prize Winner of this illustrious event. In 2015 he was hailed by his peers (at the Association of Anglican Musicians’ national conference) as “technically flawless yet exceptionally nuanced and spontaneous.” His programs almost always include a major organ transcription and often a silent movie accompaniment.

Mr. Stafford is the Minister of Music at First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio and Director of Sacred Music at the Chautauqua Institute in New York.

Improvised Meditations on the Stations of the Cross

Third Annual Presentation
Dr. Richard K. Fitzgerald, organist

Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

Dr. Fitzgerald’s work as an improviser is recognized both in the U.S. and abroad, and he was the only American invited to participate in the 53rd Haarlem International Organ Improvisation Competition in the Netherlands in summer 2021. In October 2013, he won first prize in the 2nd Annual Competition in Organ Improvisation sponsored by the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Dr. Fitzgerald was also a semi- finalist in the 2021 National Competition in Organ Improvisation sponsored by the American Guild of Organists. He has taught organ improvisation at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD.

Karl Robson, organist

Sunday, October 16, 2022 at 3:00 p.m.

Karl Robson is the Director of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Norwood Parish in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He completed undergraduate work magna cum laude with departmental distinction in Church Music and Organ Performance at St. Olaf College, where he was a student of Dr. Catherine Rodland. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts as well as the Master of Music in Organ Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Higgs.

Program PDF

Michael Unger, organist

Sunday, January 22, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Multiple award-winning musician Michael Unger appears as a soloist and chamber musician in North America, Europe, Japan and South Korea, and is Associate Professor of Organ and Harpsichord at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Program PDF

Michael Kleinschmidt, organist

Sunday, February 19, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Canon for Cathedral Music at Saint Mark’s Cathedral (Episcopal), Seattle, Washington, Michael has also served as Canon for Cathedral Music at Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Michael is an accomplished organist, having played in recitals across the world, including an All-Bach concert in 2012 on the Flentrop Organ at Oberlin College Warner Concert Hall.

Program PDF

Michael Schreffler, Organist

Friday, October 8, 2021

Michael Schreffler received organ instruction from Rebecca Borthwick while he was an undergrad at Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, and pursued additional studies with John Walker and Robert Glasgow after college. He presently studies with Richard Fitzgerald and serves as organist and music director at First United Methodist of London, OH. He makes his home in Columbus.

All Friday Lunchtime Organ Recitals are at 12:30 p.m. (or immediately following the 12:05 Mass)

Chase Loomer, Organist

Friday, November 19, 2021

Chase Loomer is a second year Doctor of Music candidate at Indiana University, where he studies organ with Christopher Young. He completed his Bachelor of Music in organ performance at the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of David Higgs, and his Master of Music at Yale University, where he was a student of Martin Jean and also studied improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart.

Originally from Charlotte, NC, Chase’s accomplishments include: First prize, 2018 Taylor Organ Competition; first prize, 2015 AGO/Quimby Southeast Regional Competition for Young Organists; and first prize, 2015 Sarasota-Manatee AGO Chapter Competition. In 2019, he was a semifinalist in the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition and also received the Robert Baker Scholarship from the Yale ISM, awarded annually to a first year organ student. Upon graduating from Yale, he was awarded the Julia R. Sherman Memorial Prize from the Yale School of Music, given annually to a graduating organ student. Chase is currently the music director of Church of the Nativity in Indianapolis, IN. He was featured in the Rising Star series at the 2016 AGO National Convention in Houston and attended the 2016 OHS Convention as an E. Power Biggs Fellow.

Chase has presented concerts throughout the country and has been featured on the radio broadcast, Pipedreams on several occasions. In addition to organ, Chase is an avid jazz pianist and singer. Outside of music, he enjoys weightlifting, sports, and biking.

All Friday Lunchtime Organ Recitals are at 12:30 p.m. (or immediately following the 12:05 Mass)

Jacob Dassa, Organist

Friday, March 25, 2022

Jacob Dassa, born in Los Angeles, California, is a versatile keyboardist specializing in historical organ, harpsichord, and clavichord. Focusing on repertoire and instruments of the 17th and 18th centuries, he has appeared in recital throughout America and Europe, as well as on the radio programs Pipedreams Live and WQXR Midday Masterpieces. Jacob holds a Master of Music degree in harpsichord from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelor of Music degree in organ from the Eastman School of Music.

All Friday Lunchtime Organ Recitals are at 12:30 p.m. (or immediately following the 12:05 Mass)

Saint Joseph Cathedral Music

Organ Recital