French Organ Music Seminar since 1988

Christina Harmon resides in East Texas, where she is the Assistant Organist at Christ Episcopal Church in Tyler, Texas. She recently retired as organist at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, where she served for 37 years as organist and for 20 years as composer-in-residence. Many of her compositions are available from www.sacredmusicpublishing.com, sheet music plus, Lorenz, and other sources She is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Southern Methodist University and has done further study at Union Theological Seminary, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and the University of North Texas. She has worked as an organ and theory instructor at Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas, Dallas Baptist University, and the University of Texas at Dallas. Many of her former students are now professional students and prize winners. She is featured on several c.d.s, including Summershimmer, Music of Women Organists; The Music at Park Cities Baptist; Sing Gloria, the Choirs at St. Michael's and All Angel; and Christmas in Dallas: Trumpet and Organ Christmas Music arranged by Christina Harmon and Performed by Members of the Dallas and Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestras. A new cd, The Organs of Keeweenaw featuring Christina Harmon playing the organs of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, is now available from Raven recordings. For many years Christina Harmon has given concerts in churches in the United States and in Europe, including Westminster Abbey (where she was invited to play two years in a row), and Westminster Cathedral. Her concerts at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and at the Cathedral of Chartres were given outstanding reviews: “The public was caught up in the very brilliant and precise playing of this concert artist of great talent.” Echo Republicain, Chartres, France. “We were able to appreciate the sensitivity, precision and virtuosity of the performance of Christina Harmon at Notre Dame Cathedral. Thanks to the high quality of her execution this concert was marvelous and exciting, and a very great success.” Inter-Orgue, Paris, France. Christina's prize-winning compositions have received outstanding reviews from individuals and publications. Her works for choir, organ, and instruments have been performed in churches throughout the U. S. and Europe and are featured on recordings by Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet, Barbara Harbach, and others. Her publications and bio are listed in the third revised and enlarged edition of A Directory of Composers for Organ, (John Henderson Publishing Ltd., 2005). In 1986 she founded the French and British Organ Music Seminars, which have become events of international status in which organists from all over the world study and perform on some of the greatest European organs. In addition she is the editor of six DVD’s which feature the Parisian organs and organists of Ste-Clotilde and St-Sulpice, all available through the Organ Historical Society.

Masako Gaskin resides in Beaumont, Texas, where she first became interested in the French Organ Music Seminar through her son, Samuel Gaskin, who studied organ and theory with Christina Harmon for many years. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Stephen F. Austin State University and has gone on to become a practicing artist in the Beaumont area, specializing in watercolor, pastels, greeting cards, knitting, and quilting. Masako served in the U. S. Army as an aircraft electrician, working on the electrical systems of helicopters (Huey, Shinook, Cobra, and Black Hawk) at Ft. Lewis and at the Sotocano Air Base in Honduras. Masako has served as the Festival Chair for the Texas Federation Music Club in Beaumont since 2004, organizing events for over 100 students each year through Lamar University and music teachers throughout southeast Texas. Serving as the Assistant Director of the French Organ Music Seminar since 2007, she has organized itineraries, tours, master classes, and events in France, Germany, England, and Spain, and has been instrumental in arranging international travel and hotel accommodations. Her fluency in Japanese and ability to communicate with Asian students has expanded the influence of the French Organ Music Seminar to the Asian musical world.

The Experience of a Lifetime

Cliff Varnon is organist-choir master at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He has a Bachelor of Music Degree in organ from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and a Master of Music Degree in choral directing from Texas A & M in Commerce, Texas. In addition to his church position, he also teaches piano and works for Alden Organ Service, a state wide organ maintenance company. He has been associated with the French Organ Music Seminar since 1997 and currently serves as a co-director of the British Organ Music Seminar.

Sacred Music Publishing - Sheet music by Christina Harmon

David Erwin is Director of Music Ministry at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, where he is organist, conducts the choirs and organizes concerts, a position he has held since 2005. His first trip with FOMS in 1995 was a life-changing event, and led to participating in subsequent FOMS trips until 2007, as well as sabbatical study with Marie-Louise Langlais in 1999. He is a graduate of Westminster Choir College (BMus, MMus) where his principal organ professor was Joan Lippincott. He recently completed a term as board member of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, as Co-chair of the Worship Committee for the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and was named a Certified Church Musician (CCM) by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.

