GREGORY PETERSON

Organist

Gregory Peterson is Organist and Director of Music at the Old South Church in Boston. There he directs the Old South Choir, Old South Ringers, and plays the church’s 124-rank E. M. Skinner organ, opus 308 (1921) for services and concerts, including the annual First Night organ and brass extravaganza.

Born in Ames, Iowa he grew up in Northfield, Minnesota where he began piano lessons at the age of seven and began studying the pipe organ at age fourteen under the tutelage of Jeanne Narum. Upon graduating from high school he studied at St. Olaf College in Northfield and earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa where he studied with William Kuhlman. In addition, Dr. Peterson holds the Master of Music degree from Yale University and its Institute of Sacred Music where he studied with Charles Krigbaum and the DMA degree in organ performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa, where he studied with Delores Bruch. His dissertation examined the organ works of American composer Libby Larsen. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society.

Prior to his appointment at Old South Church, Dr. Peterson was Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Christ Chapel Organist at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He has also taught at his alma mater Luther College and at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Prior to teaching at PLU, he served as Organist and Director of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in Tacoma.

Dr. Peterson is an active soloist, having played recitals throughout the U.S.A. and in Europe including the Berlin Cathedral, St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, and Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden. From 1997-2001 he was President of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He was elected to the Executive Committee of the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists in 2000.