August 25, 2010

Organist Ken Cowan to present free concert

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondale welcomes organist Ken Cowan to Shryock Auditorium for a Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series concert.

The free performance begins at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 17. A pre-concert buffet dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. in Ballroom B of the SIUC Student Center. Tickets for the dinner are $25, and include admission to a special section of seating in Shryock Auditorium. Reservations for the dinner must be made by Sept. 13 at the Office of Constituent Relations and Special Events in Kesnar Hall, Room 207, 618/453-5306. Buffet dinner tickets will not be available at the door.

Cowan is an assistant professor of organ at Westminster Choir College, part of Rider University in Princeton, N.J. Cowan received the 2008 Rider University Distinguished Teaching Award.

Cowan’s performing schedule takes him across the United States, Canada and Europe, including venues such as the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, France, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. He is a past featured artist at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), and also a veteran of AGO’s regional conferences.

His recordings include titles on Raven, JAV, and Ethereal Recordings, as well as the nationally distributed radio show “Pipedreams.”

For more information about Ken Cowan, see www.concertorganists.com.

The Distinguished Organ Recital Series at SIUC began in 1990 when Marianne Webb, Distinguished University Organist, visiting professor in the School of Music, and the namesake of the Marianne Webb Pipe Organ in Shryock Auditorium, and David N. Bateman, professor emeritus from the College of Business, established it to bring renowned organists to the Southern Illinois area. The series is possible thanks to an endowment Webb and Bateman provided in perpetuity.