Dr. Philip Brisson is Director of Music and Organist at the Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville, the third oldest Catholic Cathedral in the country. In addition to leading the Cathedral’s worship program, he also manages the Cathedral’s Concert Series, which includes the Kelty Endowed Organ Recitals which have further recognized the Cathedral for not only musical excellence in liturgy but also for outstanding concerts in the Louisville community. Philip has led the Cathedral Choir on international concert tours to England, Ireland, Germany, and Austria. Recently, the choir traveled to Washington DC for performances in the Arlington area and at the National Shrine. Locally, the Cathedral Choirs have performed with the Louisville Orchestra, have been featured on television, and have appeared annually for concerts in collaboration with Louisville’s Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral and Calvary Episcopal Church under the title “Louisville’s Three Choirs Festival.” Recent solo performing experiences have included being “Organist in Residence” at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, England; appearing on the L’Organo Recital Series at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC; and concertizing in Hasselt, Belgium and Rome, Italy.

Dr. Brisson was instrumental in the founding of the Louisville Master Chorale, a premier chorale ensemble which performs the great chorale literature with orchestra in local churches throughout the Louisville area, where he was Organist and Associate Director for its first five years. Prior to his work with the LMC, he was Chorus Master for the Kentucky Opera and prepared choruses for performances which included Puccini’s Turandot and Madame Butterfly, Verdi’s La Traviata, Il Trovatore and Otello, Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, Massenet’s Werther, Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, and Donizetti’s L’elisir d’Amore.

As an organ soloist, he has given recitals in all 50 states. He has appeared with the Lexington Philharmonic, the Oratorio Society of Queens, and with the Louisville Orchestra as guest soloist performing the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with Raymond Leppard conducting. In the summer of 2011, Philip was also a featured performer for the Region V AGO Convention in Lexington, KY and the NPM National Convention in Louisville, KY.

As a teacher, Dr. Brisson served on the faculty of Bellarmine University where he taught organ performance and a Church Music Internship at the Cathedral. Until taking over the Kentucky Opera Chorus, he oversaw the choral program at Indiana University Southeast, where he conducted the Concert Choir, the Community Chorus, and taught choral conducting. He has also presented workshops to the American Guild of Organists and to the National Association of Pastoral Musicians at both the regional and national level.

Originally from New York City, Philip received his BM in Organ Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, CUNY. While at Queens, he studied organ and conducting with Paul Maynard, the former director of the New York Pro Musica. After being accepted into graduate organ performance programs at Juilliard, Indiana, and Michigan, Philip decided to attend Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where he earned a Masters in Sacred Music. While at Westminster, he studied organ with Robert Carwithen and choral conducting with Allen Crowell. He was also fortunate to regularly sing under Joseph Flummerfelt in the Westminster Symphonic Choir which performed Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Hindemith’s Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch. In 2005, Philip earned a Doctorate in Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he studied organ with David Higgs and received a choral conducting minor while studying conducting with William Weinert.

Philip Brisson is active in the American Guild of Organists, has served on the Louisville Chapter’s Executive Committee and has held both the Sub-Dean and Dean positions for the Guild. He is also the National Association of Pastoral Musicians Organist Liaison for the Louisville Archdiocese, has served as Membership Chairman of the Roman Catholic Conference of Cathedral Musicians, and is a member of The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. Dr. Brisson also founded the concert artist cooperative EastWestOrganists.com, which represents several prominent young American organists in the United States. Philip, his wife, and their eight-year-old daughter reside in Old Louisville, the nation’s largest Victorian Historic District.

Stephen Black has performed extensively on both coasts as an organist, pianist, conductor and singer. For fourteen years he made East Harlem his home, and conducted over fifty choral concerts in the boroughs of New York City. As artistic director of Central City Chorus in NYC Dr. Black presented both classical masterworks with orchestra and NYC premieres of new works. He also served as a resident conductor of the women’s chamber choir AMUSE, the Greater New Haven Community Chorus, and Yale University Battell Chapel Choir. He has frequently guest conducted ensembles such as the West Village Chorale, Harlemstage, and the Empire City Men’s Chorus.

