TODD WILSON
Biography
One of
America’s leading concert organists, Todd Wilson is Professor of Organ at
Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he was recently appointed to
the organ faculty. He also serves as
Organ Curator of the recently restored Norton Memorial Organ (E. M. Skinner,
1931) in Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, the home of The Cleveland Orchestra.
CHURCH AND ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Before his
appointment to Indiana University, Mr. Wilson was Director of Music and
Organist at The Church of the Covenant (Presbyterian) in Cleveland, heading a
program of choirs and a concert series, as well as Chair of the Organ
Department of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
His home base for those nineteen years was Cleveland’s University
Circle, an arts, education, and medical center which houses the Cleveland
Museum of Art, the Cleveland Clinic, and Case Western Reserve University.
From 1989
through 1993 he was also Head of the Organ Department at Baldwin-Wallace College
Conservatory of Music in nearby Berea, performing in their annual Bach
Festivals, and taught at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to these positions, he served as
Organist and Master of the Choristers at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in
Garden City, New York. In New York, he
taught on the faculties of Adelphi and Hofstra Universities and was organist of
the George Mercer School of Theology.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENTS
Todd Wilson
has been heard in concert in many major cities throughout the United States,
Europe, and Japan, including concerts at Symphony Hall (Birmingham, UK), Los
Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Cleveland’s
Severance Hall, Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Center, and Uihlein Hall in
Milwaukee. In 1992 he was a recitalist
for Austrian Radio in Vienna, as well as in concert with the Slovakian Radio
Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Samuel Barber’s “Toccata Festiva.” During June of the same year, he performed
Jean Langlais’ “Piece in Free Form” and Howard Hanson’s “Concerto for Organ,
Strings and Harp” with members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as part of the
National Convention of the American Guild of Organists. Also in 1992 he played the “Antiphonal
Fantasy” by Norman Dello Joio with the Naples (Florida) Philharmonic, followed
by a recording of it, along with works by Ives and Persichetti with that
orchestra for Summit Records. In July of
1996 he was featured in the opening concert of the Centennial National Convention
of the American Guild of Organists, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
City. In October of that same year he
played two concerts with orchestra as part of the festivities dedicating the
new organ given by Van Cliburn at the Broadway Baptist Church in Ft. Worth,
Texas. In May of 2001 Mr. Wilson made his solo debut with the Cleveland
Orchestra on the newly restored E. M. Skinner organ at Severance Hall in two
performances of the Symphonie Concertante
by Joseph Jongen, and in October 2002 he again appeared with the Cleveland
Orchestra in four performances of the Organ
Symphony by Aaron Copland. In June
2003 he dedicated the organ in the new 21,000-seat Mormon Conference Center in
Salt Lake City, in October 2004 he was organ soloist with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra on the first orchestra subscription series concerts
featuring the new organ at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and in
January 2005 he presented his first solo recital in Tokyo, Japan.
RECORDINGS
Mr. Wilson’s
latest CDs were released in 2005. One is on the JAV label, featuring a live
recital of American music from the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. The
other is entitled “Live from Severance Hall” and is a concert of music for
trumpet and organ with Michael Sachs, Principal Trumpet of The Cleveland Orchestra. Other CDs on the JAV label are “Music for
Cello and Organ” with his daughter, Rachel (released in September, 2003),
“George Thalben- Ball and Friends” (released July 2001), and “Frank Bridge and
Friends” featuring the complete organ works of Frank Bridge (released June
2000). He plays a variety of Christmas
music on “A Joyous Celebration,” the inaugural recording (2001) of the recently
restored E. M. Skinner organ in Cleveland’s Severance Hall, which is available
from The Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Wilson’s
CDs for Delos International include: the
Complete Organ Works of Maurice Duruflé; the Widor “Symphonie Romane” plus
works by Jongen, Langlais, Bonnet, Demessieux and Dupré; “In a Quiet
Cathedral,” a two-disc collection of meditative organ music. “Double Forte,” a recording of duo organ works
with David Higgs, was released in 1996.
He is heard playing and directing on a CD of American choral and organ
music from Cleveland's Church of the Covenant.
Earlier recordings include a Disques du Solstice recording of Tournemire
organ works on the organ of Chartres Cathedral, and works by Duruflé, Guillou
and Robinson at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in New York City (Gothic).
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Mr. 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
Fisher and piano with John Quincy Bass.
Further coaching in organ repertoire was with Russell Saunders at The
Eastman School of Music. An active
member of the American Guild of Organists, Mr. Wilson holds the Fellow and
Choirmaster certificates from that institution, and won the S. Lewis Elmer
Prize for the highest national exam score in 1982. He has been a featured recitalist at many
Guild conventions.
COMPETITION/ADJUDICATION BACKGROUND
He has won
numerous competitions, including the prestigious French Grand Prix de Chartres,
the Fort Wayne Competition, the Strader National Scholarship Competition and
the national competition sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Los
Angeles. A sought-after adjudicator, Mr.
Wilson has been a member of the jury for many of the world’s most prestigious
competitions such as The Nürnberg Competition (Germany), the Dallas
Competition, the Royal College of Organists’ Performer of the Year Competition,
the Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition, the St. Alban’s
International Organ Festival (England), the Grand Prix de Chartres and the
Toulouse Festival Competitions (France), the American Guild of Organists
National Young Artists Competition, and the Ft. Wayne Competition.
CHURCH MUSIC/WORKSHOPS
Having grown
up in the men and boys choir of Trinity Church in Toledo, the choirs and music of
the Anglican tradition have been an influential part of Mr. Wilson's musical
life. During 1978-79 he served as a
visiting assistant in music at Canterbury Cathedral in England under Dr. Allan
Wicks. At the Cathedral of the
Incarnation, Mr. Wilson directed one of the longest-running choirs of men and
boys in continuous existence in the United States. Mr. Wilson frequently presents workshops on
English choral and organ music, as well as on service playing. An active interest in improvisation has led
to his popular improvised accompaniments to classic silent films. He has been organ clinician at the Evergreen
Conference (for Episcopal church musicians) in Colorado, twice at the Montreat
Conference on Worship and Music, at the National Music Camp at Interlochen and
for the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
In 1992 and 1993 he was the director of the Pipe Organ Encounter for the
AGO, held in Cleveland.
Current as of
July 2008
Karen
McFarlane Artists, Inc.