David Higgs
Biography
One of America’s leading concert organists, David Higgs is the Chair of the Organ
Department at the Eastman School of Music. He has inaugurated many important
new instruments including St. Stephan’s Cathedral, Vienna; the Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas; and the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City. His performances with ensembles have included the Chamber Music
Society of Lincoln Center, Chanticleer, the Orpheus Ensemble, and the Empire
Brass. For twelve consecutive years he played annual Christmas recitals with
the San Francisco Symphony to capacity audiences at Davies Symphony Hall.
Mr. Higgs appears frequently at major national and
international organ festivals and conventions. Recent engagements have included
the International Organ Festivals of Calgary, Naples, Redlands, San Anselmo; the Gilmore International
Keyboard Festival, and the Summer Organ Academies of the Interlochen School for the Arts and Mt. Royal College-Conservatory in Calgary. His performances for professional colleagues include three national
and eight regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, as well as
national conventions of the American Pipe Organ Builders Association and the
Organ Historical Society. In England he has appeared several times at the Oundle
International Festival, the St. Albans International Festival, the Cambridge
Summer Festival, the Annual Congress of the Incorporated Association of
Organists and the International Congress of Organists, both in London.
A native of New York City, Mr. Higgs held his first position as a church organist at age ten; as
a teenager, he divided his time between studying classical music and performing
in several rock/gospel/soul-music groups. He earned the Bachelor and Master of
Music degrees at the Manhattan School of Music, and a Performer’s Certificate
from the Eastman School of Music. His teachers have included Claire Coci, Peter Hurford, Russell
Saunders, and Frederick Swann. In New York City, he was Director of Music and Organist at Park Avenue Christian
Church, and later Associate Organist of the Riverside Church, where he also conducted the Riverside Choral Society. After moving to
San Francisco in 1986, he became Director of Music and Organist at St. Mark’s
Episcopal Church in Berkeley, and Organist/Choir Director at Temple Emanu-El
in San Francisco.
A sought-after teacher, Mr. Higgs is a frequent lecturer
and master-teacher for conferences, workshops, and festivals on both sides of
the Atlantic, and for colleges, universities, and chapters of the American Guild of
Organists. He was appointed to the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music
upon graduation from that institution, and was later the Director of Church
Music Studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. He was appointed to the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in
1992, and since that time his students have won major competitions and hold
many of the top positions in the United States.
Recent and upcoming concerts include solo recitals at Grace
Cathedral (San Francisco), Washington National Cathedral, Jacoby Hall (Jacksonville FL), First
Congregational Church (Los Angeles CA), Furman University (Greenville SC), and a regional convention of the American Guild of Organists in Colorado Springs CO.
Mr. Higgs has recorded for Delos International, Pro Organo, and Gothic records.
Current as of July 2006