Feb. 11, 2005 – Joan Lippincott, internationally acclaimed organ virtuoso and scholar, will be presented in recital as the third event in the St. Thomas Reformed Church's concert series "Music to Nurture the Soul." The concert, to be held Wednesday, February 16 at 8 pm, will include masterworks of Bach, Mozart and Jehan Alain. As in the case of all musical events held at the church, there will be no admission fee; the public is free to donate according to their wishes and means.
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 most of the 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.
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. Joan Lippincott presently devotes full time to concertizing and recording. She was Principal University Organist at Princeton University, 1993-2000, and for many years has been Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College. 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.
Joan Lippincott is 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.
