Biography

    Donald Sutherland is Coordinator of the Organ faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where in 1997, he was given the "Excellence in Teaching Award" by Johns Hopkins Alumni Association.

    Mr. Sutherland received his Master of Music degree at Syracuse University where he was a student of Arthur Poister, later becoming his assistant. In 1965, after completing military service, he returned to Syracuse University as a member of the School of Music faculty. In 1988, he was presented with the school's "Distinguished Alumni Award" in recognition of his distinguished achievements in music.

    During the past several seasons, Mr. Sutherland was one of the workshop leaders at the Washington, DC regional AGO convention, as well as recitalist/adjudicator at the St. Alban’s festival in England. He dedicated new instruments in Virginia, as well as the new Holtkamp organ in the prize-winning restoration of Griswold Hall at Peabody Conservatory, the latter repeated four times in two days in order to accommodate the crowds. Since the new organ was installed, he had performed the Hindemith "Concerto" with the Peabody Chamber Winds, the Kodaly "Missa Brevis" with the Peabody Singers and recorded music written for the Millenium celebration in Times Square. He recently toured in Hungary, Germany and Czechoslovakia with the Una Voce Ensemble and was the recitalist for the 200^th Anniversary of the Medical and Chirugical Society. Montgomery County executive, Douglas Duncan, presented Mr. Sutherland with a Certificate of Recognition for his long-standing support of Bethesda Cares through musical outreach.

    Mr. Sutherland has appeared frequently under the auspices of the American Guild of Organists in recital and at both national and regional conventions in the roles of recitalist, workshop leader, adjudicator and choral conductor. He has appeared both as conductor and as organ soloist at numerous Kennedy Center Festivals. At Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, Maryland, where he was Director of Music Ministries for 28 years, Mr. Sutherland developed a program of such excellence that his choir was invited to participate in both the Mozart Festival and the Haydn Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center. He has made frequent radio broadcasts for National Public Radio, the BBC in London, BBC World Services, as well as in Austria and Germany, and has recorded for Gothic and CRI. Other engagements have included a televised performance for CBS and orchestral appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center; the Baltimore Symphony at Carnegie Hall; and the City of London Sinfonia, under the direction of Richard Hickox.

    A frequent performer of new music, Mr. Sutherland has had composers such as Richard Felciano, Gunther Schuller, Rachel Lauren, David Conte and William Albright dedicate works to him. Sutherland is organist and harpsichordist with the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center founded and directed by pianists Leon Fleisher and Dina Koston. This ensemble performs often in Washington as well as in other major cities throughout the U.S. and Canada.

    As a solo recitalist, Donald Sutherland has appeared in recital throughout the United States and in Europe. He has performed at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris; the Bath International Festival; the "Art of the Organ" Festival, Vienna; Walsingham Festival; the Alexandra Palace; King’s College, Cambridge; Westminster Abbey, London; at Aldburgh Parish Church during the Aldeburgh Festival; and as one of two Americans who performed at the first Soviet-American International Organ Festival in Aachen, Germany. In the mid 1990’s, Sutherland performed in Canada, where he was a featured artist for the Convention of the American Liszt Society as well as for a recital on the Concerts Spirituels series at St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. He was also honored by a return recital at Westminster Abbey, where he played an all-Liszt program for Remembrance Sunday, and was organist for the bicentenary service to honor George Peabody, founder of the Peabody Conservatory.

In addition to his solo recital appearances, Donald Sutherland has taught at numerous summer organ academies, among them: Oundle (UK) International Organ Week (1985, 1986, 1991); St. Dunstan’s College Conference on Sacred Music (1990, 1991, 1994); Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, and the Summer Institute of Church Music, Ontario, Canada.

Mr. Sutherland appears frequently as organist and pianist in joint recital with his wife, renowned soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson. They have performed together throughout the United States, Canada and in Europe, including the opening recital of London's Southe Bank "Summerscope," and the Theatre de l'Althenee of Paris, France. In the United States, they have premiered countless new works, as well as teaming up for workshops: The University of Kansas in Lawrence; regional American Guild of Organists’ conventions in Syracuse, Buffalo, Washington DC and Pittsburgh; the national AGO convention in Atlanta; Hartt Contemporary Organ Festivals in Hartford. They performed the music for the soundtrack of The Owl and the Pussycat by Stravinsky for the Canadian Film Institute, and have been featured on National Public Radio’s "Music from Washington."

    In September of 1996, he was honored for twenty-five years of music ministry at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church. A glorious weekend of music launched the Donald Sinclair Sutherland Music Ministries Endowment for musical outreach to the community, and an anonymous donor established a scholarship in Mr. Sutherland's name at the Peabody Conservatory, to celebrate the occasion.

    Donald Sutherland has made several recordings, the most recent of which was an all-Liszt CD recorded for Gothic Records at St. Patrick’s in the City, Washington D.C. He is also featured on two CD’s with the Men’s Camerata.