Athens State University will be welcoming award-winning organist, Jillian Gardner, to campus this summer to perform a recital on the historic McCandless Hall organ. As part of the “Athens Forever” Bicentennial Series, the event will take place on June 9 at 7:00 pm in McCandless Hall and will be free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Jillian Gardner is an award-winning performing organist with an international touring schedule that spans the United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. She is the National Councillor for the American Guild of Organists Young Organists as well as the Director of Music at First United Methodist Church in Huntsville, AL, where she serves as primary organist and oversees more than 10 ensembles for adults and children.
Gardner, a native of Rome, NY, is a two-time first-prize winner of the chapter level competition of the Regional Competition for Young Organists (in Buffalo and Albany). In 2017, she took second prize in the Québec organ competition in Québec, Canada; she has also been a finalist in the Arthur Poister competition in Syracuse. In recognition of her achievements, The Diapason magazine selected Gardner as one of the 2015 inaugural “Top 20 under 30” organists in the nation. She has also been featured on the national radio show Pipedreams.
Gardner has worn her signature pink organ shoes in concerts in venues including Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco, and St. Thomas 5th Avenue in New York City. She has dazzled listeners in the U.K. at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, St. Paul Cathedral in London, and St. Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol, and she has been honored as featured artist for the Organ Historical Society Conventions in Syracuse, NY (2014) and Minneapolis, MN (2017).
A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory (B.M.; James David Christie) and Baylor University (M.M., Advanced Performer’s Certificate; Isabelle Demers), Gardner’s other teachers include Olivier Latry, Marie-Louise Langlais, and Stephen Best. Outside the organ loft, Gardner advocates physical fitness, believing that a healthy mind and body contribute to artistic quality.
For more information or to register, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/2e9fyvrb