Concert Hall Organ Inaugural Series
“Pieces
of Eight”
Eight current and emeritus organists from the Salt Lake Tabernacle
7:30 PM | MARCH 11, 2025 | CONCERT HALL | MUSIC BUILDING
PROGRAM
Fanfare (1938)
LEO SOWERBY 1895–1968
John Longhurst
Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 1685-1750
Joseph Peeples
Prayer, from Suite for Organ, op. 70
PAUL CRESTON 1906-1985
A Mighty Fortress is Our God, op. 69, no. 10 FLOR PEETERS 1903-1986
Linda Margetts
Three Preludes Founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes (1920) RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 1872-1958
Rhysomedere Hyfrydol
Bonnie Goodliffe
Allegro, from Symphony No. 2, op. 20 LOUIS VIERNE 1870-1937
Andrew Unsworth
PROGRAM
Suite for Organ (2019) CLAY CHRISTIANSEN b. 1949 Scherzetto A Mother’s Lullaby Exaltation
Clay Christiansen
Herzlich tut mich verlangen (2014)
Richard Elliott
Chaconne, from Three Pieces for Organ Duet (1986)
Richard Elliott and Brian Mathias
S. ANDREW LLOYD b. 1979
ROBERT CUNDICK 1926-2016
Moto ostinato, from Nedělní Hudba (Sunday Music) (1958) . . . . . . . . . . . . PETR EBEN 1929-2007
Brian Mathias
Kuguargesäng (Song of the Cougar) B. Y. U. BACH (BERND YANNIK UWE BACH) Discovered by Richard Elliott
Richard Elliott, Don Cook and Brian Mathias
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Clay Christiansen
Richard Elliott
Bonnie Lauper Goodliffe
Clay Christiansen served as a full-time Tabernacle organist for nearly 36 years, from 1982-2018. For ten years prior he was Organist/Choirmaster at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, five of those years also at Congregation Kol Ami, both in Salt Lake City. Clay holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D from the University of Utah. He is the composer of many organ and choral compositions published by MorningStar Music Publishers and Jackman Music.
John Longhurst
Richard Elliott, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he also served as assistant organist at the John Wanamaker (now Macy’s) department store, home to the world’s largest functioning pipe organ. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, he received a master’s degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Prior to his appointment as Tabernacle Organist in 1991, he spent three years on the music faculty of Brigham Young University.
Bonnie Lauper Goodliffe studied piano and organ at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Brigham Young University, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music theory from Brigham Young University. From 1979 to 2019 she was an organist on Temple Square in Salt Lake City where she performed organ recitals and accompanied both the Temple Square Chorale and the Tabernacle Choir. She is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and serves as a member of the Certification Board.
John Longhurst joined the Brigham Young University music faculty in 1969, just prior to the installation of the E. F. Walcker organ in the Harris Fine Arts Center’s Madsen Recital Hall. While at BYU, he taught organ and music theory and was the first carillonneur at BYU’s Centennial Carillon until being called as Salt Lake Tabernacle Organist in 1977, where he served until his retirement in 2007. He received both bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Utah, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree is from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Linda Swenson Margetts
Brian Mathias
Linda Swenson Margetts received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance from Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah, where she is an adjunct associate professor. She is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists. She has been a Temple Square Organist since 1981. Her duties also include playing noon recitals and working with the Temple Square Chorale and its affiliated Training School.
Brian Mathias was appointed a Tabernacle Organist in January 2018. Prior to his appointment, he was an adjunct faculty member at Brigham Young University. Previously, he held positions at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, and Country Club Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Brigham Young University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kansas.
Joseph Peeples
Joseph Peeples became a Temple Square Organist in July 2019. He previously served as University Organist at California Lutheran University in his hometown of Thousand Oaks, California, and as Organist at First United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara. He is a doctoral candidate in organ performance at the Indiana Jacobs School of Music and received a Master of Music degree in organ performance from Brigham Young University. In addition to his responsibilities on Temple Square, Joseph is a scientific programmer in the optical thin-film industry.
Andrew Unsworth
Andrew Unsworth was raised in Potsdam, New York, in a family of musicians. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from BYU and was awarded M.A. and Ph.D. degrees by Duke University. Before his appointment at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Unsworth worked as assistant director of music and organist at The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City and as assistant professor of music history and organ at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.
ABOUT OUR HOST
Luke Howard
Luke Howard received a Bachelor of Music Education degree with an emphasis in piano performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, a Master of Arts degree in musicology from Brigham Young University in 1994, and a PhD in musicology from the University of Michigan. He has served on the faculties of Minnesota State University Moorhead and the University of Missouri—Kansas City. He joined the faculty of BYU in 2002 as an associate professor in the School of Music. A former member of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, he served as the host of the weekly internet series Piping Up! Organ Concerts at Temple Square from its inception in 2020 until its conclusion in 2023.