Harold Stover

Harold Stover was born in Latrobe, PA in 1946. He was graduated from the Juilliard School in New York, NY, in 1969 with a major in organ, having also previously attended Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. His principal teachers were Vernon de Tar, John R. Lively, Robert Ivey, and Donald G. Wilkins in organ and church music, Nikolai Lopatnikoff and Carlos Surinach in music theory, composition, and orchestration, and Abraham Kaplan and Richard Strange in choral and orchestral conducting. In addition to his degree studies, he pursued independent studies at Westminster Choir College in Princeton NJ and the New School for Social Research in New York City.

From 1968 to 1992 he served as Organist and Choirmaster of Second Presbyterian Church in New York City, where he directed the church’s amateur and Professional choirs and was founder and director of the “Music at Second” concerts, which presented a wide variety of choral, instrumental, and keyboard music, including many first performances of new works. In 1986 the church’s music program was the subject of an hour-long profile on the nationally syndicated radio program IBM Salute to the Arts. During this time, he also served as Director of Music of the Alexander Robertson School, a private elementary school in New York, and as organist of the St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York.

In 1992 he was appointed Organist and Director of Music of Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland, ME, where he directs the adult choir in service music and in concerts of major choral works with orchestra, and serves as producer of the choir’s compact disc recordings. His duties at Woodfords Church also include the direction of one youth choir and the supervision of the directors other choirs. He also directs the Portland-based chamber chorus Renaissance Voices, a position to which he was appointed in 2001.

From 1977 to 1992 he served on the faculty of the New York School of Liturgical Music, where he taught organ, choral conducting, sight singing, music theory and church music history. In 1995 he was appointed to the faculty of the Portland Conservatory of Music, where he teaches organ and music theory.

He has played organ recitals to critical acclaim in both the US and Europe, appearing in many distinguished church recitals series including those of the Riverside Church and St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York, the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, Westminster Abbey in London, St. Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, and many others. His concert hall organ recitals include appearances at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua NY, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, the Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Methuen, MA, and Merrill Auditorium at City Hall in Portland, ME. The New York Times called his playing “splendid” and praised his “multiplicity of talents” as both performer and composer. He has been featured in both capacities in appearances on Pipedreams, Public Radio International’s syndicated program of organ music. He has frequently appeared as organist in a variety of orchestral and chamber ensembles, including concerts with the New York Philharmonic.

His compositions include keyboard music, choral and vocal music, chamber and orchestral music, electronic music, and film scores. His liturgical music has been widely performed by choirs across America. His music is recorded on the Albany and ACA Digital labels.

He holds the Choirmaster Certificate (ChM) from the American Guild of Organists. He served two terms as Sub-Dean and two terms as Dean of both the New York City and Portland, ME chapters of the Guild. In 1989 he was chairman of the New York City chapter’s “Organists Against AIDS” benefit, and twice served as chairman of that chapter’s Presidents’ Day Conference. In 2001 he served as program chairman for the AGO Region I convention in Portland. His writings on organ and church music have been published in The American Organist, The Diapason, The New England Organist, Reformed Liturgy and Music, and The Tracker music journals, and he has been featured as performer, composer, and lecturer at regional and national conventions of the AGO.

He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the Organ Historical Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia honorary music fraternity, the Maine Composers Forum, and the American Music Center, and served as President of the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, Inc. from 2003 till 2006. He was listed in The International Who’s Who of Music and Musicians in 1984 and in 1989 was named an Anniversary Associate of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.

Organ music by Harold Stover