The Organ Academy members have been working diligently to prepare for this performance. You will be impressed by their enthusiasm and talent!
Location
Central Lutheran Church/City Covenant
Program
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Organists
Lincoln DeJong
Scarlett Thomsen, 12, is a homeschooler in 6th grade, the second oldest of seven children. She used to live in Grantsville, Utah, then her family moved to Spokane in 2021. Thomsen has taken piano lessons since age five, and after moving to Spokane, she has studied piano with Mary Pollard. She started playing the organ for her parish at Mount Saint Michael when she was ten. When not playing the organ at church, she loves to sing soprano in the parish choir. This is her first year of Organ Academy, and her teacher is Edward Hurd. Thomsen also likes to sew and do embroidery, spend time with her close friends, and read lots of good books. She is the pianist in a group called the Thomsen Trio, with her mom on the violin, and her brother on the cello.
Luke Fanning, 12, is in the 7th grade as a homeschooler and member of the STAHN co-op. He has been playing piano for two years; this is his first year with organ. His organ academy instructor is Edward Hurd. When he is not playing the piano or organ, Luke enjoys golf, basketball, snowboarding, and reading.
Joel Korn is the youngest child of Amy Shook and Steve Korn. He began playing piano in Gr. 3 under the tutelage of Harry Fix. Joel is an altar server at this parish and at St. Paschal. He is in Gr. 8 and is affiliated with St. Thomas Aquinas Homeschool Network. This is his first year participating in the Organ Academy. Joel is currently taking piano lessons with Joy Zickau. In his spare time, Joel enjoys hiking with his dad and learning obscure geography facts. Joel will attend the Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame in the fall.
Faustina Sattler is excited to be joining Organ Academy for the second year in a row. She has been interested in playing the organ and is drawn to its unique sounds. She is an Organ Academy student of Dr. Joseph Schubert.
Gregory Buck, 14, is a homeschooled freshman in high school. He has seven siblings, a great sense of humor, and a passion for music, animals, and the rosary. He plays piano and percussion in the local homeschool band, and is enthusiastically learning the organ. He is faithfully and radically Catholic, and loves Christ, his family, and playing music. Buck is loving learning to play the organ and is so grateful to be able to do so at his own parish, Saint Augustine.
Reagan Heller is a 16-year-old sophomore at Saint George’s School. She has been studying piano with her beloved teacher, Tawni Wright, since she was 5 years old. A member of Saint Augustine church, Reagan was fortunate to meet Dr. Joseph Schubert, parish organist and Organ Academy instructor, this past summer where he encouraged her to look into the Organ Academy program. He now serves as her Organ Academy teacher. Last spring, she earned a gold medal and the Adjudicator’s Choice Award at MusicFest Northwest for her interpretation of Chopin’s Nocturne Opus 15, No. 3. Reagan also enjoys singing and musical theater. She studies voice with soprano Dawn Wolski of the Inland Northwest Opera. An avid tennis player, Reagan is a member of the Saint George’s High School team and placed 4th in the state tennis tournament last year.
Joseph Gaunt, more commonly known as Joey by his friends and family, is 15 years old. He attends Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame High School. Gaunt has studied piano for eight years under the guidance of Monty Hines; he is currently mastering Gershwin’s Piano Prelude I. During his time with the academy, he has studied under Dr. Henry Bauer. Outside of piano, Gaunt loves playing golf, attending youth group, playing games, reading, camping, and spending time with friends and family. He is the oldest of six children and loves playing with his younger siblings in his free time.
Gianna Olson
Mary Jean Vigil
Lucia Harder, 19, is an avid pianist of eleven years. She currently studies with Marietta Hardy at North Idaho College, where she is acquiring her Associates Degree in Music. Harder also loves the organ and is studying with Dr. Janet Ahrend who is her Organ Academy teacher. Additionally, Harder sings in her church choir and plays recorder with her mom. Aside from her musical pursuits, Harder enjoys hiking, swimming, frisbee, baking, and hanging out with her friends.
Maria Truong, 20, is a student of Dr. Janet Ahrend. She has been playing piano for 13 years and organ for six years. In addition to the keyboards, Truong has studied violin and harp and sings in her church choir with her siblings. Her non-musical interests that she rarely gets around to include sewing, photography, and archery.
Johnny Ritchie
Leadership
Janet Ahrend, DMA, academy teacher and chair, holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Organ from the University of Idaho, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees in Organ from the University of Washington. She received further training at the Royal School of Church Music in England.
Ahrend has served as guest instructor for the Royal School of Church Music Summer School held in Perth, Western Australia. She is on the faculties of Gonzaga University, Whitworth University, and Eastern Washington University as Adjunct Instructor of Organ. Ahrend has served as co-dean of the American Guild of Organists-Spokane Chapter, and is currently chair of the chapter’s Organ Academy, an educational outreach program for young students ten to twenty years of age. She is a member of the PEO Sisterhood.
From 1990 to 1993, Ahrend served on the hymnal committee for the United Church of Christ, helping to produce the New Century Hymnal. She has spent her life working in churches, serving as organist for Methodist, Congregational, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal congregations. From 1997-2014, she was organist-choirmaster for the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Spokane, Washington, where she also directed the handbell choir. She maintains a private piano and organ studio in her home.
Ahrend was ordained pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Spokane, Wash., in May, 2019.
Henry Bauer, DMA, academy teacher, is the Director of Music at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes in Spokane, Wash., where he conducts the Schola Cantorum, Cathedral Choir, and Diocesan Choir as well as being Artistic Director of the Sacred Music Series. He has served as a Director of Music and Liturgy in parishes in the Archdiocese of Washington. He holds a doctorate in Sacred Music and choral conducting along with masters in liturgical music and organ from The Catholic University of America. His doctoral dissertation is on choral literature for the liturgical year. Outside of his professional music ministry career, Bauer has held several leadership positions for NPM throughout the years.
