A native of Dallas, George Baker won the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Playing in 1970 and created a sensation in the organ world with his subsequent featured recital for that organization’s national convention two years later. He then went to Paris to study organ and improvisation as well as to record. He returned to America to teach organ, then entered medical school. Almost four decades later he has come full circle, returning to music as a performer, improviser, composer and teacher.

George Baker has received training with some of the finest organ teachers of the twentieth century. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University under Robert Anderson, after which he traveled to Paris to study with Marie-Claire Alain, Pierre Cochereau, Jean Langlais, André Marchal, and Nadia Boulanger. During his time in France, Baker earned the Prix de Virtuosité with Mention Maximum from the Schola Cantorum, under Langlais. Ultimately, he returned to the United States where he earned a Master of Music degree on full scholarship from the University of Miami, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan and began teaching at Catholic University in Washington D.C. before deciding to undertake the challenge of becoming a medical doctor. Although he obtained his M.D. in 1987 and practiced dermatology for thirty-two years, Dr. Baker never ceased performing, composing, teaching and recording.

In his early years as a musician, George Baker won first prizes by unanimous jury decisions in several major organ competitions including the American Guild of Organists (Buffalo, 1970), the Grand Prix de Chartres (Chartres, France, 1974) and the International Improvisation Competition (Lyon, France, 1979). His recording credits include the complete organ works of J. S. Bach (1979, the first to be recorded by an American artist) and the complete organ works of Louis Vierne (world premiere recording, released in 1994, a project he shared with Pierre Cochereau). He has been awarded three French Grand Prix du Disque, two of which were for The Complete Organ Works of Darius Milhaud. In 1995, the eight-CD Vierne set won the coveted Grand Prix Spécial du Jury from the Nouvelle Académie du Disque Français. In 2000, the same recording won a critic’s choice award from American Record Guide. Other recordings include works of Langlais, Reger, Hindemith, Clérambault, DuMage, Ives, Sowerby, and Dupré.

George Baker’s compositions, published by H. T. Fitzsimmons, Fred Bock Music, Baroque Notes Inc., and Gentry Publications, have been performed both in the United States and in Europe. His commissioned work, Variations on ‘Rouen’, received its world premiere in the September 13, 2010, PipeDreams Live! concert at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas and its European premiere in concert at St-Sulpice in Paris on September 26. Other commissioned works have been created for Stephen Tharp, Nathan Laube, Renée Anne Louprette, Doug Cleveland, Ken Cowan, and Damin Spritzer. His new work, Le Tombeau de Jean Langlais, was premiered by Stefan Engels at the Seattle AGO 2022 convention.

Dr. Baker has served on juries in several prestigious organ competitions including the Grand Prix de Chartres in 2000, 2004 and 2016. Special areas of interest include the music of Louis Vierne and Maurice Duruflé, improvisation in the French style, and the organ building of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. He is in demand as a consultant for organ building and restoration projects. Currently, Dr. Baker is Adjunct Associate Professor of Organ at SMU, where he teaches organ improvisation.

In 2003, Naxos released Volume 13 of The Organ Works of Marcel Dupré, recorded on the restored and enlarged Perkins Chapel organ at SMU. In 2007, he recorded a CD of the worksof his teacher Jean Langlais on the famous 1888 Cavaillé-Coll organ of St-Sernin de Toulouse. The following year, he recorded three of his own works at St-Sulpice in Paris as part of a CD honoring his former mentor, Pierre Cochereau. These two CDs were released on the Solstice label (France). On March 7, 2009, Baker was one of three Cochereau students chosen to play a special concert at Notre-Dame de Paris, honoring the twenty-fifth anniversary of Cochereau’s death. His Toccata-Gigue on the Sussex Carol was performed at the 2009 King’s College Cambridge Lessons and Carols service, which was broadcast around the world on BBC Radio. As a filmmaker, Baker released a DVD video workshop titled Organ Improvisation (2011). This unique DVD features Paris Conservatoire improvisation professor emeritus and Notre-Dame de Paris titular organist Philippe Lefèbvre.

David Berryhill graduated from West Rusk High School, where he was awarded the John Phillip Sousa award, Who’s Who in Music, was a 3-time state gold medalist in piano and drum major for his high school band for 2 years.

After high school, he attended Kilgore College, where he studied piano and accompanied the choral and the concert choir. While at Kilgore College, David received numerous awards in various collegiate piano competitions. His most notable award was a special Outstanding Performance award given to him at the Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.

He finished his education at East Texas Baptist University, where he earned a degree in Sacred Music with a piano and organ concentration.

