Born in Bristol, England, Andrews initially studied organ with Garth Benson of St. Mary Redcliffe Church. At sixteen, he entered London’s Royal Academy of Music. He later moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he was a student of Lionel Rogg. Following his return to Britain he studied privately for two years with Dame Gillian Weir.
Amanda Mole is one of the leading concert organists of her generation and the winner of numerous international competitions, including first prize at the 8th International Musashino-Tokyo Organ Competition (2017), first place and audience prize at the Miami International Organ Competition (2016), and first place at the Arthur Poister Organ Competition (2014) and John Rodland Memorial Organ Competition (2014).
First Prize and Audience Prize winner of the 2022 American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance (NYACOP), James Kealey is available for recitals, concertos and master classes. He serves as full time Director of Music/Organist at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York and holds a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. James was named one ofThe Diapason magazine’s “20 Under 30″ in 2021.”
Internationally acclaimed organist Richard Elliott kicks off the 2024-2025 Paul S. Hesselink Concert Series at Christ Church Episcopal.
Internationally acclaimed organist Richard Elliott kicks off the 2024-2025 Paul S. Hesselink Concert Series at Christ Church Episcopal.
Friday, February 10, 2024
7 PM
Doc Rando Hall; Beam Music Center on the campus of UNLV
38 stop, 53 rank - 3 manual Rudolf von Beckerath Organ
Paul Tegels, a native of the Netherlands, taught organ, and served as University Organist at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA from 2002 until 2023.
He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Organ Performance and Pedagogy and his Master of Arts Degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Iowa, where he studied organ with Delores Bruch, and choral conducting with William Hatcher.
Other degrees and awards include the Artist Diploma and the Master of Music Degree in organ performance from the New England Conservatory in Boston where he studied with Yuko Hayashi and William Porter. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship from the Netherlands-America Commission for Educational Exchange.
He holds the teaching and performance degrees from the Stedelijk Conservatorium in Arnhem, The Netherlands, where he studied organ with Bert Matter and harpsichord with Cees Rosenhart. He has done extensive research on the organ and harpsichord concertos of Franz Joseph Haydn, and has played the first American performance of the Haydn Organ Concerto in D, Hoboken XVIII-2, of which he has prepared a performance edition.
Prior to his appointment at PLU, he taught at Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS.
Paul Tegels has performed extensively in solo and ensemble concerts in the United States, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand. He has performed at National Conventions of the Organ Historical Society, and has played some of the most significant organs in the US. As a lecturer, he has presented numerous programs at chapter meetings of the American Guild of Organists, and at other venues.
He performs frequently in duet concerts with University of Illinois professor of organ, Dana Robinson.
Paul Tegels, DMA
Sunday, January 7, 2024
4 PM - 5:30 PM
Christ Church Episcopal
72 stop, 54 rank - 4 manual Schantz (Opus 2294; 2009)
Organist, lecturer, and pedagogue Katelyn Emerson, hailed as “one of the world’s most promising organists” (Listvinafélag Hallgrímskirkju, Iceland), is internationally renowned for performances throughout North America, Europe, and Asia that are "thrilling from beginning to end" and that showcase repertoire from the 14th — 21st centuries with “impressive technical facility and musicianship” (Cleveland Classical). Upcoming and past recital venues include Walt Disney Hall (Los Angeles, California), Hallgrímskirja (Reykjavik, Iceland), Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic Hall (Russia), Cathédrale Saint-Omer (France), Kurhaus Wiesbaden (Germany), the Basilica of Santa Maria de Montserrat (Spain), Cathédrale St-Quentin (Hasselt, Belgium), Hauptkirche St. Petri (Hamburg, Germany), the Cathédrale Poitiers (France), Västerås Cathedral (Sweden), Longwood Gardens (Pennsylvania), Musashino Civic Cultural Hall (Japan), the Riverside Church (New York, New York), Benaroya Hall (Seattle, Washington), and Merrill Auditorium (Portland, Maine), among others, as well as inauguration performances at churches that include Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and Trinity Wall Street (both New York, New York).
