McNEIL ROBINSON

Janet Sora Chung is a New York City-based organist, pianist, violinist, and conductor. In 2022, she co-founded the Christopher Street Collegium, an ensemble dedicated to bringing the sacred works of Schütz, Bach, Buxtehude, and Couperin to life in intimate settings.

A dedicated proponent of the keyboard works of J.S. Bach, the French symphonic tradition, and the music of Olivier Messiaen, Chung frequently arranges pieces for solo organ and organ-saxophone duo. Alongside saxophonist Jay Rattman, she has commissioned and premiered new literature from composers including Rachel Laurin and James Chirillo, in addition to performing arrangements of Duke Ellington and debuting her own transcriptions of works by Debussy and Bach. Most recently, she premiered her organ arrangement of the Goldberg Variations in celebration of the 200th anniversary of St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Chung holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with McNeil Robinson and received the Bronson Ragan Award for outstanding ability in organ performance. She is the Director of the Contemporary Ensemble at Holy Trinity Church.

Described by Choir & Organ as “indomitable and immensely gifted” and by The Macon Telegraph as “an artist of rare sensitivity and passion”, Robert McCormick is heralded as one of the finest concert and church musicians of this era and is widely known for his unique abilities in organ improvisation. He has been featured in solo appearances in San Francisco, New York, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Albuquerque, and Atlanta, and in recitals and workshops for numerous American Guild of Organists chapters, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Royal School of Church Music in America, and for Westminster Choir College. His recording from St. Paul’s, K Street, We Sing of God, was released on the Pro Organo label. Choir & Organ’s review of the disc states that “[McCormick] shines at the organ.” 

Mr. McCormick is the newly-appointed Organist and Director of Music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. This follows tenures at Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pennsylvania; St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia; St. Paul’s Parish, K Street, Washington, D.C.; and Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City.  He is a graduate of the Westminster Choir College. His teachers include McNeil Robinson and Robert Carwithen. 

Robert McCormick is represented in North America exclusively by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC.

Jason Roberts is Director of Music at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York City. He has also served at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York and at St. James’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, Connecticut. He is a winner of the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation, and keeps an active recital schedule which includes improvising accompaniments to silent films. He currently teaches improvisation at the Juilliard School, and he has served on the faculty at Westminster Choir College. His compositions have been performed at such various venues as Princeton University Chapel in New Jersey, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and Westminster Abbey.

Kalle Toivio is a Finnish-American concert organist and pianist. He is the winner of the First Prize at the prestigious American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation. The CD-Album of Kalle Toivio Improvisations at St. Ignatius was released by the Pro Organo/Naxos-label.

Kalle Toivio has toured in Europe, Japan and the United States. He has been a featured performer on several Pipedreams-programs in the United States. 

Dr. Kalle Toivio is the Director of Music of the Parish of Corpus Christi and Notre Dame in New York City, and is on the organ faculty of Manhattan School of Music Precollege. He has given organ repertoire and improvisation master classes in Finland and the United States. 

Kalle Toivio has graduated from the Sibelius Academy with degrees in Church Music and Piano Performance. Kalle Toivio has graduated from the Sibelius Academy with degrees in Church Music and Piano Performance. Kalle Toivio received his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in organ performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Kalle Toivio studied organ with McNeil Robinson and James David Christie, organ improvisation with McNeil Robinson and David Briggs, and piano with Nina Svetlanova.