François Espinasse was born in 1961. He studied under Xavier Darasse at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. In 1980 he was awarded the Premier Prix for the organ, and the next year he went on to post graduate studies under André Isoir. He was a prizewinner at international competitions in Toulouse (‘contemporary music’ category, 1986) and Musashino (Japan, 1988). François Espinasse is co-titular organist at the Église Saint-Séverin in Paris; he also teaches at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon and is a member of the National Commission for the Preservation of Historic Monuments (organ department). In 2010 hewas appointedOrganist par quartier of the Chapelle Royale at Versailles Palace alongside his colleagues Michel Bouvard, Frédéric Desenclos and Jean-Baptiste Robin. As a concert musician and guest teacher, François Espinasse has visited more than twenty countries. Moreover, he also sits on the juries of several international organ competitions.

DUO MERLIN Organists Béatrice Piertot and Yannick Merlin are recognized as one of the most outstanding new Organ Duos in the world. Through the quality of their orchestral transcriptions and their art of registration, they are showcasing the organ in new and unique ways. Husband and wife, and titular-organists in Paris, they are both prize-winners of international competitions and are consistently presenting thrilling concerts to enthusiastic audiences everywhere. Many contemporary composers have dedicated works to them. Repertoire: Early Classical: Rameau, Lully, Händel, Mozart, Hesse, and Merkel. Romantic Symphonic Transcriptions: Mendelssohn, Franck, Brahms, Saint- Saëns, Gounod, and Debussy. Contemporary Music by Hakim, Langlais, Nemoto, LeBrun, Florentz, Robin, and Others. The Duo Merlin performs regularly in concert in France and abroad: Paris: Val de Grace, Ste-Clotilde, Saint-Roch, Trinité, Saint-Augustin, Saint-Antoine des Quinze-Vingts… Cracovie, Gdansk (Pologne) Londres (Angleterre) Amsterdam (Hollande)

STAFF

French Organ Music Seminar since 1988

The Experience of a Lifetime

Christina Harmon resides in East Texas, where she is the Assistant Orgnist at Christ Episcopal Church in Tyler, Texas. She recently retired as organist at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, where she served for 37 years s organist and for 20 years as composer-in-residence. Many of her compositions are available from www.sacredmusicpublishing.com, sheet music plus, Lorenz, and other sources She is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Southern Methodist University and has done further study at Union Theological Seminary, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and the University of North Texas. She has worked as an organ and theory instructor at Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas, Dallas Baptist University, and the University of Texas at Dallas. Many of her former students are now professional students and prize winners. She is featured on several c.d.s, including Summershimmer, Music of Women Organists; The Music at Park Cities Baptist; Sing Gloria, the Choirs at St. Michael's and All Angel; and Christmas in Dallas: Trumpet and Organ Christmas Music arranged by Christina Harmon and Performed by Members of the Dallas and Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestras. A new cd, The Organs of Keeweenaw featuring Christina Harmon playing the organs of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, is now available from Raven recordings. For many years Christina Harmon has given concerts in churches in the United States and in Europe, including Westminster Abbey (where she was invited to play two years in a row), and Westminster Cathedral. Her concerts at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and at the Cathedral of Chartres were given outstanding reviews: “The public was caught up in the very brilliant and precise playing of this concert artist of great talent.” Echo Republicain, Chartres, France. “We were able to appreciate the sensitivity, precision and virtuosity of the performance of Christina Harmon at Notre Dame Cathedral. Thanks to the high quality of her execution this concert was marvelous and exciting, and a very great success.” Inter-Orgue, Paris, France. Christina's prize-winning compositions have received outstanding reviews from individuals and publications. Her works for choir, organ, and instruments have been performed in churches throughout the U. S. and Europe and are featured on recordings by Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet, Barbara Harbach, and others. Her publications and bio are listed in the third revised and enlarged edition of A Directory of Composers for Organ, (John Henderson Publishing Ltd., 2005). In 1986 she founded the French and British Organ Music Seminars, which have become events of international status in which organists from all over the world study and perform on some of the greatest European organs. In addition she is the editor of six DVD’s which feature the Parisian organs and organists of Ste-Clotilde and St-Sulpice, all available through the Organ Historical Society.

Masako Gaskin resides in Beaumont, Texas, where she first became interested in the French Organ Music Seminar through her son, Samuel Gaskin, who studied organ and theory with Christina Harmon for many years. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Stephen F. Austin State University and has gone on to become a practicing artist in the Beaumont area, specializing in watercolor, pastels, greeting cards, knitting, and quilting. Masako served in the U. S. Army as an aircraft electrician, working on the electrical systems of helicopters (Huey, Shinook, Cobra, and Black Hawk) at Ft. Lewis and at the Sotocano Air Base in Honduras. Masako has served as the Festival Chair for the Texas Federation Music Club in Beaumont since 2004, organizing events for over 100 students each year through Lamar University and music teachers throughout southeast Texas. Serving as the Assistant Director of the French Organ Music Seminar since 2007, she has organized itineraries, tours, master classes, and events in France, Germany, England, and Spain, and has been instrumental in arranging international travel and hotel accommodations. Her fluency in Japanese and ability to communicate with Asian students has expanded the influence of the French Organ Music Seminar to the Asian musical world.

