Mark Kurtz

Omaha, NE

New Music
Re-Formation (after Bach) winner of the AGO/Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition
Solo Organ
Hymn Festival: The Peaceable Kingdom
Wednesday, July 4 3:15 pm

Mark Kurtz is a one-of-a-kind musician. Whether he is doing jazz riffs on a pipe organ, composing choral music for the words of cutting-edge theologians, playing meditative recitals in total darkness, or encouraging children to come to his concerts dressed-up and ready to dance, the music of Mark Kurtz is full of delightful surprises.

All of this creativity grows out of a top-notch, conservatory-style education. Beginning at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and then continuing with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Mark Kurtz’s teachers have included well-known composers such as William Albright, Michael Daugherty, and Dominic Argento. His pedigree as an organist can be traced back to J. S. Bach himself, and includes a broad spectrum of influences, from the early-music expert John Mueller (who was instrumental in bringing the tracker organ revival to the United States) to Robert Glasgow, acknowledged by his own generation as the world’s foremost authority on the music of César Franck.

Through all these influences, Mark Kurtz has created an award-winning musical world of his own, acclaimed by experts while being enjoyable for anyone. Explore the music for yourself. You’ll be sure to find something delightfully unexpected!

Mark Kurtz has been Director of Music Ministries at First United Methodist Church Omaha, Nebraska since the year 2000.