Jack MitchenerUniversity Organist
Jack Mitchener has been praised for playing that is technically brilliant, yet expressive and poetic. According to The American Organist, “Mitchener brings music to life with his supple rhythmic control, clear phrasing, energy, and sensitivity.” In response to his recording on the historic Salem Tannenberg organ entitled Dulcet Tones, a reviewer for the International Record Review of London asserted: “Superb…an impressive and rather moving listening experience.”
Jack Mitchener is the newly-appointed University Organist and Artist Affiliate in Organ at Emory University in Atlanta. In addition, he holds the post as Professor of Organ and Director of the Townsend-McAfee Institute of Church Music at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He also is Organist and Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. Philip (Episcopal) in Atlanta. He is a former organ professor at the Oberlin College Conservatory, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Salem College, and the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.
Dr. Mitchener has concertized throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia, and many of his performances have been heard in television and radio broadcasts such as American Public Media's “Pipe Dreams.” He has performed in venues such as the Church of St. Sulpice and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris; St. Thomas Church, New York City; Duke University Chapel; the Church of St. Augustine in Vienna; the Church of St. James (Jacobikirche) in Lübeck, Germany; and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. He also has collaborated with musicians such as Nick Eanet (Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), the Mendelssohn and Ying String Quartets, lutenist Paul O'Dette, and composer John Corigliano. He was the national winner of the Music Teachers National Association organ competition, the Philadelphia AGO Competition, and was a top prize-winner in the Dublin International Organ Competition. He has recorded for the Gothic and Raven labels.
He has performed the complete organ works of J. S. Bach and also has given recitals, lectures, and master classes for national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Music Teachers National Association, the Historical Keyboard Society in North America, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians, and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. He was the featured organist for the 2018 Alleluia Conference at Baylor and served as service organist for the 2019 Sewanee Church Music Conference. He has been a guest performer and teacher at many universities and conservatories throughout the USA as well as in Hong Kong and Japan. He also has premiered works by Emma Lou Diemer, Dan Locklair, and Margaret Vardell Sandresky.
His major teachers include Marie-Claire Alain, David Craighead, David Higgs, John Mueller, and Russell Saunders (organ); Gerre Hancock (improvisation); James Cobb, Louise Leach, Kimberly Kabala, and Clifton Matthews (piano); and Arthur Haas and Huguette Dreyfus (harpsichord). He took three degrees (DMA, master’s in organ and master’s in harpsichord) as well as two Performer’s Certificates in organ and harpsichord from The Eastman School of Music. During his studies at the Conservatoire National de Rueil-Malmaison, France, he was unanimously awarded the Médaille d'or (Gold Medal) in harpsichord and Prix d'Excellence, and Prix de Virtuosité in organ. His high school diploma and bachelor's degree are from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He also studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy and was a camper at the Interlochen Arts Camp.
For the American Guild of Organists, Jack Mitchener has served as dean of the Atlanta and Winston-Salem, NC chapters and as a member of the Executive Committee for the Cleveland and Rochester, NY chapters. He also served for six years as a member of the National Committee on Professional Education. He has been an adjudicator for numerous competitions including those on the national level for the AGO as well as the Biarritz International Competition in France. He is a former President of the Board of Trustees of the Moravian Music Foundation and is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society.
Jack Mitchener is represented in North America exclusively by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC.
