The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is pleased to present this evening’s concert, featuring James Welch as part of the third season of the Tabernacle Organ Virtuoso Performance Series. This series started in May 2022 and is designed to showcase renowned organists from around the globe playing one of the world’s most famous and iconic pipe organs.
James Welch received a doctor of musical arts degree in organ performance from Stanford University, where he studied under Herbert Nanney and served as assistant university organist. Further studies have been with John Walker, Alexander Schreiner, Josef Doppelbauer of the Mozarteum University Salzburg in Austria, and Jean Langlais at the Basilica of Saint Clotilde in Paris, France. Welch taught on the music faculties of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara University. He has concertized internationally, with performances in such prestigious venues as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and the Salt Lake Tabernacle at Temple Square. He has also performed and taught in Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Jerusalem. A specialist in Latin American organ music, he received a Fulbright award to perform and conduct research on historic nineteenth-century Cavaillé-Coll organs in Brazil. Since then, he has performed in Mexico and edited three volumes of organ music by contemporary Mexican composers. He holds the associate certificate of the American Guild of Organists, and he has performed at conventions of the guild and at the International Congress of Organists. He is the author of two biographies of prominent California organists: Dale Wood: The Man and the Music and Richard Purvis, Organist of Grace . Articles about Welch have appeared in The American Organist and The Diapason , and he has released numerous CDs recorded on a variety of organs in the United States and Europe. Many of his recorded performances have been aired on American Public Media’s Pipedreams program. His travels, studies, and performances on historical and modern instruments throughout the world have given him a sure command of many styles of music. Critics in the US and abroad have praised him for his technical facility, solid musicianship, and creative programming. He currently lives in Provo, Utah, where he continues his teaching and performing. He and his wife, Deanne, are the parents of two sons, Nicholas and Jameson.
YouTube Live to be added here
This series is designed to showcase renowned organists from around the globe playing one of the world’s most famous and iconic pipe organs. These concerts are streamed live at TheTabernacleChoir.org and are then available on the Choir’s YouTube channel for on-demand viewing.
The Tabernacle Organ Virtuoso Performance Series is free to the public, and no tickets are required.