Grace Church welcomes organist Thomas Gaynor as guest artist for Bach at Noon on Tuesday 3 November at 12:20 p.m.
PROGRAM:
Praeludium in e moll, BWV 548 “The Wedge”
Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf, BWV 617
Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721
Kommst du nun, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 650
Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, BWV 684
Fuge in e moll, BWV 548 “The Wedge”
Winner of the Third International Bach-Liszt Organ Competition in Erfurt/Weimar, Germany, the Sydney International Organ Competition and the Fort Wayne National Organ Playing competition, as well as being a prizewinner in the St Albans International Organ Competition and second prize winner in the Miami International Organ Competition, Thomas Gaynor is rapidly making his mark on the organ scene in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. A student of David Higgs at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, Thomas recently graduated with an MM degree and the Performer’s Certificate. He is currently pursuing his D.M.A. degree there, as well as the prestigious Artist’s Certificate.
Born in New Zealand, Thomas was Richard Prothero Organ Scholar at Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul for a number of years before being granted the title of Honorary Sub-Organist. His teachers included Douglas Mews for organ and harpsichord repertoire, Michael Fulcher for organ and church music, and Judith Clark CNZM for Piano. He later held the Maxwell Fernie Scholarship at St Mary of the Angels church in Wellington. Presently, he is Assistant Director of Music at Christ Episcopal Church in Rochester, NY, where he works closely with concert organist David Baskeyfield.
An aspiring concert organist, Thomas has studied in masterclasses and workshops with many of this generation’s most influential organists, including Edoardo Bellotti, Michel Bouvard, Cameron Carpenter, James David Christie, Ken Cowan, Olivier Latry, Nathan Laube, Jean-Baptiste Robin, Jaques Van Oortmerssen, Stephen Tharp, Thomas Trotter and Harald Vogel. He can be heard frequently in solo and collaborative recitals across the USA, as well as in Australasia. Recent and upcoming projects include a complete performance of Bach’s Clavierübung III, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder and Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical songs with Baritone, Jarrett Logan Porter, and concert featuring Liszt’s ‘Ad Nos’ paired with a transcription of the first act of Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète, complete with soloists and chorus.
Thomas recently released his first CD, recorded at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, New Zealand. Jamal Rossi, dean of the Eastman School of Music, picked this CD as one of five recent recordings that best represent the current Eastman School sound in an interview in the Rochester Review, the University of Rochester’s alumni magazine,
Thomas is a grateful recipient of an Arts Excellence Award from the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, a Freemasons University Scholarship the Kiwi Music Scholarship, and the Maxwell Fernie Trust Scholarship. Most recently he was awarded the New Zealand/Aotearoa Scholarship from Creative NZ, Arts Council of New Zealand.
