Dr. Don Cook
Don Cook joined the organ faculty of Brigham Young University in 1991. In that capacity he serves as organ area coordinator, as university carillonneur, and oversees the group organ program.
Formerly he held associate organist/choirmaster positions at Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and at First United Methodist Church, Lubbock, Texas. He toured Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia with the Lubbock choir, and accompanied the Parish Choir of Christ Church Cranbrook on a singing tour of England.
After earning Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in organ at Brigham Young University, he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from the University of Kansas. His principal organ teachers were J.J. Keeler at BYU and James Moeser at KU. For many years he served as head of the instrumental area for the BYU Workshop on Church Music, and currently directs the annual BYU Organ Workshop, founded in 2002. He appears frequently as a Guest Organist at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
Dr. Cook studied carillon with Albert Gerken while pursuing doctoral studies in organ at the University of Kansas. He became a full member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America in 1984, and has performed actively throughout North America since that time. He has served on the Board of Directors and as chair of the Music Publications Committee for the Guild. Carillon performances include a concert tour of Holland in 1990, and a recital tour of east-coast carillons in the summer of 1992. In 1994 he hosted the annual Congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America at Brigham Young University.
He has developed and published the first multimedia organ tutorial for pianists, Organ Tutor Organ 101 in several versions. The tutorial is used for private and group instruction, BYU Independent Study courses, and by individuals in at least nine countries.
Dr. Jason Gunnell
Dr. Jason M. Gunnell is the Associate Director of Music and Organist at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Terrace Park, Ohio, where he assists in leading a large and dynamic parish music program. He is also a member of the Bach Ensemble at St. Thomas, performing major organ works and cantatas of J. S. Bach. A native of Idaho, Jason received his Bachelor of Musical Arts at Brigham Young University-Idaho, studying with Daniel Kerr, James Drake, and Darwin Wolford. He received his Master of Music in Organ Performance and Church Music from the University of Kansas, studying with James Higdon. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with Roberta Gary and Michael Unger. Dr. Gunnell was the winner of the 2011 Strader Organ Competition held in Cincinnati, Ohio and was a finalist for the post of Tabernacle Organist of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2017.
Dr. Gunnell has extensive experience as a church musician, choir conductor, and organist, serving in churches in Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio. In addition to his post at St. Thomas, he actively serves in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in many music capacities and has served in the Church of Jesus Christ in numerous music capacities for over 38 years. Active as a recitalist, Dr. Gunnell has performed in many venues throughout the United States and Hungary. Notably, he actively recitals in the famed Mormon Tabernacle and the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah as a Guest Organist at Temple Square, playing on the world famous V/206 Aeolian Skinner Organ in the Mormon Tabernacle and the V/130 Schoenstein Organ in the Conference Center. As a teacher and clinician, he teaches private organ and piano lessons, courses in music theory and history at the collegiate level, and at the Annual BYU Organ Workshop and BYU Traveling Organ Workshop. He volunteers his time as a member of the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, serving as an officer on the leadership board.
Dr. Gunnell resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with his family. He is happily married to his wife, Kate. They are the proud parents of seven boys, Grant, Mitch, Brigham, William, Clark, Russell, and Hyrum, and a daughter, Ava
Dr. Jacob Hofeling
Originally from Arizona, Dr. Hofeling has a bachelor of music degree from Arizona State University in Organ Performance, where he studied under Kimberly Marshall. Hofeling holds a master of music degree and a doctorate of musical arts in organ from the University of Kansas where he studied under James Higdon and Michael Bauer. Hofeling also has a master of music degree in music theory from the University of Kansas. Recently, Hofeling has returned from a study abroad in Bremen, Germany. While there, he studied at the Hochschule für Künste under Professor Edoardo Bellotti. Hofeling holds a position as Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Mark Catholic Church in Independence, Missouri, and was recently the interim professor of organ at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.
As a solo recitalist, he has recently performed concerts in Salt Lake City, Utah, Gold Canyon, Arizona, Gilbert, Arizona, Kansas City, Missouri, and several cities in Western Kansas