Collaborators

Malcolm Matthews, having already completed a Bachelor of Music Degree with Performer's Certificate, graduated with a Master's Degree in both Organ and Harpsichord Performance from the Eastman School of Music in 2014. Most recently studying in the studios of Professor David Higgs and Dr. William Porter, his previous teachers include both Dr. John Brock and Dr. Karen Ladd of the University of Tennessee, and Matthews has performed in masterclasses and participated in summer programs lead by such organists as Jacques van Oortmerssen, Harald Vogel, Hans Davidsson, Ken Cowan, Joan Lippincott, and Edoardo Bellotti.

Matthews currently resides in Rochester, New York and serves as Director of Music for St. Mary’s Church in downtown Rochester. There he directs a 25-member choir and oversees the music program utilizing the 1955 Austin organ located in the rear loft and a two-manual 1896 Hook and Hastings instrument in the front of the parish. In addition, he is Instructor of Harpsichord in the Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards department at Eastman.

When not working as a soloist on both the harpsichord and organ, Matthews frequently accompanies students at Eastman; collaborating with a variety of instruments from brass and winds to strings, his repertoire includes works from 1600 to the present. In popular demand, he also consistently works as a continuo player on the harpsichord for solo instrumentalists and ensembles such as the Canandaigua Chamber Ensemble and Eastman's Collegium Musicum directed by Paul O'Dette.

Matthews’ accomplishments include: First Place, 2013 Westfield International Organ Competition and Second Place, 2012 National Young Artist’s Competition in Organ Performance; First place, 2005 South-Eastern Region IV Young Organists Competition; and Semi-finalist, 2009 Concours international d’orgue de Lyon. He has performed organ recitals in Bremen, Germany; Seattle, Washington; Tempe, Arizona; Greenville, South Carolina; Sarasota and Delray Beach, Florida; Chattanooga, Knoxville, Kingsport, and Nashville, Tennessee; Guelph, Ontario, Canada; and Chicago, Illinois.

Orlando Diaz is the pianist you've been waiting for your whole life. A recent graduate of the Eastman School, there is nothing he cannot do. He is currently employed as a pianist at Williamson First Presbyterian Church, Webster Thomas High School, Northstar Christian Academy, and the 198th Army Reserve Band. On top of this Orlando is responsible for masterminding multiple experimental concerts, where which he aims to redefine terms like "solo recital" and "conducting concertos from the piano." He performs classical repertoire as well as original, improvised, pop, and new music, and tries to avoid jazz, if at all possible. Orlando spends most of his time at the piano practicing, improvising, composing, writing poetry and coloring.

Malcolm Matthews, having already completed a Bachelor of Music Degree with Performer's Certificate, graduated with a Master's Degree in both Organ and Harpsichord Performance from the Eastman School of Music in 2014. Most recently studying in the studios of Professor David Higgs and Dr. William Porter, his previous teachers include both Dr. John Brock and Dr. Karen Ladd of the University of Tennessee, and Matthews has performed in masterclasses and participated in summer programs lead by such organists as Jacques van Oortmerssen, Harald Vogel, Hans Davidsson, Ken Cowan, Joan Lippincott, and Edoardo Bellotti.

Matthews currently resides in Rochester, New York and serves as Director of Music for St. Mary’s Church in downtown Rochester. There he directs a 25-member choir and oversees the music program utilizing the 1955 Austin organ located in the rear loft and a two-manual 1896 Hook and Hastings instrument in the front of the parish. In addition, he is Instructor of Harpsichord in the Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards department at Eastman.

When not working as a soloist on both the harpsichord and organ, Matthews frequently accompanies students at Eastman; collaborating with a variety of instruments from brass and winds to strings, his repertoire includes works from 1600 to the present. In popular demand, he also consistently works as a continuo player on the harpsichord for solo instrumentalists and ensembles such as the Canandaigua Chamber Ensemble and Eastman's Collegium Musicum directed by Paul O'Dette.

