Directory of Classical Organists:- H to L

Barbara Harbach was born 14^th February 1946 in Pennsylvania.
She studied at the Pennsylvania State University, Yale University, Frankfurt Academy, the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York and Musikhochschule in Frankfurt, Germany with

Christopher Herrick's career as one of the world's leading concert organists is based on firm foundations. As a boy he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral, lucky to sing in the 1953 Coronation Choir and to take part in a 40-concert tour of North America later that year. He was Music Scholar at his senior school, Organ Scholar at Oxford University and Boult Scholar at the Royal College of Music in London. He was asked back as Assistant Organist to St Paul's Cathedral and then spent ten years at Westminster Abbey, where he played for many Royal and State occasions, including the state funeral of Lord Mountbatten, the funeral service for Herbert Howells, and for both the 80th birthday concert and the funeral service for Sir William Walton.

Frederick Hohmans primary piano and organ teacher in St. Louis from 1967 to 1974 was of Webster Groves, Missouri. Mr. Cordeal saw the opportunity to spotlight Fred, then age 12, as a model student for the then-new St. Louis Archdiocesan Organist Training Program (AOTP). Fred progressed through the program and presented his first solo organ recital at age 14. While studying with Cordeal, from age 12 through 17, Fred served as organist in two churches.
Prior to leaving St. Louis at age 18, Fred served as Associate Organist for 19 months at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Webster Groves (1973-1974. It was during his 19-month stay at Emmanuel Episcopal Church that Fred presented 3 organ recitals on the church's 3-manual Holtkamp organ.
Although he could have pursued a film career in Hollywood, on the advice of his musician father, and already having a level of comfort from teenage performing experience, and with the encouragement of a full scholarship from the Eastman School of Music Fred entered the Eastman School in 1974 as a sophomore level undergraduate in the organ class of David Craighead. He would remain at Eastman to earn the Performer's Certificate in Organ (1977), Mus.B., Applied Organ (1977), Master of Music in Performance and Literature (Organ), 1979, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature (Organ), 1990.
Fred is distinguished as the only student to have taken all available degrees at the Eastman School while remaining in the organ studio of David Craighead.
During his first years at Eastman, 1977-1979, Fred produced, engineered, hosted, and performed all the organ literature for a weekly 30-minute radio program, entitled Pro Organo. The Pro Organo radio series had 26 weekly episodes.
After having been a semi-finalist and finalist in a number of competitions Frederick Hohman won First Prize in both the Clarence Mader Organ Competition and the Arthur Poister national organ-playing competition.
Between the years 1974 and 1993, Frederick served in a number of parishes as organist and choirmaster or as director of music.
During his career as a recitalist, Frederick Hohman has performed hundreds of recitals in the USA, including tours of the Caribbean, Australia , the UK and Finland. He has presided as the featured recitalist at the dedication of new American organs, and has been featured as a concerto soloist with a number of American symphony orchestras.
From 1996 to 2000, Hohman produced and hosted a weekly television series about the organ and organists, entitled 'Midnight Pipes.' This series ran for 24 half-hour episodes.

Originally from Somers, Connecticut, Christopher Houlihan began studying the organ at the age of 12 with John Rose, and at the age of 15, he won first prize in the Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition. Houlihan attended Trinity College in Hartford where he continued to study with John Rose and made his orchestral debut with the Hartford Symphony. After graduating from Trinity College, he attended The Juilliard School in New York where he studied with the Grammy Award winning organist Paul Jacobs.
In 2005-2006, Houlihan was organ scholar at The Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford and then at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford from 2006-2007. Houlihan later studied at the French National Regional Conservatory in Versailles where he was a student of Jean-Baptiste Robin and where he earned the "Prix de Perfectionnement" (equivalent to a university artist's diploma in the US). While in France, he served as an assistant musician at The American Cathedral in Paris and had the honour of performing for the then President and First Lady of the United States, Mr. And Mrs. George W. Bush

Peter Hurford O.B.E. was born born 22^nd November 1930 in Minehead, Somerset.
He studied both music and law at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating with dual degrees.
Peter subsequently studied in Paris under the blind French organist , exploring music of the Baroque period. He is best known for his interpretations of Bach, having recorded the complete Bach organ works for Decca and BBC Radio 3.
Professor at the University of Western Ontario.
Organist of
Holy Trinity, Leamington Spa;
;
organist in residence at Cincinnati University;
acting organist of St. John’s College, Cambridge.

Paul Jacobs was born in 1977 in Washington, Pennsylvania. He began piano lessons at age five and organ lessons at age 12. At age 15 he was appointed head organist of Immaculate Conception Church.
Paul then attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, double-majoring in organ and harpsichord, while serving as organist at the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge National Historical Park.
During his final semester as an undergraduate student, he performed the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach several times, including once in an 18-hour non-stop marathon concert in Pittsburgh on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death.
Paul completed a master's degree from the Yale School of Music, studying organ with Thomas Murray. Paul has performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in eight American cities since 2002, each time in a nine-hour marathon concert.
In 2003 Paul was invited to join the faculty of the Juilliard School and the following year, was named chairman of its organ department, making him one of the youngest faculty appointments in the school's history.

Lady Susi Jeans was born Suzanne Hock in 1911 in Vienna, Austria.
She studied at the Vienna Academy in Leipzig with and was a pupil of and

Wilma Hoyle Jensen was born 1921.
Wilma studied at Mac-Murray College, Jacksonville, Illinois and the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, where she was a student of and Harold Gleason.

Joyce Jones is renowned for her twinkling, virtuosic feet. Here she is on YouTube playing Flight of the Bumble Bee - on the pedals of course.
Dr Jones is winding down her performance schedule as of last 2012, when she retired from her position as Professor of Music and Organist in residence at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. "It's my 79th birthday and I don't mind saying at my age, it's amazing that anyone that old can still be playing," she announced.
She describes herself as an accidental organist - when she was a piano undergraduate in Texas she sprained her hand - badly. Six weeks of no playing were ordered for recovery.She occupied herself with pedal exercises on the organ, and found a natural talent and affinity for the instrument.The rest is history.

James Bennett Lancelot was born 2^nd December 1952 in Bromley, Kent.
He studied at St. Paul’s Cathedral School, London; Ardingly College; King’s College, Cambridge. And was an organ scholar of King’s College, Cambridge.
He was assistant organist of and is now organist of .