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.