Crystal Cathedral Organist Tom Leonard returns alongside Philip Hoch, Hour of Power Organist and last student of Fred Swann, to present solo works of Bach as part of Bach-a-thon 2025. They are joined by former Hour of Power Sub-Organists Timothy Howard and W. Wayne Ritchie, as well as Ty Woodward, Christ Cathedral Sub-Organists.
PROGRAM
Passacaglia and Fugue, BWV 582
Tom Leonard, Crystal Cathedral Organist
Prelude and Fugue in g minor, BWV 535
Philip Hoch, Hour of Power Organist; last student of Dr. Fred Swann
Trio Sonata No. 2 in c minor, BWV 526
Timothy Howard, Organ
“The Cathedral” Prelude and Fugue in e minor, BWV 533
W. Wayne Ritchie, Organ
Wachet auf ruft uns die Stime, BWV 645
Wenn wir in hoechsten Nothen sein, BWV 641
Trio Sonata No. 1 in E-flat Major
Organ Concerto in C major (after Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar), BWV 595
Ty Woodward, Christ Cathedral Sub-Organist
Thomas G. Leonard holds the degrees Bachelor of Music in organ performance from Biola University and Master of Music in piano accompanying from California State University at Fullerton. He has studied organ with Richard Unfried and Ladd Thomas, and piano with Dr. Mary Mark Zeyen, Dr. Neil Stannard, Dr. Russell Stepan, Jennie Wong and Susan Talevich.
Tom worked as an accompanist at Fullerton (Jr.) College for nearly 40 years, also serving as organist in numerous Southern California churches, including 10 years at First Presbyterian of San Diego.
Beginning in 2005 Tom served at the (former) Crystal Cathedral first as Associate Organist, then as the final Senior Organist, until his retirement in 2013. Then in 2016 Tom was asked to become Associate Organist of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. He feels incredibly blessed to continue playing both the organ and piano, striving in life and in music, to display God’s Glory and Splendor.
Philip Hoch is a concert organist, singer, and educator from the Inland Empire region of Southern California. Philip started organ lessons with his grandmother, Dr. Olga Schmidt, at the age of five. He studied under world-renowned organist Dr. Frederick Swann as his last student at the University of Redlands, where he earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Philip went on to earn a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (DMA) in December of 2021 at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA, studying under Dr. Christoph Bull. Dr. Hoch serves as organist at Shepherd’s Grove Presbyterian Church (Hour of Power with Bobby Schuller) in Irvine, CA, where services are internationally broadcasted to millions of viewers each week. As a chorister, Dr. Hoch has provided backup vocals for Pete Townsend, Billy Idol, Josh Groban, the King’s Singers, and Chanticleer. Dr. Hoch currently serves as Artist Teacher of Organ and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music History at the University of Redlands Conservatory of Music.
Timothy Howard’s playing has been hailed as “precision-cut” and filled with “superb grace and élan” (The Orange County Register). Recognized as both a soloist and collaborator, he is featured regularly on American Guild of Organists (AGO) chapter, community, and church recital and series.
Timothy Howard participated in the Los Angeles AGO’s marathon presentations of the complete Organ Symphonies of Charles Marie Widor (playing the monumental Symphony VIII) and César Franck’s complete major organ works, each time to an enthusiastic audience of his peers and the public. In 2016 he presented the West Coast premiere of Robert Sirota’s Apparitions for organ and string quartet, he was featured organ soloist for the 82nd Los Angeles Bach Festival (coinciding with Occidental College’s 50th anniversary celebration of their Schlicker pipe organ in Herrick Chapel), and featured soloist for the American Liszt Society Festival. In 2018 he presented the world premiere of Anothy Rispo’s Suite, Op. 2 for organ and strings, and has been organ soloist for Howard Hanson’s Concerto for Organ, Harp and Strings and Leo Sowerby’s Classic Concerto for organ and strings. For nine seasons, he was the principal keyboard continuo player at the Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival, and he has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella group, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the choirs of Long Beach City College, and with Paul Halley in one of the composer’s live performances. He played solo pieces and accompanied Hollywood Presbyterian Church’s Cathedral Choir on their British Tour, with performances at York Minster and the cathedrals at Lincoln, Durham and Edinburgh. In addition to a number of solo organ recitals each season, his live performances of his organ scores for the silent films Nosferatu and From the Manger to the Cross have become quite popular. In 2006 he was rehearsal accompanist and performance organist for the Angeles Chorale’s Lauridsen Weekend under the leadership of Don Neuen and Morten Lauridsen.
A graduate, with honors, from the University of Southern California with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree, Dr. Howard also holds degrees from Westminster Choir College and Biola University.
Dr. Howard is Director of Music and Organist at Pasadena Presbyterian Church and Lecturer in Music at California State University, Northridge.
At Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Dr. Howard directs the congregation’s flagship Kirk Choir and an auditioned chamber choir, the Pasadena Singers. As Artistic Director of the church’s Friends of Music Concert Series, he produces, conducts, and plays in performances of major works old and new.
At California State University Northridge, Dr. Howard heads the school’s organ program, teaches music theory and analysis, musicianship, and other courses, and has conducted the University’s Wind Symphony and Women’s Chorale.