Bauer is the current chair of the Director of Music Ministries (DMM) Forum, was a member of the board of the Director of Music Ministries Division (DMM), and chair of the Partner Certification Review Committee for Lay Ecclesial Ministry. He continues to coordinate the Choral Anthem Project and leads reading sessions on choral music. He has presented workshops for cantors and organists, lectures on the role of music and musicians in the liturgy, and choral rehearsal techniques. Bauer has served as a Core Committee member for two national conventions and been the Chapter Director and Treasurer for the Washington DC Chapter. He has led several choir tours to Europe. When not teaching, doing pastoral work, Henry enjoys traveling and doing home renovations. Bauer is an officer of the AGO – Spokane Chapter.
Joseph Schubert, PhD, academy teacher, retired from teaching in 2020, with a career that began with two years of teaching third grade, and 36 subsequent years of teaching choral music in public schools at junior high, high school, and university levels. From 2009 through 2023, Schubert also taught music theory/style analysis, choral literature, and academic research and writing in the “Three Summer Master of Music in Choral Conducting” program at California State University, Los Angeles. Schubert’s dissertation dealt with twentieth-century French organist Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, providing an extensive biography and a comprehensive analysis of Grunenwald’s solo organ works in the context of the twentieth-century French organ school.
He has maintained a parallel career as a church organist and music director since 1975. He currently serves as interim organist for Saint Augustine Catholic Church, Spokane. Schubert is an officer of the AGO – Spokane Chapter.
Edward Hurd holds a bachelor of music education degree from Central Washington University, Ellensburg, where he spent four years as organist and assistant music director at First Presbyterian Church. While teaching at East Valley High School in Spokane Valley, he served as director of music ministries for Opportunity Presbyterian Church. He was full-time director of music ministries (organist/choirmaster) for First Presbyterian Church in Mesa, Ariz. while completing his graduate studies in choral conducting at Arizona State University. For ten years, he served as associate director of music and organist for All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Phoenix. He has conducted choral ensembles twice at the St. Moritz Festival (Switzerland), and numerous tours and festivals throughout England, Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Russia. Hurd’s principal conducting teachers include the late B. Fred Hammack, G. Gordon Leavitt, and Douglas McEwen.
While in Nebraska, Hurd served as director of traditional worship (organist/ choirmaster) for the 2,500-member congregation of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, La Vista, for nine years. He was artistic director for the 200-voice community chorus, Voices of Omaha, for eight years. He was performance rentals director for Omaha Performing Arts which operates the Orpheum Theater and renowned Holland Performing Arts Center, joining the organization as general manager in 2003.
Since returning to Spokane, Hurd was organist/bellmaster for Opportunity Presbyterian Church in Spokane Valley before joining the staff of Central Lutheran Church. He is a busy substitute music teacher for Spokane Public Schools and maintains a private piano and voice teaching studio. Hurd is a frequent adjudicator for area solo/ensemble contests. He is a member of the National Association for Music Education and American Choral Directors Association.
Music and support for the arts has always been an important part of academy chair Carolyn Payne’s life. Her motto, “We can do this!” has resulted in some projects which have opened opportunities for significant things to happen. The Spokane AGO’s Organ Academy is just one. Responding in the 1960s to a Crusade for Strings project of the National Federation of Music Clubs, she worked to re-establish string instruction in the public schools in Caldwell, Idaho. After moving to Spokane, she was president of the Spokane Youth Symphony.
Payne has been a Lutheran church organist/choir director for over 70 years. She played cello in the College of Idaho-Community Orchestra for 25 years and taught piano and cello students. Musical organizations she belongs to are the American Guild of Organists, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and Friday Musical. She has served as chairman of Pipe Organ Encounter (POE), Regional AGO Convention co-chairman and three terms as dean of the AGO – Spokane Chapter.
In 1975, she and her husband Frank helped sponsor Vietnamese refugees who have become like family to them. This has led to involvement with Lutheran Community Service. She served as president of the National Kidney Foundation of Washington—one of her daughters has survived a kidney transplant for 54 years. She worked as office manager for Ernst and Payne, Inc., commercial construction company for 20 years, which she and her husband owned and operated. And they are loving parents of seven children.
Jonathan Truong, CAGO, began his music studies with piano at the age of six, thanks to the encouragement of his parents. Truong is professionally certified as a Colleague of the American Guild of Organists. He has enjoyed numerous musical pursuits. Truong served as accompanist and bass singer with the Tehachapi Symphonic Chorus, and performed as a cellist in the Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra and the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra.
Since moving to Idaho, Truong has held the position of organist at Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Post Falls, where he also sings tenor and occasionally directs the chant schola. He participates in the Music Conservatory of Coeur d’Alene’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah as a chorus member.
In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, drinking tea, messing around on the ukulele, and kendama. All glory be to God!
Street Team Assets
Academicians and Chapter members:
- Print/place posters in your choir room or studio
- Place posters wherever lovers of organ music might see them
- Share images on social media
- Include promo images in your Sunday service leaflet or congregation newsletter
- Insert half-page fliers in your service leaflet
Here are links for downloading image assets you can use! Print directly from your computer’s image viewer or post on your social media page.
Print Posters & Fliers
Social Media – all sized for optimum display
- Facebook Cover (1200×674)
- Facebook Event (1200×628)
- Pinterest (1000×1500)
- Instagram Square (1080×1080)
- Instagram Landscape (1080×566)
- X (Twitter) Image (1200×675)
- LinkedIn (1200×1200)
Press release
Thank you for your help!
