Cathedral Appoints Organ Scholar

March 27, 2019

Dean Dominic Barrington and Director of Music Stephen Buzard have announced the appointment of Isaac Drewes as Organ Scholar, beginning Aug. 2019. Stephen Buzard says, “I am delighted that Isaac will be joining the music team at St. James. He is a gifted player and consummate church musician, and I look forward to what he will bring to our community. Isaac’s position is partially funded by the Anglican Association of Musicians (AAM) Gerre Hancock Internship grant, and it is an honor that this prestigious organization has identified our music program as an ideal training post for a musician of Isaac’s caliber.”

Hear Isaac play online.

The Organ Scholar is a position on the cathedral staff intended as a learning experience for a recent graduate from a program in organ or church music and offers an opportunity to learn the particulars of the multi-faceted music program offered at St. James. The organ scholar will hone their accompanying and conducting skills under the guidance of Director of Music Stephen Buzard while assisting with administrative tasks.

Isaac Drewes is a masters candidate at Eastman School of Music, where he studies organ with Prof. David Higgs and holds the George Utech Hymnody Fellowship. He is Organist and Choir Director at Penfield United Methodist Church in Penfield, NY and sings in the Christ Church Schola Cantorum. A graduate of St. Olaf College, he studied with Dr. Catherine Rodland and was Organ Scholar at St. Louis, King of France Catholic Church in St. Paul, MN.

Isaac’s performances have been heard around the United States and Canada, including at St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montréal, Old West Church in Boston, and St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle. In 2018, he won the Lynnwood Farnam Competition and was a semi-finalist in the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. He has performed for Organ Historical Society conventions in Philadelphia and the Twin Cities. Isaac is also the winner of the Twin Cities American Guild of Organist Student Competition, and a recipient of the Pogorzelski-Yankee and Paul Manz Scholarships. When not at the organ bench, Isaac enjoys bicycling and hiking in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.