April 21, 2008

Organist Lynn Trapp returns to Shryock

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The School of Music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale welcomes home an old friend when Lynn M. Trapp takes the stage – or, rather, the organ loft – at Shryock Auditorium for a free concert on Friday, April 25.

The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. The concert is part of the American Guild of Organists' Artist Subscription Series.

Trapp earned his bachelor's degree at SIUC, working with Marianne Webb, after whom the pipe organ in Shryock Auditorium is named. He went on to the University of Notre Dame, the Eastman School of Music and finally the University of Kansas, studying with top organists every step of the way and becoming a top name himself as well.

Trapp's distinguished career includes a host of academic and organ-playing competition awards, musical clinics, recordings and publications of his keyboard and choral music. At present, he is the director of worship and music, as well as the organist, at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minn., where the St. Olaf Worship and Sacred Music Series brings prominent organists and chorals for concerts. Trapp also co-directs the annual summer Liturgical Music Conference at St. John's University in Minnesota.

The Southern Illinois chapter of the American Guild of Organists seeks to promote organ music, both contemporary and historical.