 A native of Illinois, Scott Montgomery began piano lessons at the age of eight and was immediately fascinated by both church and theater organs. By age ten, he was playing the organ in various churches, and at the age of 15 he began to enter competitions. In 1993 he won the competition sponsored by the Indianapolis chapter of the American Guild of Organists as well as the Illinois State Music Teachers’ Association Organ Competition, which led to numerous solo recitals in his home state.
In July 2006 at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Chicago, Mr. Montgomery was the first-prize winner of the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, a prize which included the Lilian Murtagh Memorial Award. Prior to this, however, Mr. Montgomery was successful in a number of other competitions. In 1997 he won the AGO Region V Competition in Indiana, and has since performed widely throughout the Midwest. He was featured in the “Rising Stars” concert at the 1998 National AGO Convention in Denver, and won second place in the 2002 Arthur Poister National Organ Playing Competition in Syracuse, New York. In addition, he was the first recipient of the 2002 M. Louise Miller Scholarship sponsored by the Greater Bridgeport chapter of the AGO. His performances have also been broadcast on American Public Media’s Pipedreams.
Scott Montgomery is Director of Music and Organist for Holy Cross Catholic Church in Champaign, Illinois. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance from the University of Illinois in May, 2005 and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree as a student of Dr. Dana Robinson. Previous organ teachers were Karen Cook, Kim Hess, Kerry Heimann and Michael Keeley; piano teachers have included Karen Cook, Kenneth Drake and Samir Golescu.
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