“an extremely taut and accurate traversal”
New York Sun
Matthew Dirst
Artistic Director
Kinga Ferguson
Executive Director
board of directors
Miles Smith
President
Joyce Fox
Vice-President
Richard Viebig
Treasurer
Dorry Shaddock
Secretary
William Pannill
Immediate Past President
Christina Adams
Robin Angly
Jeanie Flowers
Dr. Robert Furse
Timothy Jones
Victor Kendall
John Lemen
Dr. Eugene McKelvey
Ed Rinehart
Birgitt van Wijk
Lyda Vellekoop
Eleanor Viebig
Dr. Joan Weltzien
MATTHEW DIRST
Artistic Director
First American musician to win major international prizes in both organ and harpsichord, known for his stylish playing of Baroque music in particular. About his recent performances of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” critics have noted that Dirst “illuminated the contrapuntal wizardry, but also radiated the joy of this most life-affirming music” (Dallas Morning News) with performances that were “of irresistible rhythmic impulse... technically dazzling, and deeply moving” (Houston Chronicle). Dirst is also Associate Professor of Music at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, and organist of St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston. His degrees include a PhD in musicology from Stanford University and degrees in organ and sacred music from the University of Illinois and Southern Methodist University. Matthew’s website.
KINGA FERGUSON
Executive Director
Kinga Ferguson has experience in both arts administration and vocal performance that spans three countries. She holds an MBA from the University of Lyon, France, and has worked, in Paris, for the Jacques Thelen Agency and European Artistic Management. She has also worked with the USA International Harp Competition and a number of arts organizations in Poland. She holds a Masters and Performer’s Diploma in Voice from Indiana University and has sung with Chicago Opera Theatre, Chicago Humanities Festival, Marion Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Opera Company of the Highlands, Indiana University Opera Theatre, and Houston’s own Opera Vista. She holds an Artist’s Diploma in Piano from the State School of Music in Lodz, Poland. Ferguson is a Fellow of the Paul Daisy Soros Foundation for New Americans.
ERYN BAUER
Operations Manager
Eryn Bauer is a graduate from the Eastman School of Music with a Bachelor’s in Bassoon Performance and an Arts Leadership Certificate from the Institute for Music Leadership. She has performed throughout Europe and Mexico, as well as at such famed venues as the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center and Weil Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall. As a bassoonist with the Arabesque Winds, she has won the Grand Prize at the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition, the Arthur W. Foote Prize, and the Coleman Saunderson Prize at the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. As an arts administrator, Eryn has worked for Eastman Community Music School, Young Audiences of Rochester, and Young Audiences of Houston.