Prizewinner of competitions on three continents, Katelyn garners acclaim from audiences ranging from those new to classical music to organ aficionados for her “beautifully designed program[s]” (Orgue Canada), “refreshingly original and interesting” program notes (The Diapason), and “careful ear and sense of musicality that puts her at the top of recitalists performing today” (Journal of American Organbuilding). As first prizewinner of the American Guild of Organists’ (AGO) 2016 National Young Artists’ Competition in Organ Performance (Houston, Texas), the Guild's premier performance competition, Katelyn performed at the 2018 National Convention of the AGO in Kansas City (Missouri) after giving over 70 concerts throughout the United States and Europe in the intervening two years. She additionally received the Second Jean Boyer Award in the 2014 Fifth International Organ Competition “Pierre de Manchicourt” (Béthune and Saint-Omer, France), the second prize of the 2015 Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition (Syracuse, New York), the third prize of the VIII Musashino International Organ Competition (Tokyo, Japan), and, as the youngest finalist of the VIII Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition (Kaliningrad, Russia), was awarded the title of “Laureate” and Third Place, as well as additional recital prizes. First prizewinner of the 2011 Region V AGO/Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists (Lexington, Kentucky), Katelyn has also received numerous scholarships for her musical and academic work, including the 2013 M. Louise Miller Scholarship, the 2015 McClelland Community Music Foundation Scholarship. She was selected as part of the inaugural “20 under 30” class of 2015 for The Diapason magazine, which “recognizes young talents in the fields of organ and harpsichord performance, organ and harpsichord building, carillon, and church music” who show “superior accomplishments, leadership, creativity, and innovative thinking.” Katelyn’s two CD recordings appear on the Pro Organo label: Evocations (2017), featuring the historic 1936 Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Church of the Advent (Boston, Massachusetts) and Inspirations (2018), sponsored by the Andover Organ Company in honor of their 70th anniversary and recorded on their Op. 114 at Christ Lutheran Church (Baltimore, Maryland). Her interviews and performances are regularly heard on such radio programs as Radio Russia, American Public Media’s Pipedreams, WXXI-FM’s With Heart and Voice, Radio VM’s Récit au grand orgue, Québec, Canada, and Radio Présence, Toulouse, France.
Between travels for performances, Katelyn is based in both the USA and the UK, having been awarded a Studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership (ESRC DTP) and a Bursary from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for an MPhil and PhD in Music at the University of Cambridge. Katelyn holds a Master of Arts in organ from the Musikhochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (Stuttgart, Germany), where she was supported by a German Academic Exchange Scholarship (DAAD), and, as recipient of the prestigious J. William Fulbright Study/Research Grant, Katelyn studied organ en perfectionnement at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse (France) with Michel Bouvard and Jan Willem Jansen. She holds double bachelor’s degrees in organ performance and French as well as minors in music history and historical performance (fortepiano) from Oberlin College and Conservatory (Ohio). During her time at Oberlin, she taught music theory at the Oberlin Community Music School, received the Selby Harlan Houston prize for distinguished work in organ and music theory, and was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honors society. Katelyn began her organ studies in 2005 through a scholarship of the Young Organist Collaborative (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). She has studied with Ludger Lohmann, Olivier Latry, Hans-Ola Ericsson, James David Christie, Marie-Louise Langlais, Ray Cornils, and Dr. Abbey Hallberg-Siegfried. She has also studied organ improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart, Marie-Louise Langlais, and Bálint Karosi, piano with Arlene Kies, fortepiano with David Breitman, both harpsichord and continuo with Webb Wiggins, flute with Trisha Craig, and voice with Ellen Hargis.
In addition to teaching privately, Katelyn has served on the faculties of the St. Andrews Organ Academy (Scotland), the McGill Student Organ Academy (Montréal, Canada), numerous AGO-sponsored Pipe Organ Encounters throughout the United States, and the Oberlin Summer Organ Academy (Ohio), and has been invited to join the juries of recent national organ interpretation and church music competitions and scholarships. Having received a Certificate in Advanced Occupational Ergonomics from Colorado State University, she regularly presents masterclasses and lectures on healthy practice techniques, organ interpretation, and sacred music for regional and national AGO-sponsored events and conventions as well as at universities in the USA and UK.
Katelyn was Associate Organist & Choirmaster at the Church of the Advent (Boston, Massachusetts) from 2016-2018, where she worked with the professional Choir of the Church of the Advent, the volunteer Parish Choir, and the historic Aeolian-Skinner organ. From 2010 – 2015, Ms. Emerson was music director of St. Paul Lutheran Church (Amherst, Ohio) where she oversaw all musical aspects of the liturgy while working with the adult and bell choirs. In January 2012, Katelyn served as the Oberlin Sacred Music Intern under music director Keith Tóth at the Brick Presbyterian Church (New York, New York), where she subsequently substituted for Mr. Tóth for the months of July from 2012 through 2015. She is regularly invited to present workshops on recently published organ music for church services at regional AGO conventions. She is associate editor of the online editorial journal Vox Humana (voxhumanajournal.com) and a regular contributor of feature articles for the UK's Choir & Organ magazine. She serves on the Membership Committee of the Organ Historical Society and as a board member of the European Chapter of the AGO. She holds professional memberships in the Association of Anglican Musicians, the American Musicological Society, and the Organ Historical Society.
BOSTON, MA “Boston’s Historic Park Street Church made a felicitous decision when it chose Katelyn Emerson for the recital celebrating the near completion of the church’s 1960 Aeolian-Skinner’s full restoration … she tailored her selections to the instrument, keeping her pair of stop-pullers busy making myriad changes of combinations to show off as many different tone-colors as possible … Emerson spoke with poise, enthusiasm, and considerable knowledge about both the works played and this organ’s history.
“… powerfully theatrical, with multiple opportunities to highlight the grandeur of full organ, generate tension … create power and mystery via the swell shades, and of course, display considerable virtuosity. Emerson did all this handily in an electrifying account.”
Geoffrey Wieting, Boston Music Intelligencer, March 2019
Friday, October 20, 2023
7 PM
Doc Rando Hall; Beam Music Center on the campus of UNLV
38 stop, 53 rank - 3 manual Rudolf von Beckerath Organ
The spellbinding and artistically masterful performances by Adam J. Brakel have led to him being compared to Liszt, Gould, Bernstein, and Paganini. National Public Radio hailed him as “an absolute organ prodigy with the technique and virtuosity that most concert pianists could only dream of…he is the Franz Liszt of the organ.” His playing is distinguished for its energy, passion, and transcendent virtuosity that serves the music without distracting, and, most importantly, musical maturity and communicative power. Mr. Brakel is Director of Music at St. James Cathedral and for the Diocese of Orlando, Florida.
“One of the most talented organists in the world.” (The Chicago Tribune, 2014)
“One of his country’s most outstanding talents in classical organ music…not just possessing virtuosity, but a mature empathy remarkable in so young a performer.” (The Sequencer, United Kingdom, August 2010)
“The Liszt piano transcription was absolutely phenomenally played.” (The Litchfield Review, Birmingham, England, September 2010)
“An absolute organ prodigy with the technique and virtuosity that most concert pianists could only dream of…the Franz Liszt of the organ.” (National Public Radio, Florida, August 2007)
Deux Voix represents one of the most cherished and historical combinations of musical sounds and has transformed it to appeal to a wide range of audiences.
For more information, please click here.
This program, like all events in the recital series, is free and open to the public.
Organ works from Lent through the Pentecost seasons. Come hear some of the best local organists perform on the church’s splendid Schantz organ.
This is the only program on the recital series this year featuring the 54-rank, four manual, Schantz at Christ Episcopal Church.
This program, like all events in the recital series, is free and open to the public.
Dr. Weismann’s lecture-recital celebrates the 116th birthday of Rudolf von Beckerath, founder of the Beckerath Orgelbau of Hamburg, Germany. The presentation will focus on the company’s nearly 75-year history of building world-class instruments. You will learn about Beckerath’s ideas of organ design and, through Dr. Weismann’s lecture and playing how UNLV’s Maurine Jackson Smith Organ is based on and reflects those concepts.
For more information on Dr. Weismann, please click here.
This program, like all events in the recital series, is free and open to the public.
Dr. Cleveland is an internationally known organist, having performed recitals in 49 states as well as concert halls around the world. He is on the Music Faculty at the University of Washington and its Director Music and Liturgical Arts at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, Washington.
