The American Guild of Organists seeks to promote the organ in its historic and evolving roles, to encourage excellence in the performance of organ and choral music, and to provide a forum for mutual support, inspiration, and education of church musicians.

Faculty Staff and Students POE Stetson 2007
JOIN THE AGO TODAY!
Become a member of the American Guild of Organists. Membership is open to professional and amatuer organists and to all persons who have an interest in and love for the organ
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HELPFUL LINKS
Have a postion you need to fill? Looking for industry connections and other AGO related information? This section is a good place to start. You can also submit information to be posted on our website by contacting us.
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Jeff Alban;
National Committee For The New Organist
AGO CALENDAR of EVENTS
Learn more about our upcoming events and details of some of our past events. A recent Pipe Organ Encounter (POE) at Stetson University was a huge success.
[Visit our Events page]

AGO NATIONAL CONVENTION

The 2008 AGO National Convention is June 22-26, in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. You can get all the details about the convention at http://www.ago2008.org/.

Here are a few convention events you may find particularly interesting:

> An evening concert, choral matins, and evensong with the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir of London. 

> A special, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend a presentation of Pipedreams Live! hosted by American Public Media’s Michael Barone. This will mark the official start of the International Year of the Organ.

> Major new works from internationally renowned composers, plus the U.S. premiere of the Te Deum by Siegfried Matthus at the St. Paul Cathedral with massed choirs and orchestra, a performance that is NOT TO BE MISSED.

> More than 60 diverse workshops including a special pedagogy track focusing on the organ music of Olivier Messiaen and a gala evening concert of Messiaen’s instrumental music at Orchestra Hall.

The convention headquarters hotel, The Hilton Minneapolis, is an elegant facility with high-speed wireless internet in all rooms. The convention room rate is $138 per night. For reservations call 888-933-5353 or use the link on the convention Web site.

James Thomashower
Executive Director

The AGO has designated 2008-2009 as the International Year of the Organ!

“This will be a time when we will exhibit the pride that we share in our chosen instrument. We invite music organizations throughout the world to join with us in celebrating the King of Instruments. The year of festivities will be inaugurated with special events at the National Convention of the AGO in Minneapolis in June of 2008, and will conclude with the AGO Regional Conventions, summer of 2009.” We encourage every AGO chapter to participate!

• Organ Spectacular Concert: Oct. 19, 2008 will be an international day of celebration, a focal point of the 2008-09 International Year of the Organ Celebration. The vision is for all chapters (plus our friends in other countries) will plan a recital or concert that day, creating the world's largest organ concert!

• Educational events for people of all ages, “Pedals, Pipes, and Pizza”, Pipeworks, Organ Crawls, and other Chapter Outreach to New Organists projects. + Educational events hosted by organ builders and organ technicians.

For more information, visit www.agohq.org Or contact: iyo@agohq.org

Our International Year of the Organ Concert Will Be Held October 17, Friday 7:30 pm, 2008 at the Church of Ascension and it will be called a Candlelight “Organ Spectacular Concert”.

To See Felix Hell playing for a POE, please copy the following link into your browser for a delightful reaction from young students involved!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzeUEIM_2oA&feature=related