St. James Cathedral Summer Concert Series: Organist Crista Miller
$18 suggested donation
Crista Miller, organ
Program includes works by J.S. Bach, Naji Hakim, and more.
Passes are a suggested donation of $18; available online or at the door. Free gelato reception following the concert!
Hailed by Gramophone Magazine for her “superlative artistry,” “effortless virtuosity and musical intelligence,” Crista Miller is the Director of Music and Organist at Houston’s Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, where she led the Organ Committee responsible for Pasi’s Opus 19 pipe organ. She leads a growing music organization; directs the Schola Cantorum, Cor Jesu and children’s choirs; and oversees the concert series.
As solo organist, Dr. Miller has performed in Lebanon, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, and Canada, and in 20 states of the USA, and is an award-winner in international and national playing competitions (Odense; Fort Wayne; San Antonio; semi-finalist in AGO’s National Young Artists’ Competition in Organ Playing). Her 2014-15 Individual Artist Grant from the Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston created three organ and visual arts programs, leading to a recording with Acis Productions, the double-CD Bonjour and Willkommen: A Franco-German Debut, is available now. The “ambitious nature” of this project was noted by International Organists’ Review as “admirable and [a] very good advocate for the performer.”
Dr. Miller is a frequent conference presenter. Publications of her research on Middle Eastern elements in Naji Hakim’s music appear in the 2014 book Mystic Modern: The Music, Thought, and Legacy of Charles Tournemire and in December 2015’s ORGAN: Journal für die Orgel.
Crista earned the Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Master of Music from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music.
An advocate of contemporary composition, Dr. Miller served the American Guild of Organists as Chair for New Music for AGO Houston 2016. Fifteen new organ compositions, and a volume of over twenty competition-winning chorale preludes (available through Selah Publications) resulted from her committee’s work.