Matthews’ accomplishments include: First Place, 2013 Westfield International Organ Competition and Second Place, 2012 National Young Artist’s Competition in Organ Performance; First place, 2005 South-Eastern Region IV Young Organists Competition; and Semi-finalist, 2009 Concours international d’orgue de Lyon. He has performed organ recitals in Bremen, Germany; Seattle, Washington; Tempe, Arizona; Greenville, South Carolina; Sarasota and Delray Beach, Florida; Chattanooga, Knoxville, Kingsport, and Nashville, Tennessee; Guelph, Ontario, Canada; and Chicago, Illinois.

Since his solo debut performance of Vivalid’s Winter at the age of 15, Jeremy has been rapidly building acclaim as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. He has performed in recitals from the West Coast of Canada to the Eastern United States and was a featured soloist with the Eastman Philharmonia, performing Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Continually seeking to improve his craft, Jeremy has participated in many internationally renowned music festivals, including the Banff Center Masterclasses, Orford Summer Music Academy, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In 2012 he was awarded the Johann Strauss Scholarship which enabled him to study at the prestigious Mozarteum Summer Music Academy with renowned pedagogue, Pierre Amoyal.

Jeremy’s passion for the contemporary repertoire has led him to work with composers from across the United States and Canada. Highlights include the premiere of Louise, a commissioned piece for violin and guitar by Joel David Balzun; and a performance of André Previn’s Octet for Eleven at the Eastman School of Music, for which the composer was in attendance. In 2015, Jeremy collaborated with Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Luther Adams, performing The Light That Fills the World at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

As an avid orchestral musician, Jeremy has performed regularly with the Victoria Symphony, Vancouver Island Symphony and the Galiano String Ensemble. He also served as both Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin of the Eastman Philharmonia, the University of Victoria Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada where he can be heard as Concertmaster on their 2009 Juno-nominated recording of Bernstein’s West Side Story.
In 2012 he earned his Bachelors of Music in Performance with Distinction from the University of Victoria where he studied with Ann Elliott-Goldschmid of the Lafayette String Quartet and Gwen Thompson. Jeremy recently completed his Masters of Music degree in violin performance at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Federico Agostini.

Jeremy performs on a 1902 Enrico Rocca violin on generous loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.

Orlando Diaz is the pianist you've been waiting for your whole life. A recent graduate of the Eastman School, there is nothing he cannot do. He is currently employed as a pianist at Williamson First Presbyterian Church, Webster Thomas High School, Northstar Christian Academy, and the 198th Army Reserve Band. On top of this Orlando is responsible for masterminding multiple experimental concerts, where which he aims to redefine terms like "solo recital" and "conducting concertos from the piano." He performs classical repertoire as well as original, improvised, pop, and new music, and tries to avoid jazz, if at all possible. Orlando spends most of his time at the piano practicing, improvising, composing, writing poetry and coloring.

Christopher Petit received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music as a student of David Higgs.  He earned a BA in Art History from the College of Wooster, where he was awarded a research grant for his thesis on the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral.  Chris was awarded third prize in the 2008 Dublin International Organ Competition, was a finalist in the 2009 Kotka International Organ Competition, Finland, a semi-finalist in the 2013 Westfield International Organ Competition, and was the first recipient of Eastman's Gerald Barnes Award for Excellence in Pipe Organ Performance. Currently he is Director of Music at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Pittsford, Director of the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus, organist for the University of Rochester’s Protestant Chapel Community, and a member of the Christ Church Schola Cantorum.  Chris also teaches Healthy Keyboard Technique to incoming organ students at the Eastman School of Music, and is director of workshops for People in Concert (www.peopleinconcert.com), a company that brings the benefits of the arts to businesses and organizations.

