Alan Morrison Bio
Alan Morrison, organist
Alan Morrison is recognized as one of America's premier concert organists. His concert appearances in some of the most prestigious organ concert venues in North America emphasize his achievements as a performer and the respect Mr. Morrison has gained in the concert organ world: - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Alice Tully Hall (NYC)
- Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia)
- Benaroya Hall (Seattle)
- The Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas)
- Jacoby Hall (Jacksonville, FL)
- Spivey Hall (Morrow, GA)
- Jack Singer Concert Hall (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
- Merrill Auditorium (Portland, ME)
- The National Cathedral (Washington, DC)
- The Crystal Cathedral (Orange Grove, CA)
- Grace Cathedral (San Francisco)
- First Congregational Church (Los Angeles)
- Spreckels Organ Pavilion (San Diego, CA)
- St. Patrick's Cathedral (NYC)
- Ocean Grove Auditorium (Ocean Grove, NJ)
- The Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland)
- the Wanamaker Organ at Macy’s Department Store (Philadelphia)
- numerous others
Mr. Morrison's performance during the inaugural festival of the Dobson organ in Verizon Hall drew laudatory reviews from numerous national publications. He is a regular performer at The Kimmel Center, where he also serves as an artistic adviser. Also in Philadelphia, he has appeared in concert with The Philadelphia Singers, Mendelssohn Club, Singing City, and Choral Arts Society.
In addition to extensive solo and orchestral performances throughout the United States, Mr. Morrison has performed in festivals in Canada, Europe, and South America. He has also performed with The United States Army Chorus.
Mr. Morrison has the distinct honor of being chosen by his peers to perform for four national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (Atlanta '92, NYC '96, Philadelphia '02, Chicago '06). He won top prizes in numerous competitions, among them the Calgary International Organ Festival (silver medal) and the Mader and Poister National Organ Competitions (first prizes). He regularly conducts master classes sponsored by the AGO throughout the United States and in Canada.
Mr. Morrison has recorded ten critically acclaimed CDs for Gothic Records, ACA Digital Recording, and DTR. These and other concert performances are regularly featured on American Public Media's Pipedreams and Performance Today, and on radio stations throughout many countries. On television he has been featured on two episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and on Georgia Public Television, in a performance of the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1. In 2003, Mr. Morrison appeared with Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma for the Fred Rogers Memorial Service, which was telecast live from Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall.
A champion of twentieth and twenty-first century American composers, Mr. Morrison has premiered important works by William Bolcom, Dan Locklair, Eric Sessler, Brent Weaver, Emily Maxson Porter, Mary Beth Bennett, Jon Spong and Luis Prado. He also gave the American premier of Dances for Organ and Orchestra by British composer Bob Chilcott. Mr. Morrison's most recent premieres were of an organ concerto by Eric Sessler in Verizon Hall (Kimmel Center) with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra (David Hayes, cond.) and, in the closing recital for the 2009 AGO Region III Convention in Norfolk, VA, Variations on a Theme by Ludwig Diehn by Mary Beth Bennett.
At the age of 33, Mr. Morrison was appointed Head of the Organ Department at the world renowned conservatory The Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia). He is honored to hold the Haas Charitable Trust Chair in Organ Studies at Curtis. Since 1995, he has been the College Organist at Ursinus College (Collegeville, PA), and he is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
Mr. Morrison is a graduate of both The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School of Music, receiving degrees in both organ and piano accompanying/chamber music. His teachers include John Weaver, Cherry Rhodes, and Sarah Martin (organ); and Robert Harvey, Vladimir Sokoloff, and Susan Starr (piano). He is a founding member of The Orlando Chamber Soloists.
Alan Morrison is under the exclusive management of Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc. (Cleveland).
