Joan Lippincott

The second recitalist of the Rochester Celebrity Organ Recital Series is Joan Lippincott. She will perform on Friday, February 12, 2010, 8:00 p.m. at Christ Church, 141 East Avenue, Rochester, New York.  Dr. Lippincott will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Joan Lippincott has been acclaimed as one of America’s outstanding organ virtuosos. She performs extensively in the United States under Karen McFarlane Artists and has toured throughout Europe and Canada. She has been a featured recitalist at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City, at the Spoleto USA Festival, at The American Bach Society Biennial, at the Dublin (Ireland) International Organ Festival, and at conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, and the Music Teachers National Association. She has performed on many of the most prominent organs in churches and universities throughout the United States, including Yale, Harvard, Duke, Stanford, Columbia, and Princeton. She has traveled widely in Europe, studying, playing, and performing in recital on historic and contemporary organs in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and France.

Dr. Lippincott has been especially in demand for Bach recitals and classes. She was recitalist at the Alice Tully Hall Bach-Handel Tercentennial and she has performed at Bach Festivals in Arizona, Massachusetts (Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood), Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and South Carolina. In 2001-2002 she performed a highly acclaimed series of eight Bach organ concerts on outstanding organs throughout New York City, called ‘Bach in the Big Apple’.

Her many recordings on the GOTHIC label include music of Bach, Duruflé, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Widor, Alain, and Pinkham on major American organs. The most recent releases are Sinfonia (Organ Concertos and Sinfonias of J.S.Bach with instrumental ensemble) on the Paul Fritts Organ at Princeton Theological Seminary, J.S. Bach Preludes and Fugues recorded at Pacific Lutheran University, Clavierübung III and Schübler Chorales at Princeton Theological Seminary, and The Fenner Douglass Organ at Bower Chapel-Moorings Park, Naples, FL.

Joan Lippincott presently devotes full time to concertizing and recording. She was Principal University Organist at Princeton University, 1993-2000, and is Professor Emerita of Organ at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. At Westminster, she was Head of the Organ Department, the largest organ department in the world, well known for the outstanding quality of work by students and faculty. She directed many European organ study tours and summer organ workshops, including the popular Organ Week for High School Students. Dr. Lippincott has served on summer faculties at the New England Conservatory of Music, University of Wisconsin, the Montreat Conference, the Evergreen Conference, and Bach Week at Columbia College.

A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and Westminster Choir College, where she was a student of Alexander McCurdy, she also studied at Union Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary. She is on the Advisory Board of The American Bach Society, an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota, and has received the Alumni Merit Award, the Distinguished Merit Award, and an Honorary Doctorate from Westminster Choir College.

Michel Bouvard

The third recitalist of the Rochester Celebrity Organ Recital Series is Michel Bouvard. He will perform on Friday, April 30, 2010, 8:00 p.m. at Sacred Heart Cathedral, 296 Flower City Park, Rochester, New York. Further information regarding the recital will be forthcoming.

Michel Bouvard was born in Lyon in 1958. His grandfather Jean Bouvard, also from Lyon, an organist and composer who had been a student of Louis Vierne, Florent Schmitt and Vincent d'Indy, inspired him with a great passion for music.

He began studying the piano at a young age in Rodez. Following organ studies with Suzanne Chaisemartin in Paris, he was accepted into the organ class of André Isoir and the classes of harmony, counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. While serving as deputy organist of Saint-Séverin church, he perfected his studies with Michel Chapuis, Francis Chapelet and Jean Boyer, after which he became titular organist of this beautiful parisian instrument for more than ten years.

In 1983, Michel Bouvard obtained the premier prix of the international organ competition in Toulouse dedicated to French music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Succeeding Xavier Darasse as professor of organ at the Conservatoire National de Région de Toulouse in 1985, he pursued Darasse's efforts in favor of the patrimony of the city and the region by organizing concerts, visits, master-classes, and the international organ competition with his colleague Jan Willem Jansen. This work culminated in the creation of the renowned festival "Toulouse les Orgues" of which he served as director for four years, and the new organ class of the "Centre d'Études Supérieures de Musique et de Danse de Toulouse" founded by Marc Bleuse.

Michel Bouvard's reputation as concert organist and teacher has taken him to over 20 countries, and he is frequently sought after as adjudicator for the most prestigious organ competitions. He has served for four years as a member of the "Commission Supérieure des Monuments Historiques".

In 1995, he was named professor of organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, and in 1996, titular organist of the historic Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Basilique Saint-Sernin in Toulouse.