Organist Ann Marie Rigler enjoys a multi-faceted career centered in the greater Kansas City area. As Professor of Music and College Organist at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, she teaches courses in music history, Christian worship practices and hymnody in addition to applied organ and piano. Her appointment includes service as organist for weekly Chapel services, as pianist for the Jewell Chapel Choir, and frequent performances as organist for Jewell’s critically acclaimed Concert Choir. As a member of Concert Artist Cooperative, she also maintains an active schedule nationally as solo recitalist and presenter, including performances at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society (Historic Organs of Pennsylvania), and the College Music Society. Performances as chamber musician and choral accompanist with such organizations as the Kansas City Baroque Ensemble and the Liberty Community Chorus, along with freelance work as a church organist and performances with her husband, violinist/violist Eric T. Williams, provide still more opportunities for musical collaboration and service. Recent venues include the following:
- First Presbyterian Church, Coschocton, OH (May 2016)
- Trinity Lutheran Church, Grand Rapids, MI
- Southwest Region conference, American Choral Directors Association, Helzberg Hall, Kansas City
- Countryside United Methodist Church, Topeka, KS
- “The Trumpet Sounds,” recorded for Centaur Records at Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Topeka, KS with the William Jewell College Concert Choir; GKCAGO Schola Cantorum; Randy Lee, trumpet
- First Christian Church, Jefferson City, MO
- Riverside Recital Hall, University of Iowa (Iowa City Early Keyboard Society)
- Central Synagogue, New York, NY
- Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA
- Simpson College, Indianola, IA
- Tours of the United Kingdom in 2012 and 2015: St. Wulfram’s Cathedral, Grantham; All Saints’, Stamford; St. Giles Cathedral; St. Peter’s College, Oxford; University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford
Dr. Rigler arrived at William Jewell College in the Fall of 2004 after having served on the faculties of Penn State University, Wayne State College (NE), the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Simpson College. She began her undergraduate studies at Simpson and completed her B.Mus. degree at Southern Methodist University, where she received the Dora Poteet Barclay award in organ. Four years of graduate study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign allowed her to complete the M.S. in Library and Information Science and the M.M. in Musicology (as a University Fellow), and prepared her to earn the D.M.A. in Organ Performance and Pedagogy as a Rahn Scholar at the University of Iowa. Her dissertation research on organist John Zundel was supported by grants from the Organ Historical Society American Organ Archive and the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies. Faculty research awards from Wayne State College allowed her to pursue post-graduate harpsichord study with Larry Palmer at Southern Methodist University. In addition to her performances and presentations, she has written articles and reviews for The American Organist, The Diapason, The Journal of Singing, and Music Library Association NOTES.Throughout her career, Dr. Rigler has pursued a strong interest in organ pedagogy, both historical and contemporary. Since 2011 her research has focused on her video-based project titled “Conversations and Legacies: Exploring Late 20th-century American Organ Pedagogy through Oral History.” Supported by a Special Projects Grant from the San Francisco AGO chapter and by William Jewell College, this research has generated presentations for AGO chapters and graduate-level organ pedagogy classes throughout the Midwest, as well as regional and national conventions of the AGO. The DVD of her 2010 national AGO convention presentation, “How We Got Here from There: Trends in Pedagogy, 1860-1960” was released in the fall of 2011. Recently she has also given presentations on 19th-century American church music, organ teaching, and the theology of Henry Ward Beecher, and taught classes on the organ for the University of Kansas OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute. A strong advocate for young organists, she served on the national committee for the AGO/Quimby Regional Competitions for Young Organists from 2005 to 2011. She has taught at eight Pipe Organ Encounters for high school students, and she served as Faculty Coordinator for the POE held in Kansas City in June 2009. In her own organ teaching, she strives gratefully to preserve the legacies of her teachers: Delores Bruch Cannon, Delbert Disselhorst, Jerald Hamilton, Robert T. Anderson, James W. Thrash, Jr., Robert L. Burns, and Muriel Powell Hatfield.Save the Date: Come to Kansas City for the 2018 national AGO convention, July 2-6!In the meantime, you are invited to contact Ann Marie Rigler at riglera@william.jewell.eduor visit these websites: concertartistcooperative.com, www.jewell.edu/music, and annmarierigler.com.
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