Someone You Should Know

As with so many others, my obsession with the pipe organ began when I was a child. When I was eight, the families of the adult choir were enlisted to relocate organ pipes and parts from the sanctuary to the parlor while the church chancel was being rebuilt. I was...

I have a wonderful family, which has filled my life with much joy: husband Jack, daughters Jackie, Jenny, Julie, Jill, ten grandchildren, and now four great grandsons. Music has been a wonderful added enrichment, and as I write this I am realizing how significant a...

As a 9-year-old choirboy, my curiosity was piqued by the movement of the Swell shutters behind the façade pipes of the 1925 Austin organ in the loft at St. Peter Catholic Church in Steubenville, Ohio. How was Mrs. Gilligan controlling that from the console, which...

As with all of us, the path to where we end up is often winding with many detours along the way. It does make life interesting! Growing up in rural Minnesota, I was blessed to have been taught for 10 years by my dear piano teacher, Sister Eugenia. In 6th grade, she...

My wife, Elizabeth, and I moved to the North Shore in 1992. Although we came here primarily for my job as Organist and Choirmaster of Christ Church, Winnetka, we also were drawn by the thriving arts community and great schools. Elizabeth has worked for many years...

I grew up in Aurora. My dad sang in the choir at our church, Fourth Street Methodist, where his dad had been the minister from 1919 to 1926. As a little child I would always end up near the organ console after church.  It was an eight-rank tubular-pneumatic Hinners...

I believe that it is through us and our music that God speaks to people every bit as much as through the spoken word. As a musician in church and in the synagogue, I am always reminded of how my playing touches the lives of the parishioners. Currently, I am the...

I joined the North Shore AGO chapter a year or so ago, when I began serving as organist at Kenilworth Union Church.  Unfortunately, my work in Bloomington has prevented me from attending AGO events in Chicago.  But, it is almost January, and that means it is time for...

I recently joined the NSAGO this past summer after I began my new position as Minister of Music and Organist at First United Methodist Church in Evanston. My wife Annastasia and I are both from Kenosha and we were excited to move back to the Midwest after several...

I started taking organ lessons in 7th grade.  I was involved with music at church from a very early age and was always fascinated by the sound of the organ and all the buttons!  I started taking piano lessons in 2nd grade and never really liked it.  When I started...