Music at Old South

Read an Interview with Harry Huff in our Spring 2008 Reporter

HARRY LYN HUFF is Minister of Music and Organist at Old South Church, where he plays the four-manual 1921 E.M. Skinner organ, op. 308 of 115 ranks, conducts the Old South Choir and supervises the church’s extensive music program, which includes the jazz ministry, the Old South Ringers and numerous concerts.  He is currently also Music Director and Lecturer on Ministry at the Harvard Divinity School and Chapter Organist in The Memorial Church, Harvard University.  From 1984 until 2004 he was Director of Music for Calvary Episcopal Church, and from 1986 until 2004 he was Organist and Artist-in-Residence at Union Theological Seminary, both in New York City.  His other New York positions have included Adjunct Organist in St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, Organist of Temple Shaaray Tefila, Director of Choral Activities at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY and Artistic Director for the St. George’s Choral Society.

Mr. Huff was born in Sevierville, Tennessee.  During his studies in the 1970s at the North Carolina School of the Arts and later at Yale University, he was the winner of organ competitions sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, the Royal Canadian College  He has been a guest artist at the Aspen, Spoleto, Mostly Mozart, Copenhagen and Avignon summer festivals, and has appeared as soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the American Composers' Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the New York Pops and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. of Organists, the National Society of Arts and Letters and the Music Teachers' National Association.

Before moving to Boston in 2004, he enjoyed a 26-year varied career as a keyboard artist and conductor in New York City, collaborating with such celebrated performers as classical singers Jessye Norman and Håkan Hagegård, pop singers Judy Collins and Art Garfunkel, and choreographers Bill T. Jones, Lar Lubavitch and Meredith Monk.

His discography includes collaborations with soprano Jessye Norman, performance artist Meredith Monk, soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson, English hornist Thomas Stacy and guitarist Nicolas Goluses, as well as recordings of the organ music of the late composers Calvin Hampton and Chris DeBlasio, for whom he serves as musical executor.

JOIN THE OLD SOUTH CHOIR: September is the best time of the year (but not the ONLY time) to consider joining the choir. Rehearsals are held every Thursday evening as well as Sunday mornings to prepare for the 11 am worship service. For more information, contact Brian Jones at 617/425-5146 or <music@oldsouth.org>.

THE OLD SOUTH CHOIR Soprano     *Alecia Batson     Melissa Burdick     Louise Jones     Lisa Loveland     Laurel Macey     Michael Moon     Dawn Patterson     Gloria Platt     *Adriana Repetto     Elizabeth Tustian Tenor     *Julius Ahn     Chris Bocchiaro     Dave Elliott     *Owen McIntosh     Timothy Milliken     Tyler Schwaller     John Williams Harry Lyn Huff,     Minister of Music & Conductor George Sargeant,     Assistant Organist & Choirmaster

as of March 23, 2008 Alto *Carrie Cheron     Joan Christenson Mary Lou DeLacy Alliea Groupp Anna Lifvergren *Rebecca O’Brien Laura Perkins Susan Stern Bass *Harry Baechtel Gary Griffiths Erik Gustafson Michael Hand Christopher Harrington Kenneth Hekmann Robert Lake Sean O’Donnell Nathan Rifenburg *Nathan Troup              *section leader

JOIN THE OLD SOUTH RINGERS: Tuesdays at 6 pm. Never rung a handbell before?Or are you an old pro looking for a new choir? Either way, we’d love to talk to you more about our handbell choir. For more information on our “no
obligation” rehearsal, contact Director Peter Coulombe at 617/406-8253.