Life

Renowned concert organist performs at St. James on May 15

David Higgs will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 15, at St. James Episcopal Church.

By Lightning Reports, Published: May 8, 2025

Renowned concert organist David Higgs, the Minehan Family Professor of Organ and Chair of the Organ Department at the Eastman School of Music, will perform in recital at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 15, at St. James Episcopal Church in the inaugural concert of the Linda Lassiter Hill Organ Recital Series.

Higgs performs extensively throughout the United States and abroad and has inaugurated many important new instruments, including Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, St. Albans Cathedral, England, Church of St. Ignatius Loyola New York City, and most recently, Christ Church Cathedral Cincinnati. For more than 20 years he performed annual holiday organ concerts to capacity audiences at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. His performances with numerous ensembles include Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus Ensemble, Chanticleer, and Empire Brass.

Higgs appears at organ festivals and competitions around the world and often performs at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists. In 2010 he performed the inaugural St. Cecilia Recital, a series endowed by Marianne Webb that presents world-renowned concert organists in recital during the biennial National Conventions of the American Guild of Organists. In 2018 he performed several concerts in France, including a solo recital at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and as guest teacher at the Paris Conservatoire.

In addition to his significant performing career, Higgs has distinguished himself as a pedagogue. He was appointed to the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music upon graduation from that institution and has been a member of the faculty of the Eastman School of Music since 1992. His students have won prizes in prestigious international competitions and hold important positions in leading academic and religious institutions. He has recorded for Delos International, Pro Organo, Arsis, Loft and Gothic Records.

This series is endowed by Linda Hill, a retired organist/choirmaster who is a member of the St. James Choir and one of the choir’s librarians. The series is dedicated in memory of Roy Lassiter, Jr., Linda’s father, who encouraged her to study organ; and in memory of William J. Hill, Linda’s late husband, for his unfailing support of her musical career.