Jeffrey Brillhart to present "As People Called by God: A Hymn Festival"

During Dordt Defender Days, Jeffrey Brillhart will present “As People Called by God: A Hymn Festival” on Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. in the B.J. Haan Auditorium. The Hymn Festival is designed around the structure of the Christian Reformed Church’s mission statement and will feature readings by Susan Palo Cherwien. In addition, he will lead a masterclass on organ improvisation for Dordt University students, open to the public, on Friday, October 27, 2023 at 8 a.m.

The event is sponsored by the Joan Ringerwole Organ Recital Series, which is currently in its eleventh year. The Ringerwole series seeks to promote the organ and its repertoire for the musical education and enjoyment of students, alumni, and the community by bringing nationally-acclaimed organists to Dordt University.

Jeffrey Brillhart is director of music and fine arts at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and is on the music faculty at Yale University, where he teaches organ improvisation. He retired from his position as music and artistic director of Philadelphia's famed Singing City Choir in May 2023, after serving for 25 years. A native of Iowa, his teachers include organists Carl B. Staplin, Arthur Poister, Russell Saunders, and pianist Barbara Lister-Sink. Further studies with Olivier Latry and Philippe Lefebvre in organ improvisation led to his winning first prize in the American Guild of Organists' National Competition in Organ Improvisation in 1994.

His organ, teaching, and conducting engagements have taken him throughout America, Europe, South Africa, Mexico, and South America, with concerts in Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Moscow, Helsinki, London, Berlin, Leipzig, Capetown, Johannesburg, as well as from coast to coast in the United States. He has presented master classes at the Eastman School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, Drake University, Furman University, University of Alabama, University of Iowa, Westminster Choir College, Walla Walla College, Syracuse University, and for countless American Guild of Organist (AGO) chapters around the United States.

About Dordt University

As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community to work toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Dordt is a comprehensive university named to the best college lists by the Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review.