Two concert organists, Ken Cowan and Beverly Everett, play a joint recital on the famed Marcussen organ of First United Methodist Church. Powerful Romantic and symphonic works on the program will include the monumental Sonata on the 94th Psalm by Julius Reubke. Fans of majestic organ music won’t want to miss hearing these virtuosi play!
Location: First United Methodist Church, 1005 Stover St., Fort Collins
Dr. Beverly Everett is currently Music Director of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra and the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra. She was named as one of the Bismarck-Mandan Business Watch magazine’s “40 under 40” for making a difference through her work in the region, and was the City Magazine cover story in November 2011. In 2009 Dr. Everett was the youngest-ever recipient of the “Friend of the Arts” award for her contributions to the arts in Bemidji. And in 2010 Everett was one of six conductors in the nation to receive an “Excellence in Music Education” award by the American Prize. Everett was one of two recipients of the first 2011 Region 2 Arts/McKnight Career Advancement Fellowship to study with JoAnn Falletta. She was also one of the first inductees to her hometown’s Fine Arts Hall of Fame in Waxahachie, Texas. Dr. Everett has been a frequent guest conductor and clinician for orchestras and festivals in the United States, Canada and Europe.
In addition to her conducting career, Dr. Everett is an active concert organist, teacher, and service player. She has been a featured organist in recitals, music festivals and workshops, and masterclasses throughout the United States and in Europe and British Columbia. Everett is Adjunct Professor of Organ at the University of Mary in Bismarck. Beverly holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Organ Performance from Baylor University where she studied with Joyce Jones, and a Master of Arts in Organ Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa, where she studied with Delbert Disselhorst. She was First Place winner of the Ft. Worth AGO Competition, the MTNA Competition. She is a frequent guest performer with the Aaron Meyer Band holiday concerts in Portland, Oregon. Everett has played in some of the great halls of the world including St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and the Duomo in Florence, Italy.
Regarded as one of North America’s finest concert organists and praised for his dazzling artistry, impeccable technique, and imaginative programming by audiences and critics alike, Ken Cowan maintains a rigorous performing schedule that takes him to major concert venues in America, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
Recent feature performances have included appearances at Princeton University Chapel, The Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia PA, San Francisco CA for the American Guild of Organists national convention, Baltimore MD for the Organ Historical Society’s national convention, Maison Symphonique in Montreal Canada, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Upcoming performances include recitals in Groton MA, Birmingham AL, Bethesda MD, Chestertown MD, Atlanta GA, Brevard NC, Fort Worth TX, and a performance for the Elgar Society’s gathering in Northeast Ohio.
Numerous critically acclaimed compact disc recordings by Mr. Cowan are available. Most recent, with Mr. Cowan serving as organ accompanist, is Maurice Duruflé: Complete Choral Works (Signum Records), recorded with Robert Simpson and the Houston Chamber Choir, for which the Houston Chamber Choir was awarded a GRAMMY award in 2020 for Best Choral Recording. Also available is Dynamic Duo, (Pro Organo), featuring Mr. Cowan and Bradley Hunter Welch in a program of original works and transcriptions for duo organists performed on the monumental Casavant organ at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX. Other recordings include Ken Cowan plays The Great Organ (Pro Organo), recorded on the newly-restored organ at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City; Works of Franz Liszt (JAV), recorded on the Michael Quimby organ at First Baptist church in Jackson Mississippi; and Ken Cowan Plays Romantic Masterworks (Raven), recorded on the 110-rank Schoenstein organ at First Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. Mr. Cowan also joined organist Justin Bischof in the 1999 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 (Ethereal Recordings). Many of Mr. Cowan’s recordings and live performances have been regularly featured on the nationally distributed radio program PIPEDREAMS from American Public Media.
A native of Thorold, Ontario, Canada, Mr. Cowan received the Master’s 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. Following initial studies with his father, David, his principal teacher during his high school years was James Bigham, Music Director at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, in Buffalo, NY.
In 2012 Mr. Cowan joined the keyboard faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he continues to serve as Professor of Organ and head of the organ program. He is additionally Organist and Artist-in-Residence at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, TX. Previous positions have included Associate Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ, where he was awarded the 2008 Rider University Distinguished Teaching Award, and Associate Organist and Artist in Residence at Saint Bartholomew’s Church in New York City.
