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.