Throughout his career, David has accompanied collegiate choirs throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. He has also been a featured artist throughout Texas with the Community Concert Association. Recently, he has conducted his church choirs in both Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. David has served as pianist for the Longview Symphony Orchestra and volunteered his time for several years as the Voice of the Kilgore College Rangerettes. Presently, he is the accompanist and musical director for Theatre Longview.

He has served as Music Director for First Baptist Church in Kilgore for the past 11 years and has been in full time church music for 29 years. David is in constant demand as a performer and accompanist.

Regarded as one of North America’s finest concert organists and praised for his dazzling artistry, impeccable technique, and imaginative programming by audiences and critics alike, Ken Cowan maintains a rigorous performing schedule that takes him to major concert venues in America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Cowan has been a featured artist in recent years at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Houston.  He has performed at many regional conventions of the AGO and has been featured at several conventions of the Organ Historical Society and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

A native of Thorold, Ontario, Canada, Mr. Cowan received the master’s degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ with Thomas Murray.  Prior to attending Yale, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with John Weaver. Following initial studies with his father, David Cowan, his primary teacher during his high school years was James Bigham.

Numerous critically acclaimed compact disc recordings by Mr. Cowan are available.  His most recent releases are Dynamic Duo, (Pro Organo), featuring Mr. Cowan and Bradley Welch in a program of works for duo organists, performed on the monumental Casavant organ at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX and Ken Cowan plays The Great Organ (Pro Organo), recorded at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City. Many of Mr. Cowan’s recordings and live performances have been featured on the nationally distributed radio show PIPEDREAMS from American Public Media.

Mr. Cowan is currently Professor of Organ and head of the organ program at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  He is also Organist and Artist-in-Residence at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, TX.

Chase Loomer is an award-winning organist who has given solo recitals throughout North America, in venues including Trinity Church, Boston; Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kingston, Jamaica; St. Joseph Cathedral, Columbus, OH; Coral Ridge Presbyterian, Ft. Lauderdale; Church of the Covenant, Cleveland; All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Atlanta; and Trinity Cathedral, Portland, OR. In 2025, he was part of The Diapason magazine’s class of “20 Under 30,” and also featured as a 2022 “NextGen” artist in The American Organist magazine. Chase has performed as a soloist and continuo player with numerous ensembles, including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Brass, Yale Philharmonia, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, and Tonos del Sur. 

Mr. Loomer was the first prize winner of the 2018 Taylor Organ Competition and the 2015 AGO/Quimby Southeast Regional Competition, and he has been a semifinalist in the 2024 National Competition in Organ Improvisation, and the 2019 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition. Recently, he was selected as one of six organists worldwide to compete in the St. Albans International Improvisation Competition in July 2025.

Chase has performed at national and regional conventions of the AGO, the American Liszt Society Festival, the Atlanta Summer Organ Festival, and has had several recordings featured on Pipedreams. 

Currently, he is Organist and Associate Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Philip (Episcopal) in Atlanta, GA, where he shares service playing duties for over 250 services per year and oversees the RSCM-based chorister program. Prior this appointment, he was Associate Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, and served on the collaborative piano staff of Butler University. He was the organist for Christ Church Cathedral’s 2023 choral residencies at Hereford and Rochester cathedrals in England, and also for the 2024 RSCM Midwest summer choral residency in Evansville, IN. 

He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (B.M), Yale University (M.M), and is a doctoral degree candidate at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. While at Yale, he received the Robert Baker Scholarship from the ISM and the Julia R. Sherman Memorial Prize from the School of Music, both awarded for excellence in organ performance. His teachers have included David Higgs, Martin Jean, Christopher Young, Edoardo Bellotti, Jeffrey Brillhart, Jeffrey Smith, and Patrick Scott. In addition to his work as an organist, Chase is a jazz pianist and composer of choral, keyboard, and jazz music.

Dr. John D. Schwandt is among the most versatile and multi-faceted organ professionals working today. Equally at home on a classical or theatrical organ, Schwandt is known for exciting audiences across America with engaging repertoire and electrifying improvisations. His performances can be heard on American Public Media’s Pipedreams, in theaters, concert halls, churches, accompanying silent films, on a CD by the rock band Shiny Toy Guns, and as a leader of hymn festivals. He has worked as an organ consultant, voicer, and tonal finisher, and is in demand as a teacher, clinician, and competition judge. Dr. Schwandt has been a featured performer for the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the Organ Historical Society (OHS), the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS), and the American Institute of Organbuilders (AIO).

Schwandt began his formal organ study with George Damp through the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music and completed his undergraduate studies at St. Olaf College under John Ferguson. His graduate degrees, as well as the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, were earned at Indiana University, having studied organ with Larry Smith. By a unanimous jury decision, he won first prize in the 1998 AGO National Competition in Organ Improvisation.

