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University of Florida

Sacred Music Workshop

Inspiring Worship

INFO

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         â€‹

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

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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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For more information, please visit:

Visit Gainesville

University of Florida

School of Music
UF Organ Studio
UF Carillon Studio

Supported by the
University of Florida 
and the 

School of Music  
CONTACT
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