Dr. Howard’s repertoire reflects his expansive musical interests. Newer works as organist or conductor include the West Coast premiere of Scott Perkins’ A New England Requiem, the U.S. premiere of Rory Boyle’s Tallis’ Light, the live performance World premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Rondo Concertante, Carson Cooman’s chamber opera Thieves, Nico Muhly’s Beaming Music for Marimba and Organ, Richard Purvis’ Pièce Symphonique, Margaret Vardell Sandresky’s Dialogues for Organ and Strings, and Charles Fernandez’s Bachus Illatus. More “traditional” offerings have included J.S. Bach’s Passion According to St. John and motet Jesu, meine Freude, Handel’s Messiah (complete), Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater and The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna and Mid-Winter Songs, Requiem settings by Johannes Brahms, W.A. Mozart, Maurice Duruflé, John Rutter and Gabriel Fauré, Joseph Haydn’s Paukenmesse (”Mass in Time of War”), Benjamin Britten’s The Company of Heaven and Rejoice in the Lamb, Elizabeth Sellers’ Veni Emmanuel, Johannes Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers of the Confessor, Joseph Jongen’s Hymne for strings and organ.
Since his first professional church job at age 13, Dr. Howard has held a number of noteworthy positions, including Garden Grove Community Church (Assistant Organist), First Presbyterian Church, Hollywood (Organist), and All Saints Church, Pasadena (Associate Organist-Choirmaster). He was Artistic Director of the 65-voice Foothill Master Chorale, and served for some 15 years as Chorusmaster for the Los Angeles Music Theatre Company. In 1998 he made his operatic conducting debut with LAMTC, leading singers and the orchestra in Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne and The Impresario.
For two seasons Dr. Howard arranged and led the recording of choral music for the HBO series Big Love. His recorded organ scores to accompany the silent films Nosferatu, From the Manger to the Cross, and The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ are widely available. In 1999, he was musical adviser and recording artist for the world premiere of The Presentment at the Pasadena Playhouse; a revival was staged at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.
Dr. Howard’s work as composer, arranger and performing collaborator can be heard on Christopher Parkening’s Simple Gifts (Angel Records), an album of sacred music for guitar; and his string and wind arrangements accompany pop/rock singer Brian Reeves on Never Looking Back (Briro Records). His arrangement of Sourwood Mountain for mixed treble voices (written for the Cal State Northridge Women’s Chorale) has enjoyed widespread use.
Dr. Howard has been active in the American Guild of Organists, having served as Dean, Sub-dean, Education Chair and in a number of other roles for local chapters. He served two terms as Regional Councillor, representing Region IX on the organization’s National Council, and has served three times as teacher and recitalist for Pipe Organ Encounters, helping introduce young people to music of the organ. He is a member of the board that oversees the Ruth and Clarence Mader Memorial Scholarship Fund.
For additional information, visit www.timothyphoward.com
Updated April 2024
A native Californian, W. Wayne Ritchie grew up in Fullerton, which in the mid-1960’s offered a high school class in Pipe Organ on the Wurlitzer theatre organ in Plummer Auditorium, so he transitioned from piano study and learned Bach’s Eight Little Preludes & Fugues as well as much of Orgelbüchlein on its tibias, aeolines, and ophicleides. While pursuing college studies in Computer Science and Business Administration, he continued organ study at Washington University in St. Louis under Howard Kelsey and Stephen McKersie. In mid-1972, while home from college, he served on this campus as a summer organ assistant for Garden Grove Community Church (predecessor of The Crystal Cathedral), playing the original Wicks organ in what is now the Arboretum as well as the first electronic instrument at Chapel in the Sky.
Though his post-college career was as an IT professional and marketing manager in the airline and financial services industries, Wayne remained active as an organist, including nearly thirty years assisting the principal musicians on the noted Flentrop Organ at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Berkeley. He served on the Executive Board of the San Francisco AGO, and maintained significant visibility as a substitute organist throughout the Bay Area before retiring to the Seattle area, where he currently serves a small Anglican parish as Principal Guest Organist.
Ty Woodward has played classical and theatre organ concerts ranging from performances at Westminster Abbey, London, to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC, to Shea’s Theatre, Buffalo, the Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, and the outdoor pipe organ in Balboa Park, San Diego.
He has performed several major works with orchestra including the Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings by Francis Poulenc, Symphonie Concertante of Joseph Jongen and Saint-Saen’s Symphony No. 3. His recording credits include a solo classical recording at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC, on their former Aeolian-Skinner organ, and a theatre organ recording on the Wurlitzer organ at the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester NY, along with accompaniments for many choral recordings.
Ty’s film credits include conducting a men’s chorus for the Bugs Bunny Episode From Hare to Eternity, and he is the organist on the on the soundtrack of the 2018 film version of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch.
Ty holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern California.
He is a former Dean of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and has served on the Commission of Liturgy and Music for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. For over 20 years Ty represented a major American organ builder in sales and tonal design.
He is currently Organist at First United Methodist Church, Santa Monica, Staff Organist at Disney’s El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, and organist at Temple Beth Shalom in Whittier. As Principal at Diapason Pipe Organ Consultants LLC, Ty works with numerous religious institutions on the design, installation, and maintenance of their pipe organs.