Sunday Organ Recital: Vincent Carr
Vincent Carr
Director of Music, St. Peter's Church (New York, NY)
Program:
Suite for Organ by Gerald Near (b. 1942)
1. Chaconne
2. Sarabande
3. Final
Arabesque No. 2 by Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Air by Gerre Hancock (1934-2012)
Impromptu No. 1, Op. 78 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Lotus Blossom by Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967), arr. Alec Wyton (1921-2007)
Toccata on Now Thank We All Our God by Egil Hovland (1924-2013)
Vincent Carr is a conductor, organist, pedagogue and composer/improviser widely known for his versatility as a performer and collaborative musician.
He currently serves as the Director of Music, Liturgy and the Arts at Saint Peter's Church in Midtown Manhattan, where he oversees the church's ambitious music program. As Artistic Director of the Arts and Architecture Conservancy, he leads a broad and diverse arts organization with programming in the areas of jazz, dance, classical music and visual art. He recently served on the board of the American Guild of Organists, steering the educational programming for the world’s largest professional organization of organists and church musicians.
As a professional organist and choral conductor, he has held organist and choirmaster posts at some of the nation's most noteworthy churches and cathedrals including the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey, and the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York. An experienced university professor for more than a decade, he served as Associate Professor of Organ and Church Music in the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (Bloomington). He also served on the faculties of Montclair State University and William Paterson University.
After earning undergraduate degrees in Organ Performance and Spanish language from Indiana University, Vince continued his graduate music studies at Yale University, where he was the recipient of numerous prizes from the faculty and in national organ competitions. His keen interest in the business aspect of being a career musician led him to undertake further graduate studies in business and personal finance at New York University. He holds the Associate and Choirmaster certificates from the American Guild of Organists and in 2013 he took a sabbatical in France, studying in the tradition of Nadia Boulanger. In March 2024, following extensive examinations, he was conferred the Fellowship Diploma from the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), where he earned the Limpus Prize, the Dixon Prize and the Richardson Prize.
Vince has served as musical director/conductor for the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in the United Kingdom, as well as the celebrity Irish singing group The Priests. His performance of Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb with the Richard Alston Dance Company (London) garnered critical acclaim in both the UK as well as New York City’s Fall for Dance Festival (2016).
Known for his warm demeanor and charisma as a conductor, he has led professional and amateur choirs in both sacred and secular space. As a composer and improviser, he has developed original music for keyboard, choir, silent film and musical theatre.
We thank the Friends of the Cathedral for their generous sponsorship of this series. For more information please visit their website.