Todd Wilson is Director of Music and Organist of the Church of the Covenant (Presbyterian) in Cleveland, Ohio. where he heads a program of chairs as well as a concert series.

He is also Head of the Organ Department at The Cleveland Institute of Music and directs the Instituts University Code Chorale and Chamber Choir.

Todd Wilson received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where he studied organ with Wayne Fischer. Further coaching in organ répertoire was with Russell Saunders at The Eastman School of Music.

He has won numerous competitions, including the Grand Prix de Chartres and the Fort Wayne Competition. An active member of the American Guild of Organiste, he holds the Fellow and Choirmaster certificates, and will be featured during the Centennal National Convention of the Guild in July, 1996.

Todd Wilson has been heard in concert in many major cities throughout the US and Europe, including concerts at Chicago s Orchestra Hall and Uihlein Hall in Milwaukee.

During 1992 he appeared as a solo recitalist for Austrian Radio in Vienna, as well as in concert with the Slovakian Radio Synphony. Recent orchestral appearances include performances with members of the Atlanta the Naples (FL) Philharmonie, the Calgary Philharmonic and the City of London Sinfonia

A sought-after adjudicator Todd Wilson has been a jury member for numerous national and international competitions.

An active interest in improvisation has led to his popular improvised accompaniments to classic silent films.

Todd Wison appears frequently with his wife, Anne, in duo-organ or organ/piano recitals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Wilson_(organist)

William’s WHITEHEAD solo organ-playing career took off when he won First Prize at the Odense International Organ Competition in Denmark, 2004. Trained at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music, London, his teachers have included David Sanger, James O’ Donnell and Dame Gillian Weir. Valuable inspiration was gained in his year as Organ Scholar of Westminster Abbey, where he played for services and occasionally conducted the choir. This led naturally on to a period as Assistant Organist at Rochester Cathedral, where he accompanied the Cathedral Choir and helped to found the new Girls’ Choir. After four years in this post, he moved on to become a Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, and took up a position as Director of Music at St Mary’s Bourne Street, London.

William now travels around the world playing organ concerts and giving masterclasses. 2007 has seen him in Pretoria, South Africa, Vienna, Toulouse, Berlin and Denmark. He gave his Royal Albert Hall début playing the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with the New Queens Hall Orchestra under Ivor Setterfield, and has made a disc of Edwardian organ music on the Herald label.

Other activities include teaching the organ at Trinity College of Music, using the historic instrument in the Old Royal Naval College Chapel amongst others. His teaching is thoroughly informed, though always led by the music. He also co-runs the London Organ Forum (www.londonorganforum.com), which puts on yearly study-days around organist-composers.

http://www.william-whitehead.com/

Hailed as “A world-class virtuoso” and “an expert at defining darks, lights, shadows and colors,” Bradley Hunter Welch is increasingly in demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and collaborative artist. A native of Knoxville, TN, Bradley holds the Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Musical Arts, Master of Music degrees, and the Artist Diploma from Yale University where he studied with Thomas Murray and Martin Jean. He also holds the Bachelor of Music degree magna cum laude from Baylor University where he studied with Joyce Jones. Dr. Welch has also continued his study of organ and piano technique with Sheila Paige.

Dr. Welch is the 2003 First Place winner of the Dallas International Organ Competition and was also awarded the Audience Prize for the second time, having previously won it in 2000. In 2005, he was a featured artist at three regional conventions of The American Guild of Organists, and he made his European debut in France performing in the Chartres Festival. He has appeared as soloist with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. With the DSO, he gave the world premier of Stephen Paulus’ Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, the piece written for Bradley as the winner of the Dallas International Organ Competition. Additionally, he has taught at Southern Methodist University and Baylor University. He is Director of Music & Arts/Organist at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. In addition to these duties, he performs approximately 20 concerts annually under the exclusive artistic management of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, Hartford, CT.

