Biography
TIMOTHY TIKKER was born in San Francisco (California, USA) in 1958. He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, in Organ Performance at San Francisco State University, and his Master of Music degree in Organ from the University of Oregon at Eugene, where he studied repertoire and improvisation with Guy Bovet. Through a Ruth Lorraine Close Award from the University of Oregon, he studied with Jean Langlais. He has also worked in masterclasses with Xavier Darasse, André Isoir, Daniel Roth (Haarlem Academy, Netherlands) and Ewald Kooiman (Toulouse). In 2013 he completed his doctorate in Organ Performance in the studio of Marilyn Mason at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
He won First Prize in the National Improvisation Competition in the San Anselmo Organ Festival in 1987 (USA), the Holtkamp-AGO Award in Organ Composition in 1993, First Prize in the UNESP Organ Composition Competition (Brazil) in 1997, and won a Finalist award in the Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Competition in 2000 (USA).
Compositions include Variations sur un vieux Noël for organ (which he has recorded for Raven Recordings), Three Gregorian Sketches for organ (recorded by Christopher Young for Pro Organo Records), Magnificat for choir, harp and organ, Tiento de Batalla sobre el Balletto del Granduca for organ (recorded by Diane Meredith Belcher for JAV Records), and other works. He has recorded for Arkay, OHS and Raven Records. He has also published numerous articles in various music journals, especially concerning French music and organs.
His active concert career includes appearances as soloist with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (De Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto), Charleston Symphony Orchestra (Copland’s Organ Symphony), and his first improvised accompaniment to a silent film (DeMille’s The King of Kings), the latter two events in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He has also published numerous articles in various music journals, especially concerning French music and organs. Called by Jean Langlais “without doubt, in the United States one of the best interpreters of the work of Tournemire,” Tikker performed in the complete rendition of Tournemire’s l’Orgue Mystique at St. Mary’s Basilica in Minneapolis in 1990, wrote an essay on the performance of Tournemire’s organ works for a book published by the University of Michigan in 1996, and gave a lecture on Tournemire’s Symphonie-Choral d’Orgue at the College of London’s Tournemire Symposium in 2001, recently published in the French journal l’Orgue.
Recent Concerts:
3 June 2022, 10:00 AM: Timothy Tikker performs on the Erben organ at the Huguenot Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in the Piccolo Spoleto l’Organo Series: works of C.P.E. Bach, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Antonio Soler, John Stanley and J. P. Sweelinck. Admission is free.
7 February 2020, 6:00 PM: Kevin Bowyer performs the European première of Tikker’s Sequentia: Dies Iræ (Introduction, Passacaglia & Double Fugue for Organ) on the Willis organ at Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, Scotland. Also on the program are works by Morton Feldman and Christopher Marshall.
Thursday, 4 July 2019: Cathedral Organist Tom Sheehan performed Tikker’s Toccata Kopanitsa in the Annual Independence Day Concert at National Cathedral, Washington D.C.
Sunday, 5 March 2017, 3:00 PM: Dr. Julia Harlow performs at the Organ Recital Hall, Voxman Music Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, program including Tikker’s Three Variations on “Austrian Hymn.”
6 November 2016, 5:00 PM: John Samuel Roper, flute, and Julia Harlow, harpsichord, perform Tikker’s Three German Hymns, in concert at Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, South Carolina.
23 October 2016, 4:00 PM: The Vocal Arts Ensemble presents “We Rage, We Rejoice,” a concert of choral works by Britten, Gesualdo and Haydn. Timothy Tikker will accompany the choir, and will also perform Variations on “La Folía da Espagna” by Bernardo Pasquini. Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 306 N. Division Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tickets.
16 October 2016, 3:00 PM: John Samuel Roper, flute, and Julia Harlow, harpsichord, perform Tikker’s Three German Hymns, in concert at Saint Theresa the Little Flower Church, Summerville, South Carolina.
Thursday, 9 June 2016 at 10:00 AM: Concert at the historic Huguenot Church, Charleston, South Carolina, l’Organo Series, Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Dr. Tikker performs works by C. P. E. Bach, Bellini, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Soler (assisted by Dr. Julia Harlow) and Stanley.
Friday, 12 February 2016, 7:30 PM: The World Première of Tikker’s “Three German Hymns” for flute and harpsichord, performed by John Roper, flute and Julia Harlow, harpsichord, at the Unitarian Church, Charleston, SC, 12 February 2016 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, 17 December 2015, 4:00 PM: Dr. Tikker performs music for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany by J. S. Bach, Bermudo, Buxtehude, Dahl, Demessieux, Dupré, Ives, Kauffmann, Liszt, Pachelbel and Walther, at First Congregational Church UCC, Romeo, Michigan.
Wednesday, 3 June 2015, 8:00 PM: Dr. Tikker performs works by Ahlstrom, J. S. Bach, Finney, Persichetti (in honor of the centennial of the composer’s birth, 6 June 2015) Messiaen and Thayer, at Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Methuen, Massachusetts (organ by Walcker/Æolian-Skinner)
Friday, 29 May 2015, 10:00 AM: Dr. Julia Harlow performs Tikker’s Three Variations on “Austrian Hymn,” featuring the world première of the final Fugue, in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival l’Organo concert series, at the Huguenot Church, 136 Church Street, Charleston, South Carolina.
