Matthew Dirst
Artistic Director

Kinga Ferguson
Executive Director


board of directors

Birgitt van Wijk
President

Richard Buffett
Vice-President

Richard Viebig
Treasurer

Dorry Shaddock
Secretary

Dr. Eugene McKelvey
Immediate Past President

Robin Angly
Taylor Faulkner
Jeanie Flowers
Joyce Fox
Schubert Huang
Timothy Jones
John Lemen
Ed Rinehart
Miles Smith
Dr. Lyda Vellekoop
Eleanor Viebig

picture of matthew dirst
MATTHEW DIRST

Artistic Director

First American musician to win major international prizes in both organ and harpsichord, known for his stylish playing of Baroque music in particular. About his recent performances of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” critics have noted that Dirst “illuminated the contrapuntal wizardry, but also radiated the joy of this most life-affirming music” (Dallas Morning News) with performances that were “of irresistible rhythmic impulse... technically dazzling, and deeply moving” (Houston Chronicle). Dirst is also Associate Professor of Music at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, and organist of St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston. His degrees include a PhD in musicology from Stanford University and degrees in organ and sacred music from the University of Illinois and Southern Methodist University. Matthew’s website.


picture of kinga ferguson
KINGA FERGUSON

Executive Director

Kinga Ferguson has experience in both arts administration and vocal performance that spans three countries. She holds an MBA from the University of Lyon, France, and has worked, in Paris, for the Jacques Thelen Agency and European Artistic Management. She has also worked with the USA International Harp Competition and a number of arts organizations in Poland. She holds a Masters and Performer’s Diploma in Voice from Indiana University and has sung with Chicago Opera Theatre, Chicago Humanities Festival, Marion Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Opera Company of the Highlands, Indiana University Opera Theatre, and Houston’s own Opera Vista. She holds an Artist’s Diploma in Piano from the State School of Music in Lodz, Poland. Ferguson is a Fellow of the Paul Daisy Soros Foundation for New Americans.


picture of Lauren Gilmore
LAUREN GILMORE

Marketing Director

A graduate of the University of Houston with a BA in music and a marketing minor, Lauren has extensive nonprofit experience in event planning and execution, general and social media marketing as well as fundraising. She served in numerous strategic and entrepreneurial roles in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors and has substantial sales management experience including client prospecting and relationships and training and development. She is a former clarinet student of Maureen Hurd, Christian Schubert and Chester Rowell and a former teacher and adjudicator for the Keller and Klein Independent School Districts.