His premier recording is the first solo organ recording of the Cliburn Organ at Broadway Baptist Church, and his recording on the magnificent Fisk organ at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas is currently in production. Bradley is married to Kara Kirkendoll Welch, a flutist in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Flute at Southern Methodist University. They have a son – Ethan Hunter Welch.

http://www.concertartists.com/BW.html

Born : January 17, 1941 – Martinborough, New Zealand

The New Zealand-born concert organist and harpsichordist, Gillian Constance Weir, studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1962 to 1965. In 1965-1966 she also studied privately with Anton Heiller, Marie-Claire Alain and Nadia Boulanger.

Gillian Weir made her solo recital debut at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1965. The same year she made her debut as concerto soloist on the Opening Night of the Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. Since 1965 she is recognised as Britain’s foremost concert organist and latterly harpsichordist. She has appeared in concerts with all leading British orchestras, and numerous foreign orchestras, including Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Australian ABC, and Württemberg Chamber Orchestra. She has played under noted conductors, such as : Claudio Abbado, Malcolm Sargent, Colin Davis, Andrew Davis, Raymond Leppard and Michael Gielen. She appears regularly at all major International Festivals, including : Edinburg, Flanders and Aldeburgh.

Through her unique career as an internationally acclaimed concert organist, performing world-wide at the major festivals and with leading orchestras and conductors, Gillian Weir has become established as a distinguished musician known for her virtuosity and integrity, her reputation extending well beyond the world of the organ. Her renown as a performer, which has stimulated numerous young players to follow her, is backed by her scholarly reputation ; she is in demand as an adjudicator for all the leading international competitions and as lecturer, broadcaster, teacher and writer, while her television appearances have reached vast new audiences.

Her repertoire is exceptional in its breadth and variety, stretching from the Renaissance to contemporary works. Gillian Weir has performed the complete works of Bach as well as others including Messiaen, and her pre-eminent position as Messiaen interpreter has been underlined with her CD release of his complete organ works – received universally with such plaudits as that from Le Monde : “This intégrale is a worthy successor to that by Messiaen himself” – and also by her contribution to Faber’s The Messiaen Companion and other publications.

Gillian Weir has received many prizes, awards and honours, and in the 1996 New Year’s Honours List was created Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her services to music, having been made CBE in 1989. Her achievements have been marked by the reissue on CD of her famed series of Argo recordings, and her nomination by Classic CD magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Keyboard Players of the Century, as well as by The Sunday Times as one of the 1000 Music Makers of the Millennium. In December 2000, ITV South Bank Show chronicled her world-wide activities as a performer, teacher and recording artist in a highly acclaimed documentary. She has recently accepted the appointment of Distinguished Visiting Artist at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore USA.

Gillian Weir’s schedule last year (2006) included recital and concerto appearances in Berlin, Canada and the USA (including the spectacular Disney Hall in Los Angeles), the new Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore, and festivals throughout Europe. In October she gave the first full-scale recital for several decades at the Royal Albert Hall, to an audience of over 2000. Her much praised Organ Master Series for Priory Records continued with the double-CD sets of Bach, including the Leipzig Chorales on the new organ at Bach’s own church of St Thomas, Leipzig. This was followed by the first in a new series of concert-hall recordings, celebrating the Albert Hall’s refurbished organ ; the next, made in the Royal Festival Hall just before the organ was removed for restoration, followed in February, and the third in the series, from Symphony Hall, Birmingham, is just released. The re-release of her legendary Messiaen recordings (containing the three posthumously published works and thus one only two complete sets) have received further acclaim, being hailed by Gramophone as “one of the finest organ recordings ever made”.

http://www.gillianweir.com/

Jane Watts is regarded as one of Britain’s leading concert organists. She made her Royal Festival Hall recital debut in 1986, a season during which she also became the Royal College of Organists’ first ‘Performer of the Year’ : her debut in the world-famous BBC Promenade Concerts in London’s Royal Albert Hall took place in 1988, as soloist under conductor John Mauceri. Since then her career has taken her all over the world, with performances in the USA, Europe, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand in addition to numerous appearances throughout Great Britain. “Seldom do you hear an instrumentalist so confident and capable as Jane Watts : she demonstrated total self-possession, in addition to ample musical knowledge” – wrote the reviewer in New York – The Sun of her recital in Trinity Church, Wall Street in July 2008. She will return to the USA in 2013.