From 2006 to 2020, Dr. Schwandt was professor of music and chair of the organ department at the University of Oklahoma (OU) School of Music. Prior to his OU appointment, he was assistant professor of organ and curator of organs at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His creative and passionate approaches to teaching led him to establish the American Organ Institute (AOI) upon his arrival at OU. This groundbreaking interdisciplinary program not only included the study of established classical organ repertoire, but emphasized broad stylistic ability in improvisation, liturgical organ playing, silent film accompaniment, as well as jazz and popular music. The AOI was also the only academic program in America with a fully functioning pipe organ workshop capable of building, maintaining, and restoring instruments, allowing for students to earn degrees in pipe organ technology and for performers to learn more about their instruments. Dr. Schwandt’s students are prizewinners in numerous premier organ competitions and hold positions in churches, cathedrals, educational institutions, and organ building firms across the country.

After 25 years of teaching in university settings, Dr. Schwandt established the American Organ Academy (AOA) in 2021, a private and cooperative educational venture offering training in all aspects of organ building and playing. This highly individualized educational program makes organ training available to a wide array of students at any stage of career, without the limitations of more formal avenues of study. With the cooperation of three major pipe organ builders and a visionary leadership team, the AOA is poised to meet the emerging needs of a rapidly changing organ landscape, and in so doing, is determined to keep the future of the American pipe organ bright.

John walks on life’s journey with his spouse Kirstin and their beloved miniature Schnauzer, Einstein.

Sheryl Sebo, DMA, AAGO, retired in 2023, having served over nine years as Organist/Associate Director of Music at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Her career has spanned over five decades in church music and organ in Texas, Colorado, and New Jersey. She contiues to share her musical gifts on a free-lance basis, as well as teach a few students, which offers enriching, new experiences, and professional relationships.

Dr. Sebo holds degrees from Texas Christian University, Boston University School of Theology, and Mason Gross School for the Arts/Rutgers-the State University (DMA/organ). Her organ study was with Emmet G. Smith, Max Miller, and David Drinkwater. Further study was with Joyce Kull of Colorado and Johannes Geffert in Germany.

Dr. Sebo taught music fundamentals and theory for over ten years at Collin College/Spring Creek Campus, including several years as organ instructor.  A member of American Guild of Organists (AGO), Organ Historical Society, The Fellowship of Worship Arts, and Church Music Institute, she has performed recitals and concerts, led workshops, participated on panels, and has served in leadership for AGO, including certification: twice as Dean, and currently serves as Southwest Regional Ambassador and Chair for the Council of Regional Ambassadors.

Besides her travel on behalf of her AGO position, Sheryl enjoys collaborating musically and enjoys reading, swimming, community involvement in support of social justice, and travel. She is grateful to have more time now to be with family and friends, and especially appreciates long-time support from her family and musical mentors!

In August 2018, Bradley Hunter Welch was named Resident Organist and holder of the Lay Family Chair by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where he performs with the DSO and serves as Curator of the Meyerson Symphony Center’s Lay Family Concert Organ, built by C.B. Fisk. A lifelong and passionate church musician, Dr. Welch also serves as Artist-in-Residence at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX.

Dr. Welch is the 2003 First Place winner of the Dallas International Organ Competition and was also awarded the Audience Prize for the  second time, having previously won it in 2000.

A native of Knoxville, TN, Bradley holds the Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Musical Arts, Master of Music degrees, and the Artist Diploma from Yale University where he studied with Thomas Murray and Martin Jean.  He also holds the Bachelor of Music degree magna cum laude from Baylor University where he studied with Joyce Jones.

His premier recording is the first solo organ recording of the Cliburn Organ at Broadway Baptist Church.  Bradley is married to Kara Kirkendoll Welch, a flutist in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Adjunct Professor of Flute at Southern Methodist University.  They have a son–Ethan Hunter Welch–and a daughter–Avery Kristine Welch.

British organist Clive Driskill-Smith has enthralled audiences from Beijing to Boston to Budapest with his extraordinary playing and fearless programming. Critics have described his performances as “intensely moving and truly breathtaking” (Organo Pleno, Australia) and praised his “blazing technique and unbelievable virtuosity” (Chiff Chat, American Guild of Organists). His solo recitals and duo performances with GRAMMY^© award–winning percussionist Joseph Gramley have brought audiences to their feet across the world.

Clive is the Organist and Choirmaster at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, Texas, a post that he combines with an international concert career. During the last few years, he has performed at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, Melbourne Town Hall, Westminster Abbey, the Grand Philharmonic Hall in Perm (Russia), and the National Performing Arts Center in Taipei. He has played at Festivals – such as the BBC Proms, the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival, and National Conventions of the American Guild of Organists – and he has worked with numerous conductors, including Dr. Stephen Darlington, Klaus Tennstedt, and Sir Colin Davis.

