Van Looy Organ Series

Scott Montgomery

October 23, 2011
3 p.m. Thomson Hall, Alumnae Chapel

Scott Montgomery is director of music ministries and organist for Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Champaign, Illinois. Scott received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in organ performance, studying with Dr. Dana Robinson. Mr. Montgomery plans to continue his ministry in liturgical music, performing and teaching.

Scott has been a prize winner in several competitions including first-prize in the American Guild of Organists’ Region V Competition in Evansville, Indiana (1997), second-prize in the Arthur Poister National Organ Competition in Syracuse, New York (2002) and was also the first recipient of the M. Louise Miller Scholarship (2002) sponsored by the Greater Bridgeport Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. In 2006, he was winner of both the Lilian Murtagh Memorial Award (first-prize) and the Audience Prize of the American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artist Competition in Organ Playing, the first person to win both prizes in the history of the competition.

Gordon Turk

April 15, 2012
3 p.m. Thomson Hall, Alumnae Chapel

A critically acclaimed concert organist, Gordon Turk has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He was winner of the John Cerevalo Prize for “Excellence in the performance of the music of J.S. Bach,” and has been a prizewinner in the national improvisation competition of the American Guild of Organists.

Dr. Turk travels nationally and internationally for concert performances. He has played in Carnegie Hall, NYC; he appeared in concert with American folk singers, Peter, Paul and Mary at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia; he has performed in the legendary Bolshoi Philharmonic in St. Petersburg, Russia and in international organ festivals of Switzerland and the Ukraine, as well as two concert tours in Japan.

A graduate of Curtis Institute of Music, he studied piano with Vladimir Sokoloff and organ with Alexander McCurdy. He also studied with New York composer and organist McNeil Robinson at the Manhattan School of Music, earning the master’s degree and the Doctor of Musical Arts, both with honors. He is founder and artistic director of the Summer Stars Chamber Music Festival, presenting outstanding talents from the U.S. and abroad. 

The Historic Möller Organ

In 1936, Virgil Fox (1912-1980) was selected by Isabel Dungan Ferris, organ professor at Wilson College, as a consultant for the Thomson Hall Alumnae Chapel organ project to draw the stoplist. Working closely with the late Richard O. Whitelegg, tonal director of M.P.Möller Inc., builder of the instrument, Fox crafted a specification far ahead of the period.

The instrument was able to survive the Baroque revival period in the 1960s and 1970s, when many of these instruments were destroyed tonally and in some cases altogether. With the return to a more romantic approach of organ building and playing, this organ is now being appreciated anew for its tonal scheme. The only changes made to the Möller Organ since 1936 are the replacement of the console in 1974, the rebuilding of the console with new relays in 1993 and the total refurbishment to the console in 1994. We are pleased to present our 16^th season since the refurbishment with the same musical excellence that has come to be expected from the Van Looy Organ Series year after year.

By Irv Lawless
Lawless & Associates Pipe Organ Company, Inc.