Robert Huw Morgan, organ: Variations on a Theme

Robert Huw Morgan will perform Variations on a Theme: Music by Bonnet, Franck, Karg-Elert, Buxtehude, Sweelinck, and Bach performed on the Murray Harris and Fisk-Nanney organs.

Dr. Morgan is the University Organist at Stanford University, a position he has held since 1999. A native of Wales, he received his BA and MA from Cambridge University and in 1989 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Between 1985 and 1988, he was an Organ Scholar at St. John’s College, Cambridge University, where his duties included playing the organ for the daily services in the College Chapel, and assisting in the direction of the celebrated choir of boys and men. During that time, he studied organ repertoire with the great British virtuoso, Nicolas Kynaston, and improvisation with Nigel Allcoat.

In July 1999, he was awarded two doctorates in Organ Performance and Orchestral Conducting from the University of Washington in Seattle, where his teachers were Professors Carole Terry (organ) and Peter Eros (conducting). From 1994 to 1996, he was staff piano accompanist at the University of Washington School of Music and thereafter, for three years, was Assistant Conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra and Opera.

He performs a wide repertoire of organ music, from the earliest sources to contemporary music. In 2005, Dr. Morgan performed the complete organ works of Dieterich Buxtehude in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the landmark Fisk organ at Stanford University. In the academic year 2010-2011 he performed the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, a series of fourteen concerts celebrating the twenty-fifth birthday of the Fisk organ.

As both an accompanist and soloist, he has toured in Europe, America, and Australia and has recorded performances for BBC Television and Radio, as well as television and radio stations in the U.S., Australia, and Canada.

In addition to his duties as University Organist, he also holds the positions of Lecturer in Organ, Director of the Stanford University Singers, and Director of the Memorial Church Choir.