2025 Taylor Organ Competition

Name: 2025 Taylor Organ Competition
Start: 2025-03-22T12:00:00-04:00
Location: 435 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA, United States, Georgia 30308

Schedule

Sat, 22 Mar, 2025 at 12:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

435 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA, United States, Georgia 30308 | Atlanta, GA

Please plan to attend the competition beginning at 12 noon at St. Luke's Episcopal Church on Saturday, March 22, 2025. The five finalists will each perform a 50-minute program, including a newly-commissioned work by Chelsea Chen. Competitors will be visible to both the audience and the judges, and applause is permitted. You are cordially invited to attend the awards ceremony and festive reception to honor the competitors and the final round jury in J. Coleman Budd Hall following the competition. The 2025 final round jury consists of Dr. Jesse Eschbach, Dr. Kimberly Marshall, and Dr. Stephen Price. The competition will be held on the renowned Alston Memorial Organ at St. Luke's.
Meet the 2025 Finalists:
Daniel Carroll
Daniel Carroll is a second-year student at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Alan Morrison and Jeffrey Brillhart. He studied previously with Daniel Aune at the Peabody Conservatory, David Lang of the Reston Chorale, and Michael Galdo. This summer, he studied in France with Thierry Escaich and Philippe Lefebvre, pursuing his passion for French repertoire and improvisation in the French style. Daniel has performed at notable venues including The Piccolo Spoleto festival in Charleston SC, St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington DC, The Wanamaker Store in Philadelphia, and others. Daniel has been a regular church organist since the age of twelve. He now holds the Organ Scholar position at St. Thomas Church, Whitemarsh under the direction of Michael Smith. Daniel grew up in a small town in Northern Virginia. He was part of a group of four young organists who began studying together at the same church. This group allowed for healthy competition and formed close friendships. It was through the camaraderie of the four that Daniel was able to discern organ performance as a career.
Daniel Colaner
Daniel Colaner captured media attention at the age of 12 with his same-day performances on piano at Carnegie Hall and on organ at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Since then, he has been featured on the NPR radio show From the Top (Show #377) and on PBS with the American Pops Orchestra in One Voice: The Songs We Share–The Sacred. He was named to The Diapason magazine’s “20 Under 30” Class of 2021, and a 2023 National YoungArts Winner with Distinction in Organ/Classical Music. His exposure to music began as cognitive therapy following treatment for cancer as an infant, unleashing his passion for the piano at age 5 and organ at age 10. He completed his pre-collegiate music studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and as a student of David Higgs at the Eastman Community Music School during which time he was the winner of the 2023 Albert Schweitzer High School Organ Competition and the L. Cameron Johnson Organ Competition. He is currently a Bachelor of Music student of Alan Morrison at the Curtis Institute of Music through the generosity of the Dr. Mi Wha Lee Fellowship. As a church musician, he has served as the Organ Scholar at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, OH, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, and for the RSCM Washington, DC Choral Residency. He presently serves as the Michael Stairs Organ Scholar at the Episcopal Church of The Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, PA.
Henry Dangerfield
Henry Dangerfield, a high school junior, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. He began his organ studies with Brian Williams in 2019 after receiving a student scholarship from the Southeast Minnesota Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. In 2021, he started taking lessons from Raymond Johnston (Canon Musician at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis). Since fall 2024 he has been studying with Dr. Catherine Rodland (Artist in Residence at St. Olaf College). In 2023, Henry had the opportunity to attend the Curtis Summer Organ Intensive, where he had lessons with Peter Conte and Alan Morrison, and performed on the Wanamaker Organ. The following summer, he attended the Oberlin Organ Academy. He has played in master classes taught by Chelsea Chen, Alcée Chriss III, Isabelle Demers, Nicole Keller, and Jonathan William Moyer. As a finalist in the 2023 Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival Hartford Competition (High School Division), Henry was awarded the David Spicer Hymn Playing Award and the Audience Prize. Additionally, he won first prize in the L. Cameron Johnson Memorial Organ Competition and the Greater Columbia AGO Young Organist Competition, where he also received the Hymn Playing Award. Henry has performed several recitals at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral (MN), and has given a recital at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (WI) and at Shandon United Methodist Church (SC). He plays regularly for his congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Trevor Good
Trevor Good is an organist and church musician from Springfield, Illinois. He is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas, pursuing organ performance with Dr. James Higdon. He serves as organist at the Church of the Resurrection-Brookside in Kansas City, MO and as student organ scholar at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center in Lawrence, KS. Good has been named an American Guild of Organists Rising Star and has won prizes in several organ competitions, such as the Fort Wayne National Organ Playing Competition and the ILC Organ Scholar Competition in Evanston, IL. Good is an active recitalist. Recent performances have brought him to Peace Lutheran Church in St. Louis, MO; the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City, MO; First Congregational Church in Berkeley, CA; and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul, MN. His programs frequently include complete performances of multi-movement works. He is also an enthusiastic performer of twenty-first century composers, from Rachel Laurin to Thierry Escaich. Some other recitals have been based on hymn cycles, drawing on the strong influence of church and sacred music that first drew Trevor to the organ. His penchant for learning about styles young and old have taken him to masterclasses in Rouen, France and Haarlem in the Netherlands. Good's former teachers include Dr. Grigory Frederick Guzasky and Dale Rogers.
Bruce Xu
Bruce Xu discovered the grand pipe organ at age 9 in his local Methodist church and has since fallen in love with its majestic sound and expressive possibilities. He began his musical journey with Jimrae Lenser. He subsequently continued his studies with Craig Williams of West Point Cadet Chapel. He began high school in North Carolina to attend the School of the Arts, under Timothy Olsen, also singing with the Cantata Singers. He then returned to New York for two years, riding the Saturday bus into The Big Apple to attend The Juilliard School’s Pre-college program. He must’ve missed southern hospitality as he committed to Ken Cowan’s studio at Rice University in Houston, TX, where he still proudly resides! At 14, he won six organ competitions, including the AGO Quimby/RCYO Competition, making him a “Rising Star” at the 2018 National Convention of the AGO. He’s won the international Quebec Organ Competition, Albert Schweitzer (Young Professional) Competition, and has received generous scholarships like the Ruth-Paul Manz and the Pogorzelski-Yankee. Bruce enjoys playing piano, flute, ukulele, as well as singing (genre-agnostic). He is also a fitness/longevity enthusiast who loves to play soccer and tennis. One life goal is to contribute meaningfully to the world as a Christian entrepreneur. Bruce is always eager to share his passion for organ music with diverse audiences. He hopes to inspire more people to appreciate the beauty and power of the king of instruments.
About the Competition
The Taylor Organ Competition was established by the Atlanta Chapter of the American Guild of Organists to honor long-time chapter member, Elizabeth Abbott Taylor. In October 2006 the Chapter received a generous bequest from Mrs. Taylor’s estate and the first competition was held on Saturday, April 21, 2012. The Chapter Endowment Committee, Bobby Mays, Chair, invested the Taylor Memorial Scholarship Fund in a separate account to support a national young organist competition every three years. The Executive Board of the Atlanta Chapter appointed Sarah Martin, Chair, and committee members Sarah Hawbecker, Bobby Mays, James Mellichamp, Charlene Ponder, Arlan Sunnarborg and Timothy Wissler, to set up the parameters for the first competition.
The current committee consists of Sarah Hawbecker, Chair; Tom Bara; Matthew Brown; Ray Chenault; Nancy Dickson; Charles Higgs; Käthe Wright Kaufman; Scott Lamlein; and Chase Loomer.