Organist Kenneth Cowan will open the Westminster Choir College Faculty Recital Series with a performance Sunday, September 18 at 3:00 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton.

The program will include Mozart’s Fantasia in F minor, K. 608, J.S. Bach’s: Trio Sonata in G, BWV 530, Sowerby’s: Pageant and Reubke’s: Sonata on the 94^th Psalm.

One of the most sought-after young organists in North America, Cowan has performed solo recitals across the United States and Canada and has been featured at conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.  He has won numerous awards, including first prizes at the Royal Canadian College of Organists’ National Competition and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music National Competition.

A native of Thorold, Ontario, Canada, he received the Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ with Thomas Murray.  Prior to attending Yale, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with John Weaver.  As a boy, he first took organ lessons from his father, organist David Cowan; then during his high school years he studied with James Bigham in Buffalo, N.Y.  His previous positions have included assistant organist posts at St. James Episcopal Church and the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in New York City, and assisting organist at St. Clement’s Church in Philadelphia.  He has also been on the roster of associate organists for the famed Wanamaker Grand Court organ in Philadelphia.

His CD on the historic 1926 Austin organ in the University of Pennsylvania’s Irvine Auditorium has been featured on the National Public Radio program "Pipedreams.”  His recording on the historic Ernest M. Skinner organ at Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church in Detroit and the inaugural recording on the new Austin organ at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., are currently available on the JAV label.  In April 1999, he joined organist Justin Bischof in the world premiere recording of American composer Aaron Miller’s Double Concerto for organ, recorded with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra on the Kleuker organ in the Tonhalle, Zurich, Switzerland. His most recent release on the JAV label is a disc of organ favorites performed on the fully restored 1930 Skinner organ at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, Pa.