The National Competition in Organ Improvisation recently announced the semi-finalists for this summer’s competition at the American Guild of Organists (AGO) conference in San Francisco in June. Four of the five are ISM alumni and students of Jeffrey Brillhart. They are Nicholas Quardokus M.M. ’18, Ethan Haman M.M. ‘21, M.M.A. ’22, Chase Loomer M.M. ’20, and Jerrick Cavagnaro M.M. ’20—all students of Jeffrey Brillhart.
Brillhart himself is an award-winning organist and lecturer in organ improvisation at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He said that each of the organists has a “unique and special voice” and that he is “overjoyed for each of them.”