Sacred Music Publishing - Sheet music by Christina Harmon

Cliff Varnon is organist-choir master at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He has a Bachelor of Music Degree in organ from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and a Master of Music Degree in choral directing from Texas A & M in Commerce, Texas. In addition to his church position, he also teaches piano and works for Alden Organ Service, a state wide organ maintenance company. He has been associated with the French Organ Music Seminar since 1997 and currently serves as a co- director of the British Organ Music Seminar.

David Erwin is Director of Music Ministry at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, where he is organist, conducts the choirs and organizes concerts, a position he has held since 2005. His first trip with FOMS in 1995 was a life-changing event, and led to participating in subsequent FOMS trips until 2007, as well as sabbatical study with Marie-Louise Langlais in 1999. He is a graduate of Westminster Choir College (BMus, MMus) where his principal organ professor was Joan Lippincott. He recently completed a term as board member of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, as Co-chair of the Worship Committee for the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and was named a Certified Church Musician (CCM) by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.

DUO MERLIN Organists Béatrice Piertot and Yannick Merlin are recognized as one of the most outstanding new Organ Duos in the world. Through the quality of their orchestral transcriptions and their art of registration, they are showcasing the organ in new and unique ways. Husband and wife, and titular-organists in Paris, they are both prize-winners of international competitions and are consistently presenting thrilling concerts to enthusiastic audiences everywhere. Many contemporary composers have dedicated works to them. Repertoire: Early Classical: Rameau, Lully, Händel, Mozart, Hesse, and Merkel. Romantic Symphonic Transcriptions: Mendelssohn, Franck, Brahms, Saint- Saëns, Gounod, and Debussy. Contemporary Music by Hakim, Langlais, Nemoto, LeBrun, Florentz, Robin, and Others. The Duo Merlin performs regularly in concert in France and abroad: Paris: Val de Grȃce, Ste-Clotilde, Saint-Roch, Trinité, Saint-Augustin, Saint-Antoine des Quinze-Vingts… Cracovie, Gdansk (Pologne) Londres (Angleterre) Amsterdam (Hollande)

François Espinasse was born in 1961. He studied under Xavier Darasse at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. In 1980 he was awarded the Premier Prix for the organ, and the next year he went on to post graduate studies under André Isoir. He was a prizewinner at international competitions in Toulouse (‘contemporary music’ category, 1986) and Musashino (Japan, 1988). François Espinasse is co-titular organist at the Église Saint-Séverin in Paris; he also teaches at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon and is a member of the National Commission for the Preservation of Historic Monuments (organ department). In 2010 hewas appointedOrganist par quartier of the Chapelle Royale at Versailles Palace alongside his colleagues Michel Bouvard, Frédéric Desenclos and Jean-Baptiste Robin. As a concert musician and guest teacher, François Espinasse has visited more than twenty countries. Moreover, he also sits on the juries of several international organ competitions.

Cliff Varnon is organist-choir master at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He has a Bachelor of Music Degree in organ from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and a Master of Music Degree in choral directing from Texas A & M in Commerce, Texas. In addition to his church position, he also teaches piano and works for Alden Organ Service, a state wide organ maintenance company. He has been associated with the French Organ Music Seminar since 1997 and currently serves as a co-director of the British Organ Music Seminar.

French Organ Music Seminar since 1988

Christina Harmon resides in East Texas, where she is the Assistant Organist at Christ Episcopal Church in Tyler, Texas. She recently retired as organist at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, where she served for 37 years as organist and for 20 years as composer-in-residence. Many of her compositions are available from www.sacredmusicpublishing.com, sheet music plus, Lorenz, and other sources She is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Southern Methodist University and has done further study at Union Theological Seminary, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and the University of North Texas. She has worked as an organ and theory instructor at Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas, Dallas Baptist University, and the University of Texas at Dallas. Many of her former students are now professional students and prize winners. She is featured on several c.d.s, including Summershimmer, Music of Women Organists; The Music at Park Cities Baptist; Sing Gloria, the Choirs at St. Michael's and All Angel; and Christmas in Dallas: Trumpet and Organ Christmas Music arranged by Christina Harmon and Performed by Members of the Dallas and Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestras. A new cd, The Organs of Keeweenaw featuring Christina Harmon playing the organs of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, is now available from Raven recordings. For many years Christina Harmon has given concerts in churches in the United States and in Europe, including Westminster Abbey (where she was invited to play two years in a row), and Westminster Cathedral. Her concerts at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and at the Cathedral of Chartres were given outstanding reviews: “The public was caught up in the very brilliant and precise playing of this concert artist of great talent.” Echo Republicain, Chartres, France. “We were able to appreciate the sensitivity, precision and virtuosity of the performance of Christina Harmon at Notre Dame Cathedral. Thanks to the high quality of her execution this concert was marvelous and exciting, and a very great success.” Inter-Orgue, Paris, France. Christina's prize-winning compositions have received outstanding reviews from individuals and publications. Her works for choir, organ, and instruments have been performed in churches throughout the U. S. and Europe and are featured on recordings by Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet, Barbara Harbach, and others. Her publications and bio are listed in the third revised and enlarged edition of A Directory of Composers for Organ, (John Henderson Publishing Ltd., 2005). In 1986 she founded the French and British Organ Music Seminars, which have become events of international status in which organists from all over the world study and perform on some of the greatest European organs. In addition she is the editor of six DVD’s which feature the Parisian organs and organists of Ste-Clotilde and St-Sulpice, all available through the Organ Historical Society.

