Monday June 28

MONDAY EVENING’S VIDEO PROGRAM WILL PREMIERE HERE AT 8 PM EASTERN
Introduction by Michael Velting, AGO OrganFest 2021 Chair
Ahreum Han Congdon AGO Southwest Region
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  • Mouvement, Jean Berveiller (1904–1976)
  • Te Deum, Op. 11, Jeanne Demessieux (1921–1968)
Ahreum Han Congdon

Organist Ahreum Han Congdon’s exciting, powerful, and extraordinary performances have thrilled audiences far and wide. She was a featured soloist at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists held in Nashville, at several Regional Conventions of the AGO (Cedar Rapids, New Haven, Atlanta, Sarasota); the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall (Philadelphia); Riverside Church, St. Thomas Church, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Bartholomew’s Church, and Trinity Church, (NYC); Princeton University Chapel; Memorial Chapel at Harvard University; Ocean Grove Auditorium (NJ), Merrill Auditorium (ME), the International Organ Festival in Arbon, Switzerland, Michaelskirche (Leipzig, Germany), Oxford Town Hall (UK), Nottingham Albert Concert Hall (UK), and Esplanade Hall in Singapore.

Ahreum has received top prizes from numerous competitions, including the Oundle Award, the MTNA National Young Artist Performance Competition, the John Rodland Memorial Scholarship Competition, and the Albert Schweitzer organ competition. She graduated from Westminster Choir College (BM), Curtis Institute of Music (diploma), Yale Institute of Sacred Music (MM), University of Iowa (DMA). Her teachers include Ken Cowan, Alan Morrison, Thomas Murray, and Brett Wolgast. Congdon currently serves as the Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth. She was previously a member of the organ faculty at Iowa State University in Ames, and was the College Organist at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. She has served as an organist at Marquand Chapel and the Berkeley Divinity School of Yale University.

More About the Artist
Featured Organ
  • First Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, Texas: Kimball/Reuter/Garland (1917/1959/1995) (specifications)
Greetings from Michael Bedford, AGO President
Nathaniel Gumbs AGO Northeast Region
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  • Concert Overture No. 2 in C minor, Alfred Hollins (1865–1942)
  • Capriccio sopra la Girolmeta, Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643)
Nathaniel Gumbs

Concert and recording artist Nathaniel Gumbs is a native of the Bronx, NY, and currently serves as the Director of Chapel Music at Yale University in New Haven, CT. As a recitalist, Nathaniel has performed throughout the United States and abroad; including Antigua, St. Thomas, Ghana, Paris, and Munich. Music critics have described his playing as “mature, lyrical, accurate and energetic.” Consistently collecting a following, Nathaniel was acclaimed in the New York Times for playing with “deftness and feeling” on his duo recording with bass-baritone, Dashon Burton. In 2018, Nathaniel curated the opening Hymn Festival (Singing Diverse Music in The New Church) for the Hymn Society’s annual conference. The Diapason journal recognized Nathaniel as one of 20 organists under 30 years old for outstanding achievement in organ performance and church music in their May 2017 issue. Transferring concert caliber performance to worship leadership, Nathaniel served as the Director of Music and Arts and Church Organist at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC from 2012-2017. Nathaniel’s major teachers include Steven Cooksey, David Higgs, and Martin Jean. He holds degrees from Shenandoah Conservatory, Yale University, and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music.

More About the Artist
Featured Organs
  • Woolsey Hall, Yale University: Skinner Organ Company (1928) (specifications)
  • Marquand Chapel, Yale University: Taylor and Boody (2007) (specifications)
The Life-Changing Power of the Organ: A Conversation with Michael Liu
Christopher Jacobson AGO Southeast Region
Christopher "Kit" Jacobson, Duke Chapel Organist. Photographed at Duke Chapel.
  • Trio super Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 664, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
  • Cortège et Litanie, Op. 19, No. 2, Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)
Christopher Jacobson

Duke University Chapel Organist, Christopher Jacobson, FRCO, is active as a versatile concert organist, conductor, accompanist, continuo artist, and teacher. At Duke, he conducts the Duke Evensong Singers, oversees the training of the Chapel’s organ scholars, and plays the organ for over 150 services each year.

As a soloist, Mr. Jacobson has presented organ recitals across North America, Europe, and Australia. His recordings appear on Pentatone Records, and he has presented performances of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach across the United States to critical acclaim.

Mr. Jacobson frequently collaborates with conductors, including Brian A. Schmidt, in the Grammy-nominated recording of Marcel Tyberg’s two Masses. He has recently performed and recorded with conductor Kazuki Yamada and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande at Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland.

As a conductor, Mr. Jacobson has led choirs on tours in the United States and England. In 2018 he conducted the Duke Evensong Singers in choral residencies at Gloucester Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.

Mr. Jacobson was previously Associate Organist and Choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Columbia, South Carolina, and Assistant Organist and Assistant Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral, where he played the organ for numerous services including the State Funeral of President Gerald Ford.

Mr. Jacobson is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and St. Olaf College, where his teachers included David Higgs, John Ferguson, and Catherine Rodland. Mr. Jacobson is a graduate of the American Boychoir School where he was a treble chorister under James Litton.

More About the Artist
Featured Organs
  • Duke University Chapel: Flentrop (1976) and Aeolian (1932) (specifications)

Major support for today’s AGO OrganFest 2021 presentation is provided by Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

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Support for today’s performance by Ahreum Han Congdon is provided by the Piedmont University Conservatory of Music.

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Support for today’s performance by Christopher Jacobson is provided by the Eastman School of Music.

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