Sin­fo­nia Spir­i­tu­osa explores excit­ing new ter­ri­to­ry as we per­form with guest artist, organ­ist David A. Heller, from Trin­i­ty Uni­ver­si­ty in San Anto­nio, Texas. We are delight­ed to part­ner with the Sacra­men­to Val­ley Chap­ter of the Amer­i­can Guild of Organ­ists to bring Dr. Heller to Cal­i­for­nia for this extra­or­di­nar­i­ly var­ied and unique pro­gram of works for organ and baroque cham­ber orchestra.

The mas­ter class pre­sent­ed by organ­ist Dr. David A. Heller is host­ed by the Sacra­men­to Val­ley Chap­ter of the Amer­i­can Guild of Organ­ists. It is free and open to the pub­lic. Please see their web­site for more infor­ma­tion: sac​val​leya​go​.org

Organ­ist David Heller has risen to promi­nence as an out­stand­ing per­former and ped­a­gogue in the Unit­ed States. The Amer­i­can Organ­ist has described him as “an elo­quent per­former,” and his play­ing as “an excel­lent demon­stra­tion of out­stand­ing music mak­ing.” A native of Wis­con­sin, Dr. Heller holds degrees from Lawrence Uni­ver­si­ty and the East­man School of Music, which award­ed him the pres­ti­gious Performer’s Cer­tifi­cate in Organ. His teach­ers have includ­ed Miri­am Clapp Dun­can and Rus­sell Saun­ders in organ, and Col­in Tilney and Lisa Goode Craw­ford in harp­si­chord. His post-doc­tor­al study was with David Craig­head in organ, and impro­vi­sa­tion with Gerre Hancock

As an active recital­ist, David Heller has per­formed exten­sive­ly through­out the Unit­ed States and Europe, South Korea, and Tai­wan. Recent appear­ances have includ­ed St. Paul’s Cathe­dral in Lon­don, and St. Mary’s Epis­co­pal Cathe­dral in Edin­burgh, Scot­land. Dr. Heller serves as a lec­tur­er and per­former for the Clas­si­cal Music Fes­ti­val-Eisen­stadt Sum­mer Acad­e­my each sum­mer in Eisen­stadt, Aus­tria. He has appeared as both per­former and pre­sen­ter at nation­al and region­al con­ven­tions of the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Pas­toral Musi­cians, the Organ His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety, the Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Organ Builders, and the Amer­i­can Guild of Organ­ists. As author of the high­ly acclaimed book, Man­u­al on Hymn Play­ing (G.I.A. Pub­li­ca­tions), he is fre­quent­ly sought as a lec­tur­er and clin­i­cian in the areas of church music skills and hymn play­ing. His cur­rent research inter­ests have includ­ed the his­to­ry of organ ped­a­gogy in Amer­i­ca, and the his­tor­i­cal devel­op­ment of the pipe organ in San Anto­nio. He has four record­ings to his cred­it on the Cal­cante, Pro Organo, and Raven labels fea­tur­ing some of the most dis­tinc­tive instru­ments in the coun­try. His per­for­mances have been fea­tured on Michael Barone’s Pipedream, and Peter DuBois’s With Heart and Voic­es on Nation­al Pub­lic Radio.

Since 1986, David Heller has been a mem­ber of the fac­ul­ty at Trin­i­ty Uni­ver­si­ty in San Anto­nio, Texas serv­ing as Pro­fes­sor of Music and Uni­ver­si­ty Organ­ist. His pri­ma­ry teach­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties in the Depart­ment of Music are in the areas of organ and harp­si­chord per­for­mance and lit­er­a­ture, church music skills, and music the­o­ry. In 2010, Dr. Heller received the Dis­tin­guished Achieve­ment Award for Cre­ative Work from Trin­i­ty Uni­ver­si­ty, one of the school’s top hon­ors award­ed to the fac­ul­ty. He was appoint­ed Chair of the Depart­ment of Music in 2012.

In addi­tion to his teach­ing duties, David Heller has held a num­ber of promi­nent church jobs, includ­ing two artist res­i­den­cies at Trin­i­ty Epis­co­pal Cathe­dral, Port­land, Ore­gon, and North­Park Pres­by­ter­ian Church in Dal­las, Texas. He cur­rent­ly serves as Assis­tant Organ­ist at St. Mark’s Epis­co­pal Church in San Antonio.