Syracuse Legacies Organ Conference

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About

In 1948, Arthur Poister, newly hired by Chancellor William P. Tolley, arrived at Syracuse University and quickly began building one of the largest organ programs in the country. Within four years of his appointment Syracuse boasted two new, large organs built by Walter Holtkamp, Sr. and a flourishing department. Over the next three decades, hundreds of students studied with Poister on these instruments, including Calvin Hampton, a dynamic young performer who went on to become one of the great composers for the organ in the twentieth century.

Presented in partnership with the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies, the Syracuse Legacies Organ Conference aims to highlight the important accomplishments of Poister, Hampton, and Holtkamp, Sr. in the context of twentieth-century American organ culture. The campus of Syracuse University, with its landmark instruments built by Walter Holtkamp Sr. in Crouse College’s Setnor Auditorium and sister instrument in Hendricks Chapel, is the ideal location for a conference devoted to this period in American music history.

All of Syracuse University’s former and current organ faculty will play a role in the conference. Christopher Marks, associate dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and former Syracuse University organist, will give the keynote address to open the conference. Distinguished organists Kola Owolabi, Katharine Pardee, William Porter, and Cherry Rhodes will give performances and masterclasses. Lectures and panel discussions will be moderated by Syracuse University emeritus faculty Donald Sutherland and Will Headlee. The conference will also host presentations by biographers David Pickering (Arthur Poister: Master Teacher and Poet of the Organ) and Jonathan Hall (Calvin Hampton: A Musician Without Borders) and offer book signings with the authors.

Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in the conference in two ways. Students are invited to perform in the masterclasses, and attendees and community members are invited to sing in the Festival Choir that will lead hymns in the Sunday afternoon Hymn and Anthem Festival. Please use the registration page to indicate interest in either of these opportunities.