Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church has announced a trio of distinguished organists who will grace its organ series this year. All concerts are at 4 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

Nov. 2 — The series opens Nov. 2 with Richard Elliott, Principal Organist for The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. Besides his position, he also has a busy solo career, having given thousands of organ concerts on Temple Square as well as numerous performances on five continents. He appears on seven organ CDs and is a published composer and arranger of music for organ, choir, and orchestra.

Before becoming a Tabernacle organist in 1991, Elliott was an assistant professor of organ at Brigham Young University, and for several years he served as assistant organist at the Wanamaker Department Store (later Macy’s) in Philadelphia, home to the world’s largest fully functioning pipe organ. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in organ from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and MM and DMA degrees from the Eastman School of Music.

Feb. 22 — Karol Mossakowski, the newly appointed titular organist at Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris France, is renowned for both his interpretation and improvisation skills. He has received First Prizes at important performance competitions (Prague, and Chartres), and he leads an expansive international concert career. Mossakowski also serves as professor of improvisation at the Higher School of Music, San Sebastián, Spain (Musikene), and is Artist in Residence at the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Poland.
Mossakowski’s performances have taken him to distinguished venues across Europe, Russia, Canada, and the USA, and he has performed with many orchestras in Europe.  He is also known for his silent film accompaniments, and in 2017, his accompaniment of Dreyer’s Jeanne d’Arc for Lyon’s Festival Lumière was released on DVD and produced by Gaumont films.  In 2021 he released his first solo recording Rivages, on the Tempéraments label.  As a composer, he is in residence at the Festival of Sacred Music in Saint-Malo, France, for which he composed two significant works which premiered in 2021 and 2022.

April 19 —Thomas Sheehan is the Cathedral Organist and Interim Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, where he is responsible for all the music at the cathedral, including both concerts and liturgical music — and, most recently the state funeral of Jimmy Carter. Prior to this position, he served on the music staffs of the Memorial Church, Harvard University; Saint Mark’s Church in Philadelphia, PA; and Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton, NJ.