In 2004, Clive Driskill-Smith and Joseph Gramley (multi-percussionist and founding member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble) formed the duo Organized Rhythm. They play mesmerizing arrangements of orchestral classics, commission new works, record music videos, and captivate audiences with their explosion of energy, sound, and musicality.

Mr. Driskill-Smith’s performances have been broadcast on the BBC (UK), NHK (Japan), Pipedreams (USA), and on radio and television throughout the world. His CDs have received critical acclaim (“a master performer in a range of musical styles … his playing is immaculate” Organists’ Review; “the technique is brilliant, the interpretation faultless … a first-class recording” The Organ), and he has recorded albums with Peter Gabriel on Virgin Records, and with Howard Goodall on EMI Classics.

Mr. Driskill-Smith was educated at Eton College, where he was an Oppidan Scholar (an academic award) and a Music Scholar; founded by King Henry VI in 1440, Eton is a school for boys aged thirteen to eighteen, and its alumni include twenty British prime ministers, as well as Princes William and Harry. After Eton, he read Music at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1999 with a Double First (First Class Honors in both examinations), and with the MPhil (Master of Philosophy) degree in 2001; Christ Church is one of Oxford University’s thirty-nine colleges, and is famous for its connection with Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.

From 2001 to 2018, Mr. Driskill-Smith was the organist at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, England. He lived in Auden Cottage – once home of the poet W. H. Auden – and worked closely with Dr. Stephen Darlington, director of the world-famous choir. He played for the daily services in the twelfth-century Cathedral and for the choir’s many concerts, award-winning recordings, media broadcasts, and tours to China, Japan, Brazil, Jamaica, Bermuda, the USA, France, Germany, and Portugal.

Alongside his work in Oxford, Mr. Driskill-Smith was a Trustee of the Royal College of Organists, and of the Eric Thompson Charitable Trust for Organists and Organ Music. He was also Professor of Organ at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and a Tutor for the Royal College of Organists, and for Oundle for Organists. He has given lectures and masterclasses around the world, most recently at the Juilliard School in New York City, Yonsei University in Seoul, and the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Mr. Driskill-Smith is a member of the Fort Worth Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and has served as a member of the jury for the Hong Kong AGO Chapter’s Young Organist Competition. He served on the planning committee for the Association of Anglican Musicians’ 2023 Convention in Dallas. In England, he is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, one of the ancient Livery Companies which evolved from London’s medieval guilds. The Company awarded him the Silver Medal in 1998, and the W. T. Best Scholarship in 2002. As a Liveryman and a Freeman of the City of London, he is allowed to take sheep across London Bridge – a right he has not yet exercised!

Concert audiences across the United States, Europe and Asia have been brought to their feet by a pairing of musical personalities as improbable and winning as Organized Rhythm’s combination of the pipe organ and multi-percussion.  Joining British organist Clive Driskill-Smith in Organized Rhythm is percussionist Joseph Gramley.

This powerful and harmonious duo presents what has been described as “…an exciting two-hour musical adventure, [offering] startling clear insight into what makes a live performance good, and why good live performances are important for us … passion, technical mastery, and precision … two young musicians doing what they clearly love–making music, not just for themselves, but for us as well.” (The Granite State News, NH)

Trumpet and organ: it’s been done before. Flute and organ: it’s been done before. But the “symphonic-orchestral” pairing of organ and percussion remains a rarity, making Organized Rhythm the only full-time duo of its kind anywhere in the world. Clive and Joseph take every opportunity to explore the lyrical and powerful tonal aspects of thunderous and dulcet wood and metal organ pipes married to the visceral, arresting and delicate aspects of a wide array of percussion instruments from around the world through a collection of new works as well as transcriptions of recognizable classical compositions. Their repertoire spans from the music of J.S. Bach and Camille Saint-Saëns to that of Aaron Copland, John Williams and celebrated and innovative 21st century composers Nico Muhly, Angélica Negrón, William Susman and Brenda Portman. The duo’s adaptation of Gustav Holst’s The Planets has been played worldwide, from Budapest to Bloomington — Taipei to Tulsa.

Committed to collaborating with the leading composers of today, the Duo commissions and premieres new works each season. Listeners to the Duo’s recording Beaming Music will hear dozens of world drums, multiple metals, cymbals, tam-tams, multi-keyboard melodic percussion, orchestral percussion and timpani melding with the full organ’s sound. The duo has found balances in which even the soft bars of the marimba meld seamlessly with the organ’s softest registers. The creative ease that exists between the two – developed not only during travel and concerts, but while finding, arranging and shaping repertoire – is instantly evident to anyone watching them rehearse, perform and record. Recent sold-out performances include the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest and Taipei’s stunning National Performing Arts Center.