In July 2011 Jane Watts gave the opening recital of the first international organ series in the Frits-Philips Concert Hall, Eindhoven.

Miss Watts has recorded exclusively for Priory Records since 1988. Her many recital recordings have garnered superlative reviews from a widely-respected range of publications : the next will be from St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney. In 2007 she recorded the two organ concertos by Richard Popplewell with the Ulster Orchestra under Sir David Willcocks. She has also recorded several recital programmes for the BBC, in Britain, France and Germany, and additionally broadcast on radio in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Jane Watts has appeared as concerto soloist under conductors including Matthias Bamert, Richard Hickox, Sir Roger Norrington, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Sir David Willcocks, and with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Ulster Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.

From 1991 Jane Watts was, in parallel with her busy career as a soloist, the organist of the world-famous Bach Choir of London – the first woman to hold the post since the Choir’s foundation in 1876. Under Musical Director Sir David Willcocks, and his successor in 1998 David Hill, Miss Watts appeared both as soloist and as organ accompanist to the Choir in Britain, the USA, Europe, the Middle East and New Zealand. During its visit to the 10th Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, she undertook the formidable organ part in the world premiere of Naji Hakim’s Gloria. She relinquished this position in July 2010, when the Musical Director required the postholder additionally to act as Assistant Conductor.

http://www.janewatts.co.uk/index.html

Ulrich Walther (born in 1980) studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart (Germany), where he passed all exams (bachelor in Church music, diplomas in concert performance and music teaching, magister in school music) with distinction. During that time his professors were Prof.Dr.Ludger Lohmann (organ), Prof.Dieter Kurz (Conducting) and Hans-Martin Corrinth (Improvisation).

He took part in organ master classes with Lorenzo Ghielmi, Daniel Roth, Hans-Ola Ericcson, David Sanger, Heinz Wunderlich, Gerhard Weinberger, Jon Laukvik.

He gained several prizes : 2005 1.prize of the International Organ Competition in Korschenbroich (Germany), 2006 2.Second prize and spezial award for the comissioned modern piece of Thomas Daniel Schlee at the International Organ Competition in Graz (Austria), 2006 2.prize of the International Organ competition in Heidenheim (Germany), 2007 1.prize and audience prize at the International Organ Festival in St.Albans (GB), 2008 Scholarship of the “Deutscher Musikrat”, where he was taken up in the federal choice “Konzerte Junger Künstler”.

From October 2008 until 2010 he taught as a guest professor organ, improvisation and figured bass at the Conservatory in Graz (Austria). Since October 2010 he is regularly working as a professor in Graz.

He played concerts at well known organs or festivals (Nürnberger Orgelwoche ION, Thüringer Bachwochen, Bodensee Musikfestival, Oberstdorfer Kunstsommer, Organ Festival Oviedo, Orgelfestival Bergamo, St.Albans, Los Angeles St.James’ Episcopal Church, Wormser Dom, Chartres Cathedral, Stadthalle Wuppertal, Edinbourgh St.Giles, Birmingham Townhall, St.Bavo Haarlem and a tour through Russia).

In August 2010 he released his first CD mit Bach-Arrangements by Max Reger with the british Label Priory, recorded at the historic Sauer-organ in Bremen Dom. Soon he will make a recording of the complete Bach-transcriptions for organ by Max Reger.

Ulrich WALTHER – Chartres 2009

http://ulrichwalther.com/

Jean Wallet is an french organist, improviser and teacher.

