Published: May 29, 2009 10:52 pm      

Dr. James H. Cook to present organ recital in Livingston

special to The Star



The Worship Arts Ministry at First Presbyterian Church Livingston will present Dr. James H. Cook, Professor of Organ and Music History at Birmingham Southern College, in recital on Sunday, June 7, at 4 p.m. in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church, Livingston, Ala.

Dr. Cook holds the Bachelor of Music in Performance from Birmingham-Southern College, and both a Master of Music in Performance and a Ph.D. in Musicology from The University of Texas. Since joining the Birmingham-Southern faculty in 1977, Professor Cook has been engaged in teaching organ performance and music history classes, including classes in organ literature and the history of organ design. While on Sabbatical leaves in 1985 and 1992, Dr. Cook continued his organ studies with René Saorgin of the Conservatoire National in Nice and Russell Saunders of the Eastman School of Music. He continues to perform throughout the Southeast, where his recitals include those given in dedication services of organs for which he has been design consultant.

During his tenure on the BSC faculty, Dr. Cook has been the recipient of several awards, including the Henry Randall Award for Best Advisor (1983-84), the Outstanding Teacher Award, sponsored by the Sears Roebuck Foundation (1991), and the Omicron Delta Kappa Award for Excellence in Teaching (1999-2000). His organ students have surpassed him in awards, however, for they include winners of local, state and regional competitions sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, the Birmingham Music Club, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the National Association of Negro Musicians, and the Music Teachers National Association.

In the last 25 years he has also expanded his interests to include several applications of information technology to different aspects of teaching, performing, and scholarship. He has been a presenter on the uses of technology in the daily practices of church musicians for both the Southeast Region of the American Guild of Organists and the Sewanee Church Music Conference. His on-line introduction to the history of the Pipe Organ, created during a Sabbatical leave in 1998, is used as a textbook in several colleges and universities throughout the country.

A member of the Organ Historical Society, he has combined all of his interests in an on-going study of historic Pipe organs in the U.S., particularly those in the Southeast. He has contributed articles to The American Organist and the The Organ: an Encyclopedia. As editor of the “Organ Update” feature, he publishes regularly in The Tracker, the society’s quarterly journal. He was responsible for transferring the Society’s database of American pipe organs to the World Wide Web while on Sabbatical leave in 2005, and continues to serve as Chair of the OHS Database Committee. Supported in part by Birmingham-Southern College, the OHS Pipe Organ Database has rapidly become one of the world’s leading resources on the subject. In 2008 he was named to the National Council of the OHS and will serve as Councilor for Education through 2011.

In addition to his work at Birmingham-Southern College, Dr. Cook was organist at Birmingham’s First United Methodist Church 1974-1985 and has been Director of the church’s Chancel Choir since 1985.

Dr. Cook’s program at First Presbyterian Church will include Bach’s Fugue in E-flat (St. Anne), a transcription of Samuel Barber’s famous Adagio for Strings, and the Finale from Symphony No. 1 by Louis Vierne, as well as works by Alain, Buck, Locklair, and Owens.

The program is free and open to the public. A nursery will be provided. For more information please contact John Brown, Director of Worship Arts at (205) 652-2550.