The Central Arkansas Chapter of the Arkansas Guild of Organists hosts another recital this evening.

Tonight’s musician is Scott Dettra. He will play at 8pm at First Presbyterian Church.

Scott Dettra has been acclaimed as one of the leading American concert organists of his generation. He combines an active performance schedule with his post as Director of Music and Organist at the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, where he leads a vibrant music program in the country’s fifth largest Episcopal parish. Prior to his appointment in Dallas, he was for five years Organist and Associate Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral, where he served as principal organist and assisted with the direction of the Cathedral choirs. Mr. Dettra’s playing is known for its poetry, rhythmic intensity, and musical elegance. His recital at the 2014 national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Boston was widely acclaimed, and The American Organist described it as “music making of absolute authority and sophisticated expression, one of the week’s high points.”

Recent and upcoming performances include appearances in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Houston, San Diego, Phoenix, Kansas City, Barbados, Canada, and Germany. He has performed at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (2002, 2010, 2014), the Association of Anglican Musicians (1996, 2005, 2012), and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. Festival appearances include the Lincoln Center Festival, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Arizona Bach Festival, the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. In addition to his concert appearances, his performances have been broadcast on American Public Media’s Pipedreams andPerformance Today, the BBC’s Choral Evensong, and The New York Philharmonic This Week.

A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Mr. Dettra holds two degrees from Westminster Choir College, where he was a student of Joan Lippincott, and has also studied jazz piano at Manhattan School of Music. He has previously held positions as Keyboard Artist of the Washington Bach Consort, Assistant Conductor of Washington’s Cathedral Choral Society, and church positions at St. Paul’s, K Street in Washington; St. Mark’s, Locust Street in Philadelphia; and Trinity Church, Princeton.