CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Biography

Christopher Young is Professor of Music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, IN. He teaches applied organ and several graduate organ literature history courses for the organ department.

Dr. Young, a native of New England, was the winner of the 1988 National Young Artists Competition of The American Guild of Organists as well as of the 1988 Arthur Poister Competition (Syracuse University). He was also recognized by Musical America as one of their outstanding Young Artists of 1989. His concert career was begun under the auspices of a special young artist program provided by Karen McFarlane Artists, and continued under the Young Organists Cooperative, of which he was a co-director until 1993. Dr. Young has been a featured artist at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists. He has also been heard on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Pipedreams,” a program broadcast on National Public Radio, and has appeared in concert with the Rochester (MN) Chamber Chorale, the Minneapolis Chamber Symphony and with his wife, violinist Brenda Brenner. His compact disc To Thee All Angels Cry Aloud was recorded on the Pro Organo label.

In addition to concertizing, Dr. Young presents master classes, workshops and lectures. He has given classes and performances at several church music clinics, including the Montreat Conference on Music and Worship, the St. Olaf Conference on Music and Theology, and the national convention of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He has also presented at several National Pedagogy Conferences, as well national and regional conventions of the AGO. Several presentations have focused on electronic media, including a virtual tour of North German Organs, interactive analyses of organ music, and the theoretical underpinnings to the organ music of Messiaen. Dr. Young serves as organist of First Presbyterian Church, Bloomington.

Dr. Young began organ lessons under the tutelage of Marion Anderson while a freshman at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, where, in 1982 he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with High Honors in Music. A graduate of The Eastman School of Music, he earned the MM and DMA degrees, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate under David Craighead and Russell Saunders.

Current as of July 2008