Alumni

Michelle Choi

Master of Music

Music director, organist and pianist MiWha Choi was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. She started playing the piano at five-years old and holds a Bachelor (2001) and a Master (2004) degree in Church Music from the Chong Sin Presbyterian University. After graduation, MiWha began organ lessons and eventually graduated with a Master's degree in Organ (2013) from the University of Houston. MiWha began her teaching career in 1996 and has pedagogical experience with children as well as with adults of various levels and nationalities. As a graduate student in Korea, she taught group lessons for adults in the Gal Wol welfare center.

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Michael Ging

Doctor of Musical Arts

Michael David Ging is an organist, church musician, teacher, and entrepreneur. His 2018-2019 season includes solo recitals in Atlanta, Austin, Sante Fe, Washington, D.C., and throughout the Houston area. His credits include festival appearances, including the 11th International Organ and Early Music Festival (Oaxaca) and three solo recitals at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (2009, 2015, 2017). The American Organist hailed his recital opening the 2015 L’Organo Recital Series as “flawless,” noted that his program “showed off instrument and player to perfection,” recognized his “fine style,” and described his interpretation of Töpfer’s Sonata in D Minor as “a rare gem.”

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Christopher Holman

Master of Music

Since winning the Albert Schweitzer Competition, American organist Christopher Holman has performed on some of the most important historic and modern organs in Europe and North America. As a guest artist, he has most recently appeared at the BachFest Leipzig, Festival international de l’orgue ancienne in Sion, Switzerland (the oldest organ in the world), and the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative. He has released two recordings, and his performances have been broadcast on German and Swiss national television and radio. Also active as a scholar, his research has most recently been published in Oxford University’s journal Early Music, and he is Editor of the journal Vox Humana and Director of Musicology for Bach Society Houston. Thanks to a fellowship from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund, he is researching and studying historic organs throughout Europe while based at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. He studied with Robert Bates at the University of Houston, and Dana Robinson at the University of Illinois.

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John Kirk

Master of Music

From a young age, music was a large part of John’s life—music was always playing at home and in the car, a year of obligatory piano lessons, singing in musicals and choir in high school, playing double bass in jazz band, playing in a band throughout high school and college, and vibrant congregational singing in the Lutheran church in which he grew up. John did his undergraduate studies at Capital University, studying both religion and double bass, where he started taking organ lessons following Capital's installation of a new organ and the inaugarual recitals which followed.

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Joanna Elliott Whitsett

Doctor of Musical Arts

Joanna Elliott Whitsett is a recitalist of international stature, and has appeared in recital in important churches and cathedrals throughout the U.S and Europe. She is the recipient of the Doctorate of Musical Arts from University of Houston under the direction of Dr. Robert Bates. She also received a Master of Music in Organ Performance from Baylor University, where she was a student of Dr. Joyce Jones. She has studied with a number of noted organ pedagogues, including Michel Bouvard, Dr. Naji Hakim, and Marie-Claire Alain.

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