Kenneth Andrew Cowan (born December 19, 1974) is a Canadian church and concert organist who currently serves as professor of organ at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University in Houston, Texas.
A native of Thorold, Ontario, he has toured extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, and has made numerous recordings, most on the JAV label. Cowan is a graduate of both the Curtis Institute of Music (Bachelor of Music) and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music (Master of Music and Artist Diploma). He has held positions at Saint Bartholomew's Church, Saint James Episcopal Church, the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in New York City, Saint Clement's Church, Philadelphia, and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where he served as Assistant Professor of Organ and Coordinator of Organ and Sacred Music, where he was awarded the 2008 Rider University Distinguished Teaching Award.
He has also been on the roster of Associate Organists for the famous Wanamaker Grand Court Organ in Philadelphia.
Cowan, an acclaimed organist with numerous reviews, has been a featured recitalist at three national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. He lives in Houston, Texas with his wife Lisa Shihoten, where he serves as a faculty member at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
David Hurd is a composer, concert organist, choral director and educator.
James Healey Willan was an Anglo-Canadian organist and composer. He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano. He is best known for his church music.
Westminster Choir College (WCC) is a historic conservatory of music currently operating on the campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Rider's College of Arts and Sciences, the college under which the historic institution has been reorganized, consists of Westminster Choir College as well as three additional schools.
James Litton was an American musician, who directed the American Boychoir from 1985 to 2001, and is widely recognized as one of the leading choral conductors of the day.
Paul Otto Manz, was an American composer for choir and organ. His most famous choral work is the Advent motet "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come", which has been performed at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, though its broadcast by the neighbouring Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, in its Advent Carol Service precipitated its popularity.
Joan Lippincott is an American concert organist and former head of the organ department at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.
Gerre Edward Hancock was an American organist, improviser, and composer. Hancock was Professor of Organ and Sacred Music at the University of Texas at Austin. He died of cardiac arrest in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, January 21, 2012.
James Whitbourn is a British composer and conductor.
Bradley Ellingboe is an American composer, conductor, and bass-baritone singer.
Kent Tritle is a choral conductor and organist in New York City, United States. He is the current director of the professional chorus Musica Sacra and of the Oratorio Society of New York, and director of cathedral music and organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He is a concert organist, including organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra. He has been Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music, and on the graduate faculty of the Juilliard School.
Frederick Lewis Swann was an American church and concert organist, choral conductor, composer, and president of the American Guild of Organists. His extensive discography includes both solo organ works and choral ensembles he has conducted.
Donald Nally is an American conductor, chorus master, and professor of conducting, specializing in chamber choirs, opera, and new music. He is conductor of the professional new-music choir, The Crossing, based in Philadelphia. He teaches graduate students at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.
James Anthony O'Donnell is a British organist, choral conductor and academic teacher who has been a professor of organ at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in Connecticut, United States, since 2023.
Thomas Mantle Murray is an American organist, known as an interpreter of Romantic organ music. He was a Professor of Music and university organist at the Yale School of Music from 1981 until his retirement in 2019. He is also Principal Organist and Artist in Residence at Christ Church in New Haven, Connecticut.
John C. Walker, more familiarly known as John Walker, is an American concert organist, choirmaster, and CD recording artist. He is also a former president of the American Guild of Organists, elected in May 2014 to a two-year term of the 16,000-member organization. Walker has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. He is "widely recognized for his flawless technique and execution as well as his controlled and passionate playing," said Duke University in announcing a John Walker recital at Duke Chapel. Since 2006 he has served on the faculty of the Peabody Institute and George Mason University.
George Alfred Lynn was an American composer, conductor, pianist, organist, singer, and music educator. A longtime member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, his compositional output encompasses more than 200 orchestral and choral pieces; many of which have been performed by major American symphony orchestras like the Denver Symphony, the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He taught on the music faculties of several prominent American colleges, notably conducting several university choirs. Throughout his life he was active as a conductor, organist, and pianist for various church and community choirs.
Johann Vexo is a French organist. He is the organist for both the choir organ at Notre Dame de Paris and the great organ of Nancy Cathedral.
Scott Dettra is an American concert organist and church musician. He tours in North America and Europe, and is the Organist at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Formerly, he was Director of Music and Organist at the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas. He is also Organist of The Crossing, a professional chamber choir based in Philadelphia. From 2007 to 2012, he was Organist of Washington National Cathedral.
Diane Meredith Belcher is an American concert organist, teacher, and church musician. She has given a large number of solo recitals throughout the United States and abroad, is a teacher, and has served as Director of Music at Bach Vespers/Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City, Lecturer in Music Theory & Organ at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire., Music Director at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, Hanover, Co-Organist/Choirmaster at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, and head of the Organ Division at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. Her concert career is managed by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.
Daniel Hyde is a choral conductor and organist. In 2019 he became Director of Music for the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, having previously served as organist and Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church in New York.