David C. Pickering, Assistant Professor of Music at Graceland University in Lamoni,
Iowa, received the doctor of musical arts degree in organ performance
and a master’s degree in organ performance and musicology from the University
of Kansas as a student of James Higdon. He received his bachelor of music degree
in organ performance from Brigham Young University as a student of Parley Belnap
and J. J. Keeler. Dr. Pickering has participated in masterclasses with Marie-Claire
Alain, David Craighead, Craig Cramer, Catharine Crozier, John Ferguson, Ann Labounsky,
Olivier Latry, Norma Stevlingson, and Gillian Weir.
Dr. Pickering is a guest recitalist on the noon recital series at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, where he occasionally plays the 206-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ. He is an active recitalist, having performed in the Midwestern, Southwestern, and Western United States as well as in Canada. Recital performances for the 2005-2006 season include three recitals at Graceland University, two recitals at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Des Moines, The Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, ID. In addition, he gave the world premiere of O Jerusalem: A Symphony for Organ, written by Daniel Gawthrop in celebration of the tenth anniversary of Graceland University’s Casavant organ.
Dr. Pickering has competed in several organ competitions in the United States and Europe and also received the Kay Carlson Memorial Scholarship as a competitor in the Kansas City Musical Club Scholarship Auditions. Dr. Pickering was an official competitor in the 1999-2000 National Young Artists Competition sponsored by the American Guild of Organists. He was also a competitor in the Second International Competition (1999) held at St. Andreas Church in Korschenbroich, Germany, and a finalist in the 1999 Arthur Poister Competition in Syracuse, New York.
Dr. Pickering reviews organ recordings for the organ journal The Diapason and is also the editor of the complete organ works of Leroy Robertson which will be published in 2006 by Wayne Leupold Editions. Dr. Pickering has made two recordings, the first of which features the organ music of Leroy Robertson and his students and was recorded on the 1983 Robert Sipe organ located in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. This recording will be released on Brigham Young University’s Tantara label in 2006. Dr. Pickering’s second recording features the organ music of Des Moines composer Alice Jordan and was recorded on the 1993 Casavant organ at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Des Moines, Iowa.
Dr. Pickering and his wife Melinda are the parents of four children.
