Liturgical Folk: Justin Brooks & Family Tour

Jonathan Ryan

www.jonathan-ryan.org

Jonathan Ryan comes to Saint Michael and All Angels from one of the largest music programs in the national Episcopal Church at Christ Church in the New York City suburb of Greenwich CT. Among Christ Church’s nine choirs, he has directed the adult choir in Choral Masses, Evensongs, Requiems, and concerts, regularly worked with the Choir of Men & Boys and Girls Choir, directed the Royal School of Church Music-based ribbon training program for choristers, overseen the Choir Assistant program for youth to serve in assisting roles in the program, and assisted in choir tours and summer choir camps. He has previously held positions at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest IL, St. John Cantius Church in Chicago IL, St. Anne Church in Rochester NY, and served as Visiting Artist at St. James Cathedral in Chicago.

Additionally, Jonathan has founded new choral ensembles, directed and developed children’s choirs, and commissioned and conducted new choral works by composers such as multi-award winning American composer Zachary Wadsworth and renowned British composers Philip Moore and Colin Mawby. He also serves as faculty conductor and principal organist of the Church Music Association of America where he teaches, gives presentations, and directs choirs at annual summer Colloquium conferences.

Jonathan enjoys an international reputation as one of the premiere young American organists. Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for his strong communicative skills in numerous styles, he holds exceptional distinction of six First Prize awards in major international and national organ competitions, most notably the 2009 Jordan II International Organ Competition. His solo concertizing has taken him to celebrated festivals, venues, and conventions throughout the United States and Europe, including St. Paul’s Cathedral in London (UK), the Nicolaikirche in Leipzig (Germany), the Cathédrale St-André in Bordeaux (France), international organ festivals in Zürich (Switzerland) and Hamburg (Germany), the Piccolo Spoleto Festival’s prestigious Spotlight Series (Charleston SC), the inaugural series at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland CA, and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and Organ Historical Society. His current performance projects include recitals of J.S. Bach’s monumental Clavier-Übung III in a tour on historically-based organs throughout the United States.

His released recordings include two solo organ recordings, the most recent of which, entitled Influences on the independent boutique label Acis, received the rare honor of nomination consideration for the 2017 GRAMMY awards. Jonathan’s solo recordings include commissions and recording premieres. He is also featured on multiple choral recordings from St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, IL.

Born into a musical family in Charlotte, NC, Jonathan first began playing the organ at age eight, and grew up singing as a treble boy chorister. He discovered a love for Anglican liturgy and music in high school, and previously lived in Texas while an undergraduate student at Baylor University. Jonathan then went on to earn degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music. His primary teachers include Joyce Jones, Todd Wilson, David Higgs, William Porter, and William Weinert. He also holds the Fellow (FAGO) and Choirmaster (ChM) professional certifications from the American Guild of Organists, for which he earned the 2006 Choirmaster Prize for the highest score nationally in the Choirmaster exam.

Justin Brooks

www.justinphilipbrooks.com

For the past decade, Saint Michael Director of Contemporary Music, Justin Brooks, and his wife Tiffany have followed a calling to lead music and write liturgical songs for the Church that reflect the seasons of life, worship, and needs of their local congregations. This often manifests itself as the composition of sacred songs, settings of scripture, and reinterpreting traditional hymns and service music with faithful, yet new arrangements.

Excerpted from the September / October 2018 issue of Archangel. Read the full article here!

Dr. Margaret (Meg) Harper

Meg Harper became the Associate Director of Music and Organist for Saint Michael in August 2018.

Meg most recently served as Director of Music and Liturgy at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, NH. During her four years at the state’s largest Episcopal church, her remarkable accomplishments include founding the Choir School, including the Choir School Board, at St. John’s. This Choir School is an after-school chorister program based on the Royal School of Church Music that brought many new children, especially under-privileged children, to that church. Her experience also includes initiating Choral Evensong and an annual All Souls Requiem at St. John’s, teaching as faculty at the University of Southern Maine, and serving as choir director/organist in Episcopal services at the Lake Delaware Boys Camp. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ from the Eastman School of Music, and graduated summa cum laude with a BM in Organ from the College Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College.

Owen Reid

Owen Reid became Saint Michael’s first Organ Scholar in August 2018. Taking its name from parallel positions in English collegiate chapels, Organ Scholar is a part-time appointment for the program year designed to go hand-in-hand with a degree program. As Organ Scholar at Saint Michael, Owen will assist in organ playing, conducting, working with our choirs, and helping realize the music program’s continued growth. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Organ at Southern Methodist University.

A native of Oklahoma, Owen earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. He recently finished a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at the University of Cambridge (UK), St. John’s College, where he worked with some of the most renowned English choral conductors. While in Cambridge, he served as Graduate Organ Scholar at St. Catherine’s College where his experience includes working with the only school-aged girls choir in a Cambridge college.