Director of Sacred Music, Saint Albert the Great Catholic Church, Austin, Texas

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Storm Knien, originally from Seattle, lives in Austin, Texas, where he is director of music at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church.

His program includes works by Robert Schumann and J.S. Bach.

He has composed works for piano, flute, organ, choir, computer and a variety of ensembles and is an active recitalist. Knien is also an accompanist and teacher and performs in an organ-flute duo with his wife, Ann Kjerulf Knien. He has performed in and around Seattle, Boston, throughout Texas, México and abroad in Paris.

Knien is currently a doctoral candidate in music at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a B.A. and a B.M. from the University of Washington and a Master of Music from UT Austin.

Concert at 2111 Alexander Avenue, Austin, TX 78722

Organist and Choirmaster at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, TX

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Clive Driskill-Smith MA MPhil FRCO ARCM is one of the leading organists of his generation. Hailed as a "star of a new generation", critics have praised his "blazing technique" and "unbelievable virtuosity" and described his performances as "intensely moving" and "truly breathtaking".

 Winner of the Royal College of Organists' Performer of the Year Competition in 2000 and the Calgary International Organ Competition in 2002, Clive performs throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. In the UK he has played at the BBC Proms, the Royal Festival Hall, Symphony Hall and Bridgewater Hall, and in the US - where he often performs with percussionist Joseph Gramley in Organized Rhythm - he has played at Regional and National Conventions of the American Guild of Organists. His CDs have received critical acclaim ("a master performer in a range of musical styles ... his playing is immaculate ... the technique is brilliant, the interpretation faultless ... a first class recording") and his performances have been broadcast on radio and television worldwide.

 A pupil of David Sanger and Hans Fagius, Clive was a Music Scholar at Eton College and then Organ Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, where he is now Sub-Organist. He plays for the daily services in the Cathedral and for the choir's many concerts, recordings, broadcasts and tours under the direction of Stephen Darlington.

 Clive teaches the organ at the Royal Academy of Music and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Winner of the highly prestigious competition Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) in 2018

Music Director, Grace Episcopal Church, Georgetown, TX

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David Polley began serving in the position of Director of Music at Grace in September 2015. He comes to this position after serving 17 years as Organist at University United Methodist Church in Austin. He is also an adjunct Professor of Organ at Southwestern University. After forty years of teaching secondary music education, Dr. Polley retired to pursue a more active career in church music. He earned degrees from Concordia University, Seward, NE; Northwestern University, Evanston, IL; and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE. He has served Lutheran, Catholic, and Methodist churches in Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Texas.

As an accompanist, Dr. Polley has toured with the Southwestern University Chorale and the San Gabriel Chorale to China, Hungary, Italy, and France where he played the largest organs in China (Shanghai) and Hungary (Budapest). He has also performed as a featured recitalist in concerts in the Georgetown Festival of the Arts playing the music of Schubert, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Vierne, as well as Gade, Grieg, and Larsen. His most recent invited recitals include Church of the Heavenly Rest Episcopal, Abilene, TX and St. Austin Catholic Church and Westlake Presbyterian in Austin, TX.

In the future, Dr. Polley plans to continue serving as an accompanist and clinician in the area public schools as well as playing recitals in Central Texas.

Premier early music ensemble from Belgium
The Arnstadt Connection
Music by Heinrich, Johann Michael, Johann Christoph and Johann Sebastian Bach and Dietrich Buxtehude

Vox Luminis is a Belgian early music vocal ensemble created in 2004 by Artistic Director Lionel Meunier. The ensemble performs over 60 concerts a year, appearing on stages in Belgium, across Europe and around the world. Since its inception, the ensemble has been defined by its unique sound, appealing as much through the personality of each timbre as it does through the color and the uniformity of the voices. The size and composition of the group depends on the repertoire, with the core of soloists, mostly from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, often joined by additional performers. The repertoire is essentially Italian, English and German and spans from the 16th to the 18th century.

PROGRAM “Bach: The Arnstadt Connection”

Heinrich Bach: Ich danke dir Gott 
Johann Michael Bach: Herr, der König freuet sich 
Johann Christoph Bach: Die Furcht des Herren 
Dietrich Buxtehude: Herzlich Lieb hab ich dich, O Herr
Johann Christoph Bach: Herr, wende dich und sei mir gnädig
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata: Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4

Chair & Professor of Music at Trinity University, San Antonio

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Organist David Heller has risen to prominence as an outstanding performer and pedagogue in the United States. The American Organist has described him as “an eloquent performer” and his playing as “an excellent demonstration of outstanding music making.” A native of Wisconsin, Dr. Heller holds degrees from Lawrence University and the Eastman School of Music, which awarded him the prestigious Performer’s Certificate in Organ. His teachers have included Miriam Clapp Duncan and Russell Saunders in organ and Colin Tilney and Lisa Goode Crawford in harpsichord. His post-doctoral study was with David Craighead in organ and improvisation with Gerre Hancock

As an active recitalist, David Heller has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, South Korea, and Taiwan.  Recent recital appearances have included the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City and the University of Arizona at Tucson. Dr. Heller serves as a lecturer and performer for the Classical Music Festival-Eisenstadt Summer Academy each summer in Eisenstadt, Austria.  He has appeared as both performer and presenter at national and regional conventions of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Organ Historical Society, the American Institute of Organ Builders, and the American Guild of Organists.  As author of the highly acclaimed book, Manual on Hymn Playing (G.I.A. Publications), he is frequently sought as a lecturer and clinician in the areas of church music skills and hymn playing.    He is currently at work on a book documenting the history of the pipe organ in San Antonio, a collaboration that was begun with the late John Ballard.  He has four recordings to his credit on the Calcante and Pro Organo labels featuring some of the most distinctive instruments in the country.  His newest recording, on the Letourneau organ at Christ Church United Methodist in Louisville, Kentucky was released on the Raven Recordings label and featured on Michael Barone’s Pipedreams on National Public Radio.

Since 1986, David Heller has been a member of the faculty at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas serving as Professor of Music and University Organist.  His primary teaching responsibilities in the Department of Music are in the areas of organ and harpsichord performance and literature, church music skills, and music theory. In 2010, Dr. Heller received the Distinguished Achievement Award for Creative Work from Trinity University, one of the school’s top honors awarded to the faculty. He was appointed Chair of the Department of Music in 2012.

In addition to his teaching duties, David Heller has held a number of prominent church jobs, including two artist residencies at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon and NorthPark Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas.  He currently serves as Associate Organist for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio.