ALAN MORRISON

Biography

Alan Morrison is recognized as one of America’s premier concert organists and his concert appearances in some of the most prestigious organ concert venues in North America emphasize his achievements as a performer and the respect Mr. Morrison has gained in the concert organ world: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Alice Tully Hall (NYC); Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia); Benaroya Hall (Seattle); The Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas); Spivey Hall (Morrow, GA); Jacoby Hall (Jacksonville, FL); Jack Singer Concert Hall (Calgary); Merrill Auditorium (Portland, ME); The National Cathedral (Washington, DC) The Crystal Cathedral (Orange Grove, CA); Grace Cathedral (San Francisco); First Congregational Church (Los Angeles); Spreckels Organ Pavilion (San Diego); St. Patrick’s Cathedral (NYC); Ocean Grove Auditorium (Ocean Grove, NJ); The Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH), the Wanamaker Organ at Macy’s Department Store (Philadelphia) and numerous others. His recent performance during the inaugural festival of the Dobson organ in Verizon Hall drew laudatory reviews from numerous national publications. He is a regular performer at The Kimmel Center where he also serves as an artistic adviser. In addition to solo recitals next season, Alan Morrison makes his debut with the Dekalb Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Cherniavsky in a performance of Gershwin’s Concerto in F as well as collaborations with flutist Mimi Stillman (Dolce Suono series), and with The Orlando Chamber Soloists in Florida and South Dakota.

In addition to extensive solo and orchestral performances throughout the United States including Alaska, Mr. Morrison has also performed in Canada, Europe, and South America in International Festivals. He has the distinct honor of having been chosen by his peers to perform for four national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (Atlanta ’92, New York City ’96, Philadelphia ’02, Chicago ’06) along with several regional conventions and has won top prizes in numerous competitions, among them the Silver Medal at the Calgary International Organ Festival and First Prize in both the Clarence Mader (CA) and Arthur Poister (NY) National Organ Competitions. He has appeared in concert with The United States Army Chorus, and numerous Philadelphia ensembles including The Philadelphia Singers, Mendelssohn Club, Singing City and Choral Arts Society. He regularly conducts numerous AGO sponsored master classes throughout the USA as well as in Canada. As a recording artist, Mr. Morrison has recorded ten critically acclaimed CDs for Gothic Records, ACA Digital Recording, Halyx and DTR. These and other concert performances are regularly featured on MPR’s Pipedreams, Performance Today and on radio stations throughout many countries. On television he has been featured on two episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and on Georgia Public Television in a performance of the Shostakovich Piano Concerto #1. In May 2003, he was selected to appear along with Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma for the Fred Rogers Memorial Service, which was telecast live from Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall. A champion of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American composers, Mr. Morrison has premiered important new works by William Bolcom, Dan Locklair, Eric Sessler, Brent Weaver, Emily Maxson Porter, Jon Spong, Mary Beth Bennett and Luis Prado, as well as the American premier of Dances for Organ and Orchestra by British composer Bob Chilcott. His most recent recording is of a new organ concerto by Eric Sessler with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in Verizon Hall (Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ), conducted by Mischa Santora, along with other solo organ works for the ACA Digital Label.

As a pianist he has performed recitals with renowned mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham, under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, and in a Gala performance at Alice Tully Hall. They have also performed together in Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary and at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. Mr. Morrison has also performed two Mozart concertos (Double Piano Concerto with his mother Jeannine Morrison, and the Triple Piano Concerto with his mother and father Don Morrison) with members of The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Spivey Hall. He has also performed the Beethoven Choral Fantasy with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (Jeffrey Brillhart conducting), as well as the Florida premier of David Gillingham’s Concerto for Piano and Percussion Orchestra. He has also performed on several occasions with acclaimed cellist Andres Diaz (a former Naumburg winner) including a recital at Spivey Hall and a featured performance at the Brevard Music Festival performing sonatas by Debussy, Martinu, Lutoslawski and Rachmaninoff. Mr. Morrison currently collaborates with the Orlando Chamber Soloists as a founding member.

At the age of 33, Mr. Morrison was appointed Head of the Organ Department at the world renowned conservatory, The Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia) where he holds the Haas Charitable Trust Chair in Organ Studies at Curtis. He is College Organist at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. He is a graduate of both The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School of Music receiving degrees in both organ and piano accompanying/chamber music. His teachers include John Weaver, Cherry Rhodes, Sarah Martin (organ), Robert Harvey, Vladimir Sokoloff and Susan Starr (piano). He is under the exclusive management of Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.

Visit Alan Morrison’s website at www.alanmorrison.us

Updated February 2010