
Join us on
May 4-6, 2025
on the campus of the
UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA
with this year's featured presenter,
Crista Miller
Director of Music & Organist
Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Houston, Texas

Hailed by Gramophone Magazine for her “superlative artistry” and “effortless virtuosity and musical intelligence,” Crista MILLER is the Director of Music at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Texas, USA. There she led the Committee responsible for Martin Pasi’s landmark Opus 19 organ. She conducts the professional Schola Cantorum, Cor Jesu, Coro Sagrado Corazón, the concert series and a growing staff post-pandemic. She is founder and Artistic Director for the non-profit Amicis Cor Musica, seeking to connect choral and organ music to the broader community. Her civic artistic collaborations have found her designing and conducting sacred polyphony in an underground water tank, the Buffalo Bayou Cistern; and pairing period artwork with organ music in Projections, a series funded by the Houston Arts Alliance.
An active solo organist and member of the cohort East-West Organists, Dr. Miller has performed in 11 countries and 27 states of the USA. Her double-CD Bonjour and Willkommen: A Franco-German Debut, features nearly 500 years of two national schools. Available from Acis Productions, this recording is noted by Choir and Organ and International Organists’ Review, as “ambitious, admirable and a very good advocate for the performer.” Her research on Middle Eastern elements in Naji Hakim’s music is published in the book Mystic Modern: The Music, Thought, and Legacy of Charles Tournemire and in ORGAN: Journal für die Orgel. She is a sought-after conference presenter, organ consultant, executive board member and an advocate of contemporary composition. An active adjudicator, her organ students have won competition and scholarship prizes in Texas, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Oklahoma. Many of her Co-Cathedral Music alumni now serve in leadership in significant church posts and in higher education.
Dr. Miller earned the DMA in organ performance and the Sacred Music Diploma from the Eastman School of Music where she served the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) project under Hans Davidsson. She earned the Master of Music from the University of Houston (Robert Bates), and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, studying organ with Gerald Frank.
Led by Professor of Music Dr. Laura Ellis, the University of Florida Sacred Music Workshop has inspired worship for 17 years by bringing internationally-known presenters to the sunshine state. The sessions vary year-to-year based on the strengths of our featured presenter, and the small size of our workshop allows each attendee to form a relationship with our presenter, professors, and students in UF's organ, carillon, and sacred music departments. Join us!
2025 Schedule Highlights
Workshops and Recital of Organ Literature Based on the Gregorian Chant and the Liturgical Year, A Hidden Gem,
Organ & Carillon Recitals by Emerging Artist, Devotional, A History through Letters,
Choral Reading Session, How to Support Healthy Singing in Bach Cantatas, Organ Masterclass
Sunday
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Events
6:00 PM SMW Potluck with members of the Gainesville
Chapter of the American Guild of Organists
7:00 PM Wade FitzGerald, Rising Artist Organ Recital,
University Auditorium
Monday
Events
8:30AM Coffee & Refreshments
9:00AM Liturgy and the Liturgical Year: Framework, Repertoire, and
Resources / Miller
9:30AM Plainchant Primer: Sing, Read, Use / Miller
10:00AM The Other Haydn: Discovering a Sacred Gem / Ford
10:30AM Singers and the Organ’s Liturgical Function in 16th-18th
Century Europe / Miller
12:00PM Group Photo
12:00PM Lunch (delivered or on your own)
12:30PM Carillon Recital / FitzGerald​
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1:30PM Devotional: I Hear Singing and There's No One There
2:00PM President Murphree and the Andrew Anderson Organ: A
History through Letters / Stone
2:45PM Choral Reading Session / Cain
3:30PM Historical Models for Harmonizing & Treating Chant / Miller
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7:00PM Crista Miller Organ Recital
Tuesday
Events
8:30AM Coffee & Refreshments
9:00AM How to Support Healthy Singing in Bach Cantatas /
Agabigum Martin (FoM)
10:00AM The Ste. Clotilde Tradition, Tournemire and L’Orgue
Mystique / Miller
11:30AM 1000 Years of Sacred Music: Go and Do / Miller ​
12:00PM Lunch (delivered or on your own)
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1:00PM Optional Organ Masterclass with Laura Ellis
Please send more info:
Other Friendly Faces







J.D. Cain
Wade FitzGerald
Wayne Kofink
Zerrin Agabigum Martin
Ryan Stone
Laura Ellis
John-Peter Ford

At The University of Florida, we are a people of purpose. We're committed to challenging convention and ourselves. We see things not as they are, but as they could be. And we strive for a greater impact: one measured in people helped and lives improved.
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The campus is home to over 60,000 students and nearly 5,000 faculty members. The School of Music offers Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral Degrees. Dr. Laura Ellis, Professor of Organ, Carillon, and Harpsichord, also teaches classes in Sacred Music and acts as University Organist.
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Gainesville, Florida, a "Tree City U.S.A." for over 30-years, is a city built around the University. Local State Parks, Springs, outdoor activities, and locally-owned eateries make Gainesville a unique destination in world capital of tourism.
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