For more information, please click here.
This program, like all events in the recital series, is free and open to the public.
The Southern Nevada Chapter launches a new season of the Paul S. Hesselink Organ Recital Series on September 23, 2022 with a recital by Dr. Seth Bott in Dr. Rando-Grillot Recital Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Dr. Bott is a native of Castle Dale, Utah. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in organ performance from the University of Kansas where he studied under James Higdon and Michael Bauer. He received his Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from Brigham Young University where he studied with Don Cook and Douglas Bush. He has served for many years as a Guest Tabernacle Organist on Temple Square on the Mormon Tabernacle Organ.
This program, like all events in the recital series, is free and open to the public.
Dr. Alcee Chriss, III is the 2017 First Prize Winner of the Canadian International Organ Competition and is hailed as one of the most talented young organists of our time. He is on the Faculty and serves as the University Organist and Artist-in-Residence at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Rashaan Rori Allwood won first Prize at the Concours d’orgue de Quebec in 2017. He is pursuing his doctorate in composition at The University of Western Ontario. Mr. Allwood is currently the Director of Music at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church in Toronto.
Dr. Adam Pajan is a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma’s American Organ Institute. An award winning recitalist, he has performed throughout the US and Germany. Dr. Pajan is a frequent performer on NPR’s program Pipedreams. Come hear why Michael Barone of Pipedreams called him “…a rising star definitely worth watching.”
Are you a beginning organist? Do you play piano but want to learn more about playing the organ? Maybe you are an organist who plays regularly, but would like to learn more about registering a digital or pipe organ? This free SNCAGO workshop is perfect for you.
ORGAN + PIANO: The husband and wife team of Maria Teresa Sierra, a noted concert pianist who trained at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Raúl Prieto Ramírez, Spain’s sensational concert organist who studied in France and Germany, bring to the stage Spanish and Russian flair in blazing, edge-of-the-seat virtuosity coupled with the precision, sensitivity, and clarity of a premier chamber ensemble.
Discover more about Duo MusArt Barcelona including pictures, performance videos and more on their SNC:AGO profile page. Click Here.
This is a free concert. No tickets are required.
Save the Date! Members & Guests are invited to our Fall Social on Friday, August 30 beginning at 6 PM at the home of member John Ledwon. Join us for an evening of great food, conversation and music.
More details… plus invites with RSVP… soon!
Every year the SNCAGO sponsors area youth's enrollment in Pipe Organ Encounters, which are designed to give aspiring organists and pianists opportunities to learn about the pipe organ during a week-long intensive camp. Many of those students will be featured in a recital this Sunday at the Guardian Angel Cathedral (302 Cathedral Way, Las Vegas, NV 89109) beginning at 3:30 PM. This is a free concert.
"This is an exciting for our community's young organists to play on one of the biggest instruments in the state and demonstrate what they have learned," said SNCAGO Sub-Dean, cathedral organist, and CCSD music teacher William Freeman.
Each POE student will perform repertoire including hymns and organ literature from Bach and other organ composers. Students are the in studios of Laurie Swain (chapter member), Shireen Beaudry (chapter member), and Elaine Hardy.
Pipe Organ Experiences are funded through the Raymond J. Barnes Scholarship. If you would like to give area youth an opportunity to experience and explore the pipe organ, please contribute, HERE.
The SNC:AGO executive board will meet for a 2019-20 planning retreat. The recital series is already set and on the books, but the board will discuss social activities, workshops, member events and other initiatives for next year.
Have a suggestion, idea or comment? Reach out to a member of the board via email. CLICK HERE to email a board member or check the member directory for direct contact information.
Grace Community Church of Boulder City presents The King’s Brass
Board Meeting
Grace Presbyterian Church Board Room
Mass for the Blessing & Dedication of the Shrine Organ at 4 pm. Organ Concert follows at 6:00 pm
Featuring organist William Vaughn
Free to the public
Join the SNC:AGO as we visit Bet Knesset BaMidBar. Please arrive by 7 pm for a short lecture and music prior to the 7:30 service. Cantor Jonathan Friedmann from Los Angeles will lead the service.
