Music, Theatre, Dance Faculty & Staff
Gregory Crowell has appeared as organist, harpsichordist, clavichordist, lecturer, and conductor in Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada, and the United States. He has performed in many international festivals and conventions, including the Boston Early Music Festival, Regional V Convention of the American Guild of Organists, nine National Conventions of the Organ Historical Society, the Saugatuck Chamber Music Festival, the Fontana Chamber Music Festival, the Boston Clavichord Society, the International Clavichord Symposium (Magnano, Italy), and numerous meetings of the Southeastern and Midwestern Historical Keyboard Societies. Particularly noted for his performances of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Crowell has been a featured performer at the Weener (Germany) International Bach Series, the Grand Rapids Bach Festival, the Old West Organ Society (Boston) Bach Marathon, and the Valparaiso Bach Institute. In the spring of 2000, Dr. Crowell was invited to perform and lecture in the Bach Organ Festival held at St. Luke's in Tokyo, during which time he also served as visiting scholar at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In July 2006, Crowell was invited to speak on interdisciplinary models of teaching music history at Oxford University as part of the Oxford Round Table.
Broadcasts of Gregory Crowell's performances have been heard on
WCRB Boston, WGUC in Cincinnati, WFMT Chicago, Northwest German Radio,
Belgian Public Radio, WBLU in Grand Rapids, WMUK in Kalamazoo, and
NPM's Pipedreams. His compact disc recordings include live organ
performances on the OHS label, and, with hornist Paul Austin, the
critically acclaimed compact disc Moons and Ancestors: The Music of
Robert Shechtman. Crowell is currently involved in a project to record
the entire organ, harpsichord, and clavichord works of Alan Hovhaness
for the OgreOgress label. Crowell's solo performances have been
described as "beautiful, flexible, expressive" (The
Diapason), "full of panache and expression" (Ostfriesen
Kurier), "reliable as a sunrise, steady as a rock, especially in
the virtuoso finale" (The Grand Rapids Press), and "this
listener cannot recall ever having heard better" (The Boston
Herald). Crowell has also published widely on subjects related to
early keyboard instruments and their repertoire in such periodicals as
The Diapason, The American Organist, Harpsichord and Fortepiano,
Clavichord International, The Tracker, and De Clavicordio. From 2004
to 2008, Crowell served as Director of Publications for the Organ
Historical Society, in which capacity he served as editor of The
Tracker, a quarterly scholarly journal dedicated to the historic pipe
organ. He now serves as the editor of Clavichord International, the
only scholarly journal devoted entirely to the clavichord. Dr. Crowell
holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and the
University of Cincinnati, and has studied further at the North German
Organ Academy, Academia del Organo (Pistoia, Italy), and Musika
Hamabostaldia (San Sebastian, Spain). His teachers include Yuko
Hayashi, Bernard Lagacé, Mireille Lagacé, Roberta Gary, and Harald
Vogel. Dr. Crowell serves as University Organist and Affiliate
Professor of Music General Education at Grand Valley State University,
and Director of Music at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Dr. Crowell performs under the auspices of Independent
Concert Artists.