Dr. Black is also active as a concert organist and professional singer. In 1999 he was one of six finalists in the American Guild of Organists Young Artist Competition, and is a winner of the Charles Ives Prize in organ performance from Yale University. Among his recital credits are performances on the great organs of Washington National Cathedral; St. Patrick’s Cathedral, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City, and St. John’s Cathedral in Los Angeles. As a professional singer specializing in contemporary music, Dr. Black has sung in world premieres of new works in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. He has performed and recorded new music with the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Gregg Smith Singers, the Society for Universal Sacred Music and the Vedantic Arts Ensemble. He has sung in vocal ensembles in concert performances by Barry Manilow and Sarah Brightman in Los Angeles.

Dr. Black holds graduate degrees in organ and choral conducting from Yale University and the University of Southern California. He is the Director of Music Ministry at St. James Catholic Church in Elizabethtown, KY.

Sr. Jo Baim, a native of Walla Walla, Washington has been at Director of Music at Trinity Parish, Seattle, WA  since 1993, and on the music staff since 1995. She earned degrees in organ performance from Walla Walla College and the University of Oregon, and a doctorate in musicology from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. Her dissertation on the history of the tango was published by Indiana University Press. Sr. Jo is a vowed Anchorite (solitary) in the Episcopal Church, and an Oblate of St. Gertrude’s Benedictine Monastery in Cottonwood, Idaho. She is the Artistic Director of the Trinity Consort, and also oversees the concert program at Trinity Parish. She is always interested in ways to combine music and spirituality.

Hyokyoung (Hannah) Byun earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts (Konzert Examen, 1997) in Organ Performance from the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany, where she studied with Rudolf Heinemann. While in Germany, she also pursued choral conducting at Hanns Eisler Music Hochschule with Achim Zimmermann and at Universität der Künste in Berlin with Uwe Gronostay. In 1999, in addition to her DMA in Organ Performance, she was also awarded Diplom für Dirigent (Masters in Conducting) from the Universität für Künste. While studying in Berlin, Ms. Byun served as music director for Martin Luther King Church, and as organist/accompanist for the Berliner Sing Akademie under conductor Achimm Zimmermann. Concurrently, she was a recitalist at the prestigious Gedächnis Kirche memorial church, and served as guest conductor with the Berliner Philharmonischen Chor, conducting Mendelssohn’s Paulus.

Previous to her arrival in Seattle in 2009, Hyokyoung was adjunct professor of organ and choral conducting at Yonsei, Joongang, and Jangsin Presbyterian Universities (South Korea). In addition, she was the founding director for Goyang City Children’s Choir, an elite ensemble of 50 select music students. Ms. Byun received her Bachelors of Music in Church Music (emphasis on organ performance) from the prestigious Yonsei University, the foremost school for such study in Korea. At Yonsei, she was selected as First-in-Class for the four years of her enrollment. In Seattle, Hyokyoung is organist at Haller Lake United Methodist Church and music director of the Seattle Dream Church, while she pursues her second doctorate at the UW (DMA in Choral Conducting with Dr. Geoffrey Boers). Recently, she served as interim music director at St. Stephen’s Episcopal (Laurelhurst).

Currently, She is the principal organist at University Presbyterian Church and the music director at Seattle Dream Church.

from banging on pots and pans with chopsticks to clamoring for attention on a plastic toy guitar, guitarist jamie monck’s music begins from a place of exploration and creativity. an advocate for pieces off the beaten path (and also the bach chaconne), monck’s expansive repertoire has been described by eliot fisk as, “conquering not just everest, but the whole himalayan mountain range.” much of his repertoire seeks to reimagine musical structures and ideas that came before us, inviting both the performer and the listener to consider their past experiences and memories.

believing that life is not meant to be lived alone, monck enjoys sharing the stage with his peers. his frequent collaborations with cellists, vocalists and oboists enrich his musical diet. jamie’s partnership with ciyadh wells, duo charango, is a guitar duo committed to newly composed pieces for the guitar. they are presently commissioning brand new works for electric guitar duo to be premiered in 2020.

in addition to pumping nylon, jamie loves the bail project, flowers, long walks, elizabeth warren, fc barcelona, chopin’s op. 35, abolishing ice, nineteenth century russian novels, jackson pollock, the scent of lavender, sunshine, tacos, and pups.

jamie plays a guitar built by stephan connor and is a graduate student at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA.