Masako Gaskin resides in Beaumont, Texas, where she first became interested in the French Organ Music Seminar through her son, Samuel Gaskin, who studied organ and theory with Christina Harmon for many years. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Stephen F. Austin State University and has gone on to become a practicing artist in the Beaumont area, specializing in watercolor, pastels, greeting cards, knitting, and quilting. Masako served in the U. S. Army as an aircraft electrician, working on the electrical systems of helicopters (Huey, Shinook, Cobra, and Black Hawk) at Ft. Lewis and at the Sotocano Air Base in Honduras. Masako has served as the Festival Chair for the Texas Federation Music Club in Beaumont since 2004, organizing events for over 100 students each year through Lamar University and music teachers throughout southeast Texas. Serving as the Assistant Director of the French Organ Music Seminar since 2007, she has organized itineraries, tours, master classes, and events in France, Germany, England, and Spain, and has been instrumental in arranging international travel and hotel accommodations. Her fluency in Japanese and ability to communicate with Asian students has expanded the influence of the French Organ Music Seminar to the Asian musical world.

The Experience of a Lifetime

Sacred Music Publishing - Sheet music by Christina Harmon

David Erwin is Director of Music Ministry at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, where he is organist, conducts the choirs and organizes concerts, a position he has held since 2005. His first trip with FOMS in 1995 was a life-changing event, and led to participating in subsequent FOMS trips until 2007, as well as sabbatical study with Marie-Louise Langlais in 1999. He is a graduate of Westminster Choir College (BMus, MMus) where his principal organ professor was Joan Lippincott. He recently completed a term as board member of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, as Co-chair of the Worship Committee for the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and was named a Certified Church Musician (CCM) by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.

DUO MERLIN Organists Béatrice Piertot and Yannick Merlin are recognized as one of the most outstanding new Organ Duos in the world. Through the quality of their orchestral transcriptions and their art of registration, they are showcasing the organ in new and unique ways. Husband and wife, and titular-organists in Paris, they are both prize-winners of international competitions and are consistently presenting thrilling concerts to enthusiastic audiences everywhere. Many contemporary composers have dedicated works to them. Repertoire: Early Classical: Rameau, Lully, Händel, Mozart, Hesse, and Merkel. Romantic Symphonic Transcriptions: Mendelssohn, Franck, Brahms, Saint- Saëns, Gounod, and Debussy. Contemporary Music by Hakim, Langlais, Nemoto, LeBrun, Florentz, Robin, and Others. The Duo Merlin performs regularly in concert in France and abroad: Paris: Val de Grȃce, Ste-Clotilde, Saint-Roch, Trinité, Saint-Augustin, Saint-Antoine des Quinze-Vingts… Cracovie, Gdansk (Pologne) Londres (Angleterre) Amsterdam (Hollande)

François Espinasse was born in 1961. He studied under Xavier Darasse at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. In 1980 he was awarded the Premier Prix for the organ, and the next year he went on to post graduate studies under André Isoir. He was a prizewinner at international competitions in Toulouse (‘contemporary music’ category, 1986) and Musashino (Japan, 1988). François Espinasse is co-titular organist at the Église Saint-Séverin in Paris; he also teaches at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon and is a member of the National Commission for the Preservation of Historic Monuments (organ department). In 2010 hewas appointedOrganist par quartier of the Chapelle Royale at Versailles Palace alongside his colleagues Michel Bouvard, Frédéric Desenclos and Jean-Baptiste Robin. As a concert musician and guest teacher, François Espinasse has visited more than twenty countries. Moreover, he also sits on the juries of several international organ competitions.