Advent Organ Recital with Wanda Griffiths
Admission is by donation
Wanda has been a musician since she was very young, learning to read music even before learning to read books. She started piano lessons at the age of 5 and organ lessons when she turned 10, and by the age of 15 she was playing for church services in her home church. She went on to study Organ Performance and Music Education in college and completed a Master’s in Organ Performance at the University of Southern California. She has a Ph.D. in Musicology from Claremont Graduate University. For the past 25+ years, she has served churches in the Midwest, Southern California, and the Pacific Northwest, continuing to develop her skills as an organist, choral and instrumental conductor, and handbell director. Wanda has a passion for helping churches incorporate music into their worship services that empowers and uplifts all who are present.
As an educator, Dr. Griffiths is part of the Affiliate Faculty of Trinity Lutheran College (Everett, WA). She has taught at California State University Los Angeles, Eureka College (Eureka, Illinois), and the University of Washington (Seattle). She has led many workshops on a variety of aspects of music and worship in the Midwest, Southern California, and the Pacific Northwest. She has a special interest in worship and the arts, and was a founding member of the Worship and the Arts Task force for the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She maintains a private studio where she teaches piano and organ.
As a performer, Dr. Griffiths has played numerous solo organ recitals on the West Coast and in the Midwest. She has appeared as guest organist with the Tucson Masterworks Chorale in Tucson, Arizona, and in recital on the Glatter-Götz/Rosales organ at the Claremont United Church of Christ in Claremont, California. She has been performing as part of a duo-organ team since 2002 with her colleague Stephen Marshall-Ward, presenting concerts around the Pacific Northwest and in Southern California. They were recently the featured performers in concert for the Northwest Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists. In addition, she has appeared in concert with the Seattle Girls Choir, the Kirkland Choral Society, and the Claremont Chorale, and, for the last four years, was Head Accompanist at Seattle Pacific University.
Dr. Griffiths has been a program annotator for the Organ Recital Series sponsored by the Seattle Symphony, and is a Past Dean of the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She is a member of the American Guild of Organists and of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. She is currently Interim Director of Music & Arts Ministries and Principal Organist at Edmonds United Methodist Church (Edmonds, WA).