January Jubilee Clinicians
Sheila L. Hess is a native of Mobile, Alabama and earned an Associate's Degree in Arts from Gulf Coast Junior College with additional study at the University of Mobile and Mississippi College, Clinton, Ms. She has completed the Service Playing Certification and Colleague Certification with
the American Guild of Organists. Mrs. Hess serves on the national AGO Committee for Musicians in Part-Time Employment and writes the monthly article "Suggestions from Sheila" for TAO. She is member of the Jackson, Mississippi AGO and an active substitute organist for churches in central Mississippi.
Maxine Thévénot is described by the Royal Canadian College of Organists as "musically sensitive, brilliant, and (full of) virtuosic playing" and by the American Guild of Organists as performing "with passion and brilliance", Saskatchewan-born organist and choral conductor, Maxine Thévenot enjoys a distinguished international career and has performed throughout Europe, Great Britain, and North America at many prestigious churches, concert halls and festivals.
Dr. Thévenot has received the Bachelor of Music in Music Education with distinction from the University of Saskatchewan, and the degrees, Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in organ performance from theManhattan School of Music, New York where she was twice-awarded the Bronson Ragan Award for ‘most outstanding organist.' She also holds the Associate diplomas from the Royal Canadian College of Organists and the Royal Conservatory of Music.
In 2006, Dr. Thévenot was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the National College of Music & Arts, London, UK for her services to music. After previously serving in senior positions in Cathedrals in Canada and New York, in 2010, Dr. Thévenot became Director of Cathedral Music & Organist at the Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque, New Mexico after previously serving as both its Acting Director and Associate Organist-Choir Director (2005-2009).
Dr. Thévenot serves on the faculty at the University of New Mexico as Director of the only Collegiate women's choral ensemble in the State,Las Cantantes,and is the Founding & Artistic Director of New Mexico's only professional vocal ensemble, Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico. Ms. Thevenot has released several well-reviewed recordings with the Raven CD label (www.ravencd.com) including many premiere recordings of solo organ works and modern compositions written for choir and organ, several written for and dedicated to her.
A native of Los Angeles, Arlene DeYoung Ward is currently Coordinator of the Piano Lab and the Piano Proficiency Program, and also teaches organ at the University of New Mexico, Department of Music. Ms. Ward is a veteran of more than 100 solo organ and harpsichord recitals, including the complete works of J. S. Bach. In addition, Ms. Ward has published articles in both the American Organist Magazine and the Diapason Magazine on the subject of the "Orgelbewegung," or 20th Century Organ Renewal movement in Germany and the United States.
Most recently, she has completed three CDs, featuring music of J. S. Bach, Organ Music of Spain and Spanish America and Music from the Low Countries. Arlene has been a featured organ concerto soloist with both the Symphony Orchestra of Albuquerque and the Los Alamos Sinfonietta, has been heard nationally on The Pacifica Foundation Network as soloist in the American Guild of Organists (Los Angeles Chapter) 20th century organ music series, and has toured in Oulskapar, The Netherlands, Darmstadt-Eberstadt and Hamburg, Germany. She has been listed in Outstanding Young Women in America.
Frederick Frahm, a resident of Rio Rancho NM, was born in Hemet, California in 1964. A professional church musician for more than 30 years, he currently serves as Director of Music Ministry and Principal Organist at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM.
He has contributed as a classical music critic to the Bellingham Herald in Bellingham, WA, and served as an adjunct faculty member of Concordia University in River Forest, IL, where he taught counterpoint, music theory & composition, as well as orchestration.
Frederick Frahm is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University where he earned degrees in Church Music and Organ Performance. He studied organ and counterpoint with David Dahl and Gregory Peterson; composition with Gregory Youtz and Roger Briggs, and conducting with Richard Sparks.
As a composer, he is represented worldwide by a dozen publishers with more than a hundred works in print. His complete fair-copy manuscripts, recordings, and correspondence are archived in the Mortvedt Library at PLU. He has written most recently on commission for Augsburg Fortress Publishers, the American Guild of Organists-Albuquerque Chapter and the Santa Fe Opera Company, and in 2009 he was named Composer in Residence at Trinity Lutheran Church in Parkland, WA, on the campus of PLU.
A past Dean of the Albuquerque Chapter AGO, Mr. Frahm performs regularly in recital, is in demand as a teacher and clinician (organ improvisation and hymn playing), and is a strong advocate for the creation of new music for organ.
John Walker is highly regarded for his service playing skills, John Walker frequently presents hymn festivals and workshops on service playing at conventions of the American Guild of Organists and for churches throughout America. He is passionately eager to share creative ideas to empower hymn playing and to
energize congregational singing of hymns. Former organist at The Riverside Church in New York City, Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Dr. Walker now teaches at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. He is Vice President of The American Guild of Organists. He has appeared in recitals and as soloist with orchestras both in America and in Taiwan, where he was a Fulbright Fellow in 1999. One of his several performances with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas shared a concert billing with The Grateful Dead.
