Despite the Pandemic, the Organ Scholar Committee chaired by Greg Hummel, has been busy screening candidates for the annual Organ Scholar Program. This year they are pleased to award the $3,000 scholarship to Dale Nickell, the 2020 Organ Scholar.
Dale Nickell is the Music Director and Organist at the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, TN. He completed his graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Nathan Laube. At Eastman, he also studied improvisation and clavichord with William Porter and sang in the Schola Cantorum at Christ Church under the direction of Stephen Kennedy. From 2019-2020, he was the Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Rochester on the 1927 E.M. Skinner organ (Op. 655, 68 ranks). Dale has experience as an organ-builder, tuner, and technician, having worked with Parsons Pipe Organ Builders of Canandaigua.
As a Cum Laude graduate of Colorado State University, Dale studied organ, harpsichord and liturgy with Joel Bacon and piano with Janet Landreth. In 2017, he received the Wendel Diebel Music Performance Award for outstanding musical contribution to the school’s performing ensembles and concerts. While in Fort Collins, Dale served as the Organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on the Phelps Op. 1 organ.
Dale has performed in masterclasses for Olga Kern, Michel Bouvard, Ken Cowan, Vincent Warnier, James David Christie, Edoardo Bellotti, Christophe Mantoux, Reneé Anne Louprette, Gail Archer, and Voces8.
In 2019, Dale served as a faculty member for Organ Week at Colorado State University, where he taught organ lessons for high school students, gave lectures on organ playing, and performed in concert alongside distinguished organists such as Ken Cowan and Michael Unger.
On April 23, 2021, Dale performed his repertoire at Immanuel. It was to the Committee’s great regret that due to the Pandemic, there was no in-person audience. Click here to watch a video of Dale’s concert.
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