Born in 1930, Jean Wallet began his musical studies at the Nice region National Conservatory in 1945 where he learned the piano, violin and harmony.

In 1949 he began studying the organ at the Institute for Blind Youth in Paris under the direction of Master André Marchal he has the honor of replacing for years with great organ of Saint Eustache .
He comes right at the end of study at the Paris Conservatory in the class of Rollande Falcinelli, where he obtained a first organ and improvisation price. Appointed at the request of Peter Cochereau, professor at the Nice Conservatory, where he taught from 1964 to 1998 (adult classes and improvisation).

Appointed titular organist of the Cathedral of Nice in 1964, he stayed 40 years and receive the title of Knight of St. Gregory.

Also in 1964 he became organ professor (adult class) and improvisation at the Conservatory of Nice, a position he held until 1998.

He continues to teach each summer at the session of the liturgical organists Annecy and the National liturgical organ internship Montbrison.

Jean Wallet died on 17 September 2012 in Nice.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Wallet

Mattias Wager was born in 1967 in Stockholm, Sweden. He studied Church Music and Organ at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm, where he obtained his Performer’s Diploma with distinction in organ interpretation and improvisation. His teachers were Torvald Torén (interpretation) and Anders Bondeman (improvisation).

In 1995, Mattias Wager won the International Interpretation Competition in St Albans, England, and in September of the same year, he won the Grand Prix d’improvisation “Pierre Cochereau” as well as the “Prix Maurice Duruflé” at the first International Organ Competition of the City of Paris.

In 1991, he won First prize in the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Strägnäs, Sweden, and obtained Finalist Prize in the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Haarlem, The Netherlands, in 1992 and 1994.

Mattias Wager gives concerts in all of Europe, and has made several record and radio recordings.

Since 1993, Mattias Wager has been teaching Organ Interpretation and Improvisation at the National College of Music in Piteå, Worth Sweden.

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattias_Wager

Alena Veselá studied at the Conservatory and at the Janáãek Academy in Brno, where she was a student of Professor Frantirek Michalek.
She also studied musicology at the Masaryk University in Brno.

Alena Veselá played in several important musical centers of Europe, the United States and Canada, and as a soloist with major orchestras
She performed the world premiere many works of contemporary Czech composers.
The repertoire embraces Alena Veselá producing organ of all times.

She has made numerous recordings with works by Bach, former Czech masters (Brixi, Stamitz, Linek) as well as contemporary Czech composers (P. Eben, Mr Habeláã, P. Parsch).

While pursuing his career as a virtuoso, Alena Veselá exerts teaching at the Academy Janáãek Brno, of which she was President from 1990 to 1997.

Alena VESELA – (Jury du Gd Prix de Chartres 2008)

http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alena_Vesel%C3%A1

Herman VERSCHRAEGEN, born in Ghent 4 April 1936, was organist at St. Joseph’s Church in Antwerp, professor of organ at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Flemish section), and director of the Music Academy Wilrijk (Antwerp).

After studying at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, where he obtained first prizes in different disciplines and the Higher Diploma with highest honors and the prize for virtuosity Government organ, he is distinguished international Geneva Competition (Switzerland) Saint-Maximin (France), Graz-Seckau and Innsbruck (Austria) and Munich (Germany).

During his tours of annual concerts (nearly 350 recitals), he played in the most important cities in Europe, the United States, in Israël and South Africa, he recorded for international broadcasts of Belgium, Denmark, Germany (East and West), England, France, Israel, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, United States, South Africa, Switzerland and Sweden.

VERSCHRAEGEN Herman was a member of the jury for International competitions Nuremberg and Lokeren. He is also the founder-president of the “Orgel Wintercyclus” in Antwerp ; founding member of “Kunsten Cultuurcentrum Oosterveld” in Wilrijk ; founding member of the “Antwerps Bachgenootschap” ; member of Wilrijk Cultural Council.

† 1994