He has recorded on the Pro Organo, JAV, and Gothic labels. Both as organist and choral conductor, he has been heard frequently on the radio programs Pipedreams and With Heart and Voice.
Paul S. Hesselink earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in organ at Hope College. He studied musicology under a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship at University of Michigan, completed the Master of Arts in Organ Pedagogy at Ohio State University
and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts at University of Colorado, Boulder. He studied harpsichord in Paris with Davitt Moroney. For 26 years, Dr. Hesselink was on the faculty of Longwood University. He received two National Endowment Summer Fellowships for postgraduate study: in music theory (Yale), and Schoenberg studies (USC).
His article, Correspondence from the Schoenberg Legacy: ‘Variations on a Recitative for Organ, Op. 40' was published in the Schoenberg Journal and again in The American Organist. After early retirement Dr. Hesselink affiliated with Nevada School of the Arts in 1993, serving as its Dean for twelve years. In April 1996, he was the harpsichordist for the world premiere of Nevett Bartow's Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra with Nevada Chamber Orchestra. In June he recorded the work with the Slovak Radio Orchestra in Bratislava (MCC, The Works of Nevett Bartow).
An adjunct faculty member at University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1993, he played a major role in securing the University's Maureen Jackson Smith Organ in Doc Rando Hall, completed in 2004 by Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau of Hamburg, Germany. Dr. Hesselink is a member of College Music Society, American Musicological Society, Organ Historical Society, and American Guild of Organists. He serves on the boards of Friends- Las Vegas Youth Orchestras and Nevada School of the Arts. He is currently the organist at Christ Church Episcopal in Las Vegas.
Carol Snell-Cyr graduated from the New England Conservatory Highest Honors with Distinction in Piano Performance. She received her Master's Degree in Choral Music from the University of California Hayward. While in college she was Organist and Choir Director at Sommerville Baptist Church, and later
Organist for the Christian Science Church in Orinda, CA. She became Director of Music Ministries for Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Lafayette, Ca from 2994 to 2000. During this time she opened her own studio and taught piano and theory for 40 years. In the later years, she was joined by her son, Keith Snell, and they founded the California Academy of Music.
Some of her professional activities include Berkeley Piano Club, Past President of Performing Arts Society in Contra Costa Countyand Past President of the Contra Costa County Music Teachers Association. In Santa Fe she has served as President of the Music Teachers Association. She is currently the substitute for Christ Lutheran Church in Santa Fe, and also the substitute for First Church of Christ Scientist, Santa Fe.
James Yeager is Music Director at First Presbyterian Church, Albuquerque. He has performed regularly as conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and choral accompanist. In 2009 he retired as Professor of Sacred Music and Director of Music at the Josephinum
College in Columbus, Ohio (since 1984). His first love in music is the pipe organ-its mechanisms, its history, and repertoire. He is particularly devoted to organ pedagogy and the encouragement of organ study. In addition to his teaching, James is a past Dean of the Columbus (Ohio) Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and currently serves on the AGO national Task Force for the Part Time Church Musician.
James holds a Bachelor of Music from The Ohio State University, a Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary-New York, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He studied harpsichord in Paris with Dr. Davitt Moroney in 1982. In 1997, during a six-month sabbatical leave, he studied improvisation at the organ with Dr. Naji Hakim, Organist Titulaire at St. Trinité Church, Paris. He currently resides in Mountainair, NM with his wife Elaine Zabor.
Jean Piatak Eickhoff received her B.Mus. from Oberlin Conservatory, her M.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her D.M.A. from the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she studied with Barbara Doscher. She is the author of Russian Songs & Arias: Phonetic readings, word-by-word translations, and a concise guide to Russian diction.
Dr. Eickhoff currently coaches singers and choirs in French, German, Italian, and Russian diction and in vocal production, is principal soloist at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, teaches private voice, and is a member of NATS.
David L. Solem, M.S.W., M.A.P.C., M.A. Spir., M.Music, relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico in september of 2010. After 27 years of fulltime liturgical music ministry, David is now a psychotherapist as well as a pastoral musician. David is the facilitator of the Empowerment trauma recovery treatment program at The Life Healing Center in Santa Fe, NM. He is also an candidate psychoanalyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts.
David has served as music director and liturgist for Loyola University Chicago, and for parishes in Winnetka, IL, Mount Prospect, IL, Colorado Springs, CO, Baltimore, MD, and Birmingham, AL, in a career spanning three decades. David holds B. Music and M. Music degrees from Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University, and M.A. Spirituality, M.A. Pastoral Counseling, and M.S.W. degrees from Loyola University Chicago.
David has combined his music and ministry background with a clinical social work and pastoral counseling practice that integrates the expressive arts as a healing modality. He specializes inearly childhood trauma, PTSD, mood disorders, spiritual emergencies, grief and loss, and the Jungian journey toward individuation. David has been busy as a freelance musician and substitute organist/harpsichordist/harpist in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas since his relocation in 2010.