David Baskeyfield is a British concert organist currently living in Rochester, New York. Critically acclaimed for virtuosity, musicality, aplomb, an impressive command of registration, exquisite playing (La Presse, Montreal; Dallas Morning News; Choir and Organ, UK) and, on improvisation, “A remarkably cogent toccata and fugue, the latter especially brilliant for its lucid subjects, episodes, imitative elaborations and fluid key shifts” (Michael Huebner, Birmingham News), he enjoys a performing career on both sides of the Atlantic. He is the winner of the first prize and audience prize at the St Albans International Organ Competition, 2011, which followed success in a number earlier competitions (1st prize, audience prize, Miami 2010; 1st prize, Mader, LA, 2010; 2nd prize, Dublin 2011, 1st prize, Rodland 2011; and 1st prize and audience prize, AGO National Competition in Organ Improvisation 2011). He was most recently a finalist in the improvisation competition at St Albans, 2013.

Convention and festival engagements, both as performer and instructor, include the Royal Canadian College of Organists Convention 2014; the East Texas Organ Festival 2014; the Calgary Organ Festival 2014; the American Guild of Organists Region VIII (Pacific Northwest) Convention 2013; and the AGO National Convention 2012. Recent and upcoming solo recital venues include Washington National Cathedral; St Thomas’ 5th Avenue; the Cathedral of St John the Divine; King’s College, Cambridge; St Albans Cathedral; St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh; Birmingham Town Hall; St Bavo, Haarlem; St Peter im Schwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg; Chartres Cathedral, and St Sulpice.

David was an organ scholar at St John’s College, Oxford, where he read law and studied organ with John Wellingham and David Sanger. On the encouragement of David Higgs he crossed the Atlantic to begin graduate work at the Eastman School of Music, studying under Higgs (interpretation) and William Porter (improvisation). Between Oxford and Eastman he spent a year in Dublin, Ireland, as organ scholar at both Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral, accompanying or directing the choirs of professional mixed voices, and men and boys respectively. He is currently Director of Music at Christ Episcopal Church, Pittsford, New York.

He has taught masterclasses in repertoire and improvisation; aside from solo performance he enjoys work as a collaborative pianist, continuo player, occasional cocktail pianist and sometime Rhodes player in a local surf rock band. He is increasingly renowned for silent film accompaniment; recent engagements have featured Nosferatu (1922), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). He has been broadcast a number of times on American Public Media’s Pipedreams, playing repertoire and improvisations. He has occasionally given theatre organ recitals.

Among other things he is enthusiastic about cooking, brewing, sports fishing, and the cichlids of Lake Malawi.

He is represented in the USA by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists.

Christopher Petit received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music as a student of David Higgs.  He earned a BA in Art History from the College of Wooster, where he was awarded a research grant for his thesis on the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral.  Chris was awarded third prize in the 2008 Dublin International Organ Competition, was a finalist in the 2009 Kotka International Organ Competition, Finland, a semi-finalist in the 2013 Westfield International Organ Competition, and was the first recipient of Eastman's Gerald Barnes Award for Excellence in Pipe Organ Performance. Currently he is Director of Music at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Pittsford, Director of the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus, organist for the University of Rochester’s Protestant Chapel Community, and a member of the Christ Church Schola Cantorum.  Chris also teaches Healthy Keyboard Technique to incoming organ students at the Eastman School of Music, and is director of workshops for People in Concert (www.peopleinconcert.com), a company that brings the benefits of the arts to businesses and organizations.

Edward Dean (b. 1991) is a MM candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY, the Director of Music at St Luke and St Simon Cyrene, Rochester NY, and is a prize-winning graduate of the Royal College of Music, London. At Eastman, Edward is in the studio of Professor Nathan Laube and is generously supported by several scholarships including Eastman’s Ann Anway scholarship and also the Charles R. Nicholls Memorial Scholarship.

Edward enjoys an international career, having held organist positions in Paris (The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity), London (St Bride's, Fleet Street), and Norway (The Anglican Church, Oslo).