Craig S. Williams is the West Point Organist and Choirmaster

Before the recital, join us for a historical presentation of the Auditorium at 3pm.

About Craig Williams

Craig S. Williams is Organist and Choirmaster of the Cadet Chapel, United States Military Academy West Point, where he plays the world’s largest church all-pipe organ and directs the Cadet Chapel Choir. He is only the fourth organist to hold that position since the present Cadet Chapel building was erected in 1910.

At West Point, Mr. Williams oversees the music programs of five chapels, in which are given well over 400 services, concerts and various other functions annually.  Personally, Mr. Williams performs at approximately 200 of these chapel functions, including worship services, weddings, funerals, class reunion memorial services, recitals, choir concerts and VIP organ demonstrations performing for royalty, cabinet members, generals, members of Congress and many other international government and military figures.  He has been featured on television numerous times including his recent appearance on Fox News’ West Point Holiday Special which received over 2,000,000 views, and he also appears as organist on the West Point Glee Club’s DVD Stand Ye Steady.

Mr. Williams has performed on both organ and piano for over 40 years and continues to perform nationwide. His organ credits include performances at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, several appearances at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, and at Segerstrom Hall in Orange County, CA with the Pacific Chorale.  His most recent appearance at Segerstrom Hall was in a concert, Superstar Organ Virtuosos, where he shared the stage with Paul Jacobs, Frederick Swann, Christoph Bull and members of the Pacific Symphony.  Mr. Williams has also played on the summer series at the Riverside Church in New York, the Crystal Cathedral, and Ocean Grove Auditorium; and he continues to give numerous recitals and workshops for prominent cathedrals and churches on both coasts.  In 2021, he played a recital in Usurbil, Spain, as guest artist in the Quincena Musical de San Sebastián and will be playing recitals in Italy during the fall of 2023.

Mr. Williams is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists and served as dean of the Central Hudson Valley chapter from 2012 to 2016.  In the early 90’s, he served as dean of the Brooklyn Chapter. Also, he has been a featured performer for conventions held by the AGO and the American Institute of Organbuilders.

Mr. Williams received the masters in organ performance from Westminster Choir College where he was one of three of the first Currin Scholars, a full graduate level scholarship, studying with Eugene Roan. His piano performance degrees include the masters from the Juilliard School, studying with Martin Canin, where he performed with the Juilliard Symphony at Lincoln Center; and the bachelors from the University of Southern California, studying with Daniel Pollack.

In addition to his duties at West Point, he served as adjunct professor of organ at Nyack College (Nyack, NY) and conservatory faculty at Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ) for 19 years. He is devoted to his wife, Lee, and the proud father of Abigail and Stewart.

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Craig Williams at the Round Lake Auditorium in 2018

Thomas Dressler is known for exciting, passionate performances on the organ.

Before the recital, join us for a historical presentation of the Auditorium at 3pm.

His program for the evening will include works of J.S. Bach and Felix Mendelssohn as well as some early American pieces by William Selby, and some very early pieces by Heinrich Scheidemann which is some of the earliest surviving organ music!

About Tom Dressler

Thomas Dressler is known for exciting, passionate performances on the organ and harpsichord which combine warm musicality with historic techniques. He has been performing for more than thirty years, often on historic instruments, including some of America's oldest and most historic organs.

He has appeared on local television in NY, the Poconos, and Philadelphia. His playing at the opening concert of the 150th anniversary celebration of the Round Lake organ was described by audience members as "riveting" and "stunningly elegant." In August of 2001 he recorded the 1847 Ferris organ at Round Lake, NY, and the CD was released in 2003; it received a feature review in The American Organist magazine. In 2012, he released a CD recorded on the Paul Fritts organ at Princeton Theological Seminary, which was featured on Pipedreams on National Public Radio. Officers of the Central New Jersey chapter of the American Guild of Organists have said, "Mr. Dressler is an organist with solid technique, well known for his exquisite rendering of Renaissance and Baroque music."

But he does not only specialize in "early" music. He also spends much time exploring performance practices of the 19th century, trying to uncover possible modern misconceptions about this music and present it in a manner the composers would have recognized. As a teenager, Mr. Dressler studied organ with James Boeringer and practiced on an 1894 Felgemaker organ. During this time he developed a strong interest in historic "tracker action" organs. He also began to have an interest in historic performing practices (using the information available in old treatises to attempt to play music in a way similar to how the composers may have originally heard it.) When historic fingerings and articulations are matched with the music being played, it is possible to infuse it with a degree of emotion and excitement not possible using purely modern techniques. He pursued these techniques throughout his college years, earning a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance, cum laude, from Susquehanna University, and a Master of Music in Performance, with honors, from Westminster Choir College. At Westminster, he studied organ with Mark Brombaugh and Joan Lippincott.

Mr. Dressler has held large church positions in Philadelphia and New Jersey. On October 1st, 2022 he will become the Director of Music at College Hill Presbyterian Church in Easton, PA. He has also been a featured lecturer in various venues in addition to lecturing at Warren County Community College (NJ), speaking on topics such as Performance Practices of the Baroque Era, various topics in music history and appreciation, and Music and Holistic Health. His special abilities to communicate, both as a speaker and performer, are combined in his performances, where he discusses much of the music he performs. Audiences respond enthusiastically. A reporter from a local newspaper in Pennsylvania has said, "Dressler interacts with the audience on a very personal level, appealing to young and old alike. One comes away from each program knowing they have learned something."

Watch Tom Dressler’s 2020 Organ Recital

International concert organist, recording artist, choral conductor and lecturer

Before the recital, join us for a historical presentation of the Auditorium at 3pm.

Gail Archer is an international concert organist, recording artist, choral conductor and lecturer who draws attention to composer anniversaries or musical themes with her annual recital series in New York City, including A Slavic Celebration, Max Reger, The Muse’s Voice, An American Idyll, Liszt, Bach, Mendelssohn and Messiaen.

Ms. Archer was the first American woman to play the complete works of Olivier Messiaen for the centennial of the composer’s birth in 2008: Time Out New York recognized the Messiaen cycle as “Best of 2008” in classical music and opera.

Her recordings include her 2022 Polish release, Cantius, and Chernivtsi, A Russian Journey, The Muse’s Voice, Franz Liszt: A Hungarian Rhapsody, Bach: The Transcendent Genius, an American Idyll, A Mystic in the Making (MeyerMedia), and The Orpheus of Amsterdam: Sweelinck and his Pupils (CALA Records).

Ms. Archer’s 2023 European tour took her to Italy, France, Austria, Germany and Poland. Highlights include St. Cyriakus R. C. Church, Krefeld, Germany, Basilica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Messina, Sicily, the Cathedral of Santa Maria, Alghero, Sardegna, the Church of Saint Bruno Les Chartreux, Lyon, France, and the Church of St. Vitali, Ravenna, Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its extraordinary mosaics.

Learn More: GailArcher.com