In addition to serving as Assistant Professor of Organ on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, and his new position as International Consultant in Organ Studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK, Nathan Laube’s extensive recital career includes major venues spanning four continents, with appearances at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Cathedral, the Dortmund Konzerthaus, St. Bavo Church, Haarlem, the Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, and the Sejong Center, Seoul.  Highlight performances in the USA include Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles; Verizon Hall, Philadelphia; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; The Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas TX; Overture Hall, Madison, WI; the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville, TN; Washington National Cathedral; Kauffman Center’s Helzberg Hall in Kansas City, MO; and Spivey Hall in Morrow, GA.  His recent appearances have included the first inaugural recital of the restored Harrison & Harrison organ of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, as well as performances at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.  In May of 2018 he will play the Hindemith Kammermusik VII with the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker (formerly Orchestra Academy).  Nathan also frequently presents concert tours in the United Kingdom, where highlight venues have included York Minster, Canterbury Cathedral, Exeter Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, Hereford Cathedral and Truro Cathedral; and in 2019 he will perform the complete Bach Clavierubung III at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

Highlights of Mr. Laube’s recent and upcoming festival appearances around the world include the Berlin Orgelsommer (DE), the Stuttgart Internationaler Orgelsommer (DE), the Naumburg Orgelsommer (DE), the 300th Anniversary festival of the 1714 Silbermann organ in the Freiberg Cathedral (DE), the Dresden Music Festival (DE), the Orléans Organ Festival (FR), Bordeaux Festival d’Été (FR), the Lapua Festival (FI), the Lahti Organ Festival (FI),  the 2015 and 2016 Smarano Organ Academy (IT), the Göteborg Festival (SE),  the Max Reger Foundation of America’s 2015 Max Reger Festival (USA), the WFMT Bach Project for which he performed the complete Clavierübung III in Chicago (USA), and several EROI Festivals at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (USA).

Performances for conventions and conferences are frequent. Mr. Laube was a featured performer at the 2017 National Convention of the Organ Historical Society (OHS) in Minneapolis/St. Paul MN, performing a solo recital at the Basilica of St. Mary. He was also featured at the Society’s conventions in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016.  Mr. Laube also serves in leadership roles for the OHS, as Chair of the Friends of the Library and Archives, and he will co-chair the 2018 OHS national convention in Rochester, NY.   For the American Guild of Organists (AGO), Nathan was a featured performer at their national conventions in 2010 in Washington, DC and in 2012 in Nashville, TN, and for three 2017 regional conventions of the AGO in Dallas TX, Montreal, PQ, and Youngstown, OH.

Mr. Laube has two CD recordings available: the Stephen Paulus Grand Concerto on the Naxos label (NAXOS 8.559740) recorded with the Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero, conducting, which received a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Compendium; and a new solo recital recording on the Ambiente label (AMBIENTE ACD-1062), recorded at the Stadtkirche in Nagold, Germany.  He has collaborated with solo artists including Andreas Ottensamer, principal clarinet with the Berliner Philharmoniker; Chris Martin, principal trumpet with both the Chicago and New York Philharmonic; and violinist Rachel Barton.  Many of Mr. Laube’s live performances have been featured on American Public Media’s “Pipedreams.”

Nathan is frequently asked to teach master classes and workshops in connection with his concerts, and often serves on the faculty for Pipe Organ Encounters in the USA – clinics presented by The American Guild of Organists designed to introduce young keyboardists to the pipe organ and its vast repertoire.  He has also taught at the Oberlin Summer Organ Academy in Ohio and at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Summer Organ Academy in Philadelphia, and regularly presents masterclasses in the United States and in Europe.   (Updated October 2017)