Jonathan William Moyer

  • David S. Boe Associate Professor of Organ
  • Chair, Organ Department

Areas of Study

Education

  • DMA in organ, Peabody Conservatory of Music
  • GPD in organ, Peabody Conservatory of Music
  • MMus in piano, Peabody Conservatory of Music
  • AD in organ, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
  • BMus in piano, Bob Jones University

Biography

Jonathan William Moyer specializes in a vast repertoire from the renaissance to the 21st century and has performed throughout the United States as well as in Europe and Japan. The Baltimore Sun has described his playing as “ever-expressive, stylish, and riveting.”

In addition to his role at Oberlin, Moyer serves as organist of the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland and has been a visiting lecturer in organ at the Hochschule für Musik in Lübeck, Germany. Recent concerts include Bachkirche (Arnstadt), St. Jakobikirche (Lübeck), Ludgerikirche (Norden), Laurenskerk (Alkmaar), Marktkirchethe (Hannover), the National Convention of the American Organ Historical Society (Rochester, N.Y.), the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, D.C.), St. Sulpice (Paris), Notre Dame de Bergerac, and J.S. Bach’s complete Clavierübung III at the German Reformed Church in Budapest. He has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Oberlin Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Quire Cleveland, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and the Handel Choir of Baltimore, among others. 

At the Church of the Covenant, Moyer oversees two remarkable pipe organs: an E.M. Skinner/Aeolian Skinner/Holtkamp and Richards Fowkes, Op. 19.

Moyer holds an artist diploma in organ from Oberlin Conservatory, where he was a student of James David Christie and Olivier Latry. He earned a DMA and graduate performance diploma in organ from the Peabody Institute as a student of Donald Sutherland and Gillian Weir, and he also completed a master's degree in piano as a student of Ann Schein. He earned a bachelor of music in piano from Bob Jones University, where he was a student of Laurence Morton. He further studied with organists Susan Landale, Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, and Michael Radulescu. In 2008 Moyer earned second prize in the Sixth International Musashino Organ Competition in Tokyo, and in 2005 he was a finalist in the St. Albans International Organ Competition. He is represented by WindWerk Artists.

American Guild of the Organists
Organ Historical Society
Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies
Adjudicator for the Fort Wayne Organ Competition, Sweelinck Competition (Amsterdam), and the AGO Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists

Voices of the Hanse (Gothic Records), recorded on the 1637 Stellwagen organ in Lübeck, Germany, and featuring music from 17th-century North German sources.

"Moyer revealed the composer's musical genius as vividly as his spiritual richness, taking full advantage of the cathedral's organ…Passages of rapt reflection were shaped with a keen sense of import." —Baltimore Sun

“Moyer skillfully chose registrations that showed the range of color the instrument can produce and suited them perfectly to the music at hand…It's delightful to hear an organ recital where everything seems so right and the playing so much in the service of the instrument and the repertoire.” —ClevelandClassical.com

"An intelligent and highly empathetic performances of music from the Lüneburger Orgeltabulature, a collection which the performer notes may have reflected the abilities​ of village organists of the time. But the music—especially, for example, the beguiling setting of Ich ruf zu dir—is of a high order... An auspicious start to a promising series of recordings.​​ —Choir and Organ

"The new trilogy (Fantasie, Merry Fugue, and Passacaglia) is the product of someone who knows both the instrument and its literature from the inside out. The piece adds importantly to the canon while respecting its historical lineage—which in this case leans toward the French Romantic." —Cleveland Classical.com

Fall 2023

Principal Private Study - Organ — PVST 003
Secondary Private Study (Piano) — PVST 051
Secondary Private Study - Organ — PVST 053
Introduction to the Organ — APST 114
Organ Literature, History and Design — MLIT 213
Keyboard Skills for Organists I: Piano Technique — APST 216
Keyboard Skills for Organists II: Hymn & Liturgical Music Playing — APST 217
Keyboard Skills for Organists III: Improvisation — APST 218
Sacred Music Project — APST 223

Spring 2024

Principal Private Study - Organ — PVST 003
Secondary Private Study (Piano) — PVST 051
Secondary Private Study - Organ — PVST 053
Introduction to the Organ — APST 114
Organ Literature, History and Design II — MLIT 214
Keyboard Skills for Organists I: Piano Technique — APST 216
Keyboard Skills for Organists II: Hymn & Liturgical Music Playing — APST 217
Keyboard Skills for Organists III: Improvisation — APST 218
Sacred Music Project — APST 223

Notes

Organ Professor Jonathan Moyer Gives European Concert Tour

October 5, 2023

Associate Professor of Organ Jonathan Moyer spent part of his summer in Europe on a concert tour that included recitals on three of the most prominent pipe organs in the north German cities of Lüneburg, Hamburg, and Schwerin. The organ of St. Johannis in Lüneburg originated in 1553 by Dutch organ builder Hendrik Niehoff and was enlarged over the ensuing centuries. The prominent organist Georg Böhm served the church from 1698 until his death in 1733 and likely mentored a young Johann Sebastian Bach between 1700-1702. Moyer’s second concert was on the new Flentrop organ (2013) in St. Katharinen, one of Hamburg’s largest churches. The new 4-manual and pedal organ with 61 stops is a replication of the historic organ that was destroyed during WWII. The church boasted some of the most prominent organists of the 17th century and was the site of J.S. Bach’s Hamburg audition in 1720. Moyer’s final concert was on the 1871 organ by Friederich Ladegast in Schwerin Cathedral. The organ was Ladegast’s largest and final instrument and includes an array of ventil pedals and pneumatic assists to aid in the rapid change of tonal registrations, a demand of the prevailing Romantic aesthetic taste. Franz Liszt was a prominent advocate for Ladegast’s instruments and premiered many of his organ works on Ladegast’s instrument in Merseburg Cathedral.

Jonathan Moyer records CD

August 25, 2020

Assistant Professor and Chair of Organ Jonathan Moyer recently completed a CD recording entitled "Voices of the Hanse" for the Gothic Catalogue with digital release on Amazon and Naxos on Aug. 28. The recording features music of 17th-century North German composers within the region of the Hanseatic League, recorded on the 1637 organ by Friederich Stellwagen (1603-1660) in the church of St. Jakobi in Lübeck. The recording was completed during Moyer's 2019 sabbatical exchange at the Musikhochschule, Lübeck. The selected composers and their works represent some of the most important churches in the Hanseatic region of northern Germany, illustrating an array of liturgical tradition, musical style, and compositional evolution.

News

Bridge to History

October 13, 2021

Celebration of Oberlin’s Bridge Memorial Organ begins with Oct. 16 recital; continues Oct. 30-31.

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