Luke Staisiunas
The Chattanooga Music Club will present its annual Holiday Spectacular on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. This years program is headlined by a rising young artist from the Philadelphia, Pa. area, Luke Staisiunas.
Mr. Staisiunas is a junior organ major at Oklahoma University studying both classical and theater music. He has already been the guest organist at several conventions and is featured on YouTube playing a number of favorites.
His program will include holiday selections from church and stage played on the auditorium's famous Mighty Austin Pipe Organ.
Mr. Staisiunas will be joined by the 65 piece Mid-South Band led by Jim Souders , and the Chattanooga Christian Concert Choir directed by Paul Faulkner. The evening will be hosted by Greg Glover from News Channel 3 who will lead the audience in a medley of well-known tunes of the season.
This family-friendly evening will include a visit from jolly ole St. Nick. The public is cordially invited to this free event (donations to defray cost are always welcomed).
For more information contact Buddy Shirk at 529-0315 or via email at buddy@summittpianos.com
Review for Luke Staisiunas:
From a young age, Luke Staisiunas has had an interest in music. As a child he recalls eagerly listening to the church organist, and at age five began his formal training with piano lessons. He continued until the eighth grade, when he saved up to buy his first home organ.
He attended Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pa., and took organ and carillon lessons with Jim Brinson, the school’s organist and carilloneur. Now 20, he is a junior at the University of Oklahoma, home of the American Organ Institute. There, he studies both classical and theatre organ with Dr. John Schwandt, orchestral transcription with Dr. Adam Pajan, and silent film with Professor Clark Wilson.
In addition to his performance degree work, he is active in the Organ Technology program, the only program of its kind in the United States. He has played for numerous churches, as well as various solo performances. In the summers, he has taken art in the Summer Youth Adventure hosted by the American Theatre Organ society, which gives students an opportunity to spend a week studying with a team of the premiere theatre organists in the United States. Since the summer of his freshman year of college he has also interned with firms which give an opportunity to get hands on organ building experience. After graduation, he hopes to pursue both organ building and playing as a career.
For more information visit the Chattanooga Music Club website or Facebook page.