Clinton Presbyterian Church

Organ Dedication Recital

Sunday, November 18th. at 3:00 p.m.

Reception following concert

Richard Lewis, organist

      Rich began music lessons at the age of six in Wilmington, DE.  By the age of 13, he was playing the organ regularly in church, and later that year was introduced to the large Kimball theatre pipe organ in the auditorium of John Dickinson High School in Wilmington.  It was there that his love for the theatre organ and its music was fostered.  Over the next few years, Rich studiously observed and learned as the world’s greatest theatre organists practiced and performed on the Kimball organ.  In 1992 Rich entered the National Young Organists Competition of the American Theatre Organ Society, placed first in his age division, and was named overall winner.  This led to formal study and coaching with acclaimed theatre organists Tom Hazleton and Lyn Larsen.

     Rich has since gone on to perform concerts and recitals in the United States and Canada, including two ATOS National Conventions and a Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists. For two years, Rich held the post of Associate Organist at the Ohio Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, where he performed regularly alongside Clark Wilson on the Ohio’s Robert Morton organ.  Rich has also been honored with an extended engagement at the famous Chicago Theatre, in Chicago, where he performed daily on the Wurlitzer organ.  Other notable concert appearances have included the Detroit Theatre Organ Society, Rochester Theatre Organ Society, Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, and Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA.  In the classical realm, Rich was a scholarship student in Organ Performance at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where he studied with the widely recognized lecturer, recitalist, and recording artist Joan Lippincott.  While at Westminster, Rich also studied choral conducting (his other passion) and sacred music.  Other classical instructors have included Robin Dinda, Richard Allen, and Stephen Williams.

     Rich has also been active on the other side of the organ console, having worked with several organ building/maintenance firms, including Allen Organ Company of Macungie, PA, Bunn-Minnick Pipe Organ Company of Columbus, Ohio, and Russell Meyer and Associates of Bridgeton, NJ.  Today, Rich is Senior Organist ay Newark United Methodist Church in Newark, DE, and maintains a schedule of concert engagements.