Sunday, 29 March 2015, 5:00 PM: Dr. Tikker performs Sept Chorals-Poèmes d’Orgue pour les Sept Paroles du Xrist, op. 67 by Charles Tournemire at the Cathedral of Saint Augustine, Kalamazoo, Michigan (organ by Nichols & Simpson).
19 May 2013, 8:00 PM: Third Dissertation Recital, Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: works by Grigny, Correa de Arauxo, Sweelinck, J. S. Bach, Frescobaldi and Bruhns.
26 April 2013, 1:00 PM: Second Dissertation Recital, Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: 18th-century works for organ and strings featuring period-style instruments, with works by Mozart, Soler, Corrette and Handel.
1 December 2012, 7:00 PM: First Dissertation Recital, Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, Flint, Michigan: works of J. S. Bach, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Finney, Persichetti, Howells, Messiaen.
2 February 2012, 4:45 PM: Timothy Tikker performs a concert of works of Tournemire and Tikker in Gregorian Chant and Modern Composition for the Catholic Liturgy: Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique as Guide, a conference presented by The Church Music Association of America in collaboration with Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the Church of the Epiphany in Miami, Florida.
3 February 2012, 11:30 AM: Timothy Tikker presents a lecture: “Performance Practice for the Organ Works of Charles Tournemire” in Gregorian Chant and Modern Composition for the Catholic Liturgy: Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique as Guide, a conference presented by The Church Music Association of America in collaboration with Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the Church of the Epiphany in Miami, Florida.
2 December 2011, 7:30 PM: Timothy Tikker joins Naki Sung-Kripfgans and Timothy Huth in An Organist’s Christmas, a concert of seasonal music hosted by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, at First United Methodist Church, 120 South State Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Admission is free. Tikker performs works of Grunenwald, Langlais, Liszt and his own Solemn Meditation: Divinum Mysterium.
22 October 2011, 8:00 PM with 7:15 PM pre-concert lecture: Timothy Tikker performs organ works of Franz Liszt on the day of the bicentennial of the composer’s birth, on the Wolff organ at Stetson Chapel, Kalamazoo College.
2 October 2011, 8:00 PM: Timothy Tikker performs organ works of Franz Liszt in honor of the bicentennial of the composer’s birth, on the Æolian-Skinner organ at Hill Auditorium, as part of the 51st annual University of Michigan Organ Symposium.
25 March 2011, 8:00 PM: World Première of Rolande Falcinelli‘s organ concerto, Mausolée à la Gloire de Marcel Dupré. Mr. Tikker is guest organist with the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra under the director of Dr. David Harman, performing on the Paul Fritts organ at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Rochester, NY. The program is presented as part of the 2011 Women in Music Festival of the Eastman School of Music.
6 October 2010: Student Concert in the 50th Annual Organ Conference at the University of Michigan; Mr. Tikker performs César Franck’s Pièce héroïque at Hill Auditorium, 4:00 PM.
Mr. Tikker gives a workshop on the organ music of Jean-Louis Florentz at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists; this workshop will be held at Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington D.C., Tuesday, 6 July 2010 at 2:30 PM.
Tikker joins the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra & Chorus directed by Matthew Hazelwood for two performances of Duruflé’s Requiem: Saturday, 15 May 2010 at First Presbyterian Church, Harbor Springs, Michigan at 7:30 PM; and Sunday, 16 May at the National Shrine of the Cross in the Woods, Indian River, Michigan at 4:00 PM.
17 October 2009, 8:00 PM: Mr. Tikker performs on the Wolff organ in Stetson Chapel, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan, as part of the Kalamazoo Bach Festival. He will be joined by an ensemble of period-style instruments, performing Bach’s Cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82a. Tikker will also perform solo organ works of Bach, Mendelssohn and Messiaen. This concert is repeated at Eastern Michigan University, Alexander Music Building room 125, Sunday, 18 October at 3:00 PM.
10 February 2009, 7:30 PM: Timothy Tikker joins Scott Elsholz and James Wagner in an organ faculty recital at Pease Auditorium, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti. Tikker will perform works of Mendelssohn and Messiaen.
26 October 2008 at 5:00 pm (following Evensong): along with organists David Enos and Janice Beck, Mr. Tikker performs works of Olivier Messiaen in honor of the composer’s centennial, at the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, Detroit, Michigan.
18 July, 8:00 PM: Organist Joseph Adam, performing at St. James Cathedral, Seattle, Washington, in the concluding concert of the 2008 National Convention of the Organ Historical Society; includes the world première of Tikker’s Divinum Mysterium, commissioned for this event, as well as a performance of his Variations sur un vieux Noël.
14 June, 8:00 PM: Baccalaureate at Stetson Chapel, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan; prelude and postlude of Carnatic (South Indian classical) music performed on organ, in collaboration with graduating senior Rohan Krishnamurthy, acclaimed virtuoso on the mridangam (double-headed hand-drum). See a video on YouTube of part of this performance.
16 March, 2008, 5:30 PM: Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Avenue, University of Rochester, New York; features the US première of Peter Bannister‘s Menorah.
5 March, 12:15 PM: University of Michigan School of Public Health (SPH I) Community Meeting Room; corner of Observatory and Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
29 February, 12:05 PM: First Congregational Church, corner of State and Williams Streets, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
30 September, 2007; 8:00 PM: Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: Lecture-Recital featuring the first American performance of Debout sur le Soleil by Jean-Louis Florentz.