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Craig
Courtney
A
native of Indiana, Craig Courtney began playing
the piano at the age of three and the cello at the age of eleven.
He received a Bachelors and a Masters degree in piano performance
at the University of Cincinnati, studying piano under Raymond
Dudley and chamber music under Walter Levin of the LaSalle
Quartet.
Following a three-year stay in Milan, Italy, where Mr. Courtney studied the
piano with Illonka Deckers, performed for the Associazione Musicale "Gustav
Mahler", and worked extensively as a vocal coach, he was invited to join the
music faculty of the famed Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, serving as piano
teacher and accompanist for the woodwind and brass department.
It
was during this six-year period, while serving in the music
ministry of the Salzburg International Baptist Church, that
Mr. Courtney began directing a church choir and composing sacred
choral music, due to the unavailability of English language
music. In 1985, his compositions came to the attention of John
Ness Beck, through the publication of his octavo, Thy Will
Be Done, initiating a close working relationship between
the two men which continued until Mr. Beck's death in 1987.
In making plans for the ongoing of Beckenhorst Press, Mr. Beck
appointed Craig Courtney to assume his responsibilities as
staff composer and editor.
At this point in time, Mr. Courtney's published works include more than one
hundred sixty choral octavos, eight vocal collections, a piano solo collection
and six extended works for choir and orchestra. Compositionally, Mr. Courtney
combines his training and background as a pianist, a cellist, a vocal coach,
an accompanist and a choral director to create words that bear his unique style.
In demand throughout the country as a choral clinician and featured composer,
Craig Courtney now resides in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, Susan, and his
fourth son, Nathan. Mr. Courtney and his family attend The Church at Mill Run,
where he directs the choir and plans and leads worship at several services
each Sunday.
Choral
music by Craig Courtney
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