Immanuel is proud to announce Hannah Koby as this year’s winner of the annual Immanuel Organ Award.  As part of the honor, Hannah presented a very polished recital on April 30th including works from Pachelbel, Pinkham, J.S. Bach, DeGrigny, Durufle, and Locklair.

Hannah is a junior Organ/Church Music major and German minor at Valparaiso University where is is also a member of Christ College, the University Chorale, and the student chapter of the American Guild of Organists.  At the university’s Chapel of the Resurrection, Hannah serves on the Morning Prayer planning staff, is organist for the weekly matins service, and serves as pianist and on the planning team for the weekly Candlelight service.  She is also organist and choir director at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Chesterton, Indiana.  This summer Hannah will be the Church Music intern at Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  After her studies at Valparaiso, Hannah plans to pursue graduate work in sacred music.

The annual Immanuel Organ Award is funded through the Immanuel Church Music Outreach Endowment Fund.  The award, consisting of a cash gift of $2,000, a medallion, and an opportunity to perform a full concert, is given to a student in an organ or church music degree program in an accredited school who has been nominated by the organ or church music faculty.  The purpose of the award is to encourage careers in organ and church music.

Previous Immanuel Organ Award recipients:

2002 Ross Updegraff

2003 Brian Wentzel

2004  Joy-Leilani Garbutt

2005 Nathan La Mahieu

2006 Laura Zimmer

2007 Emily Woock

2008 Paula Maust

2009  Jonathan D. Rudy

2010  Justin Knabach

2011 Kipp Cortez

2012 Matthew Gerhardt

2013 Priscilla Weaver

2014 David Lim

2015 Kevin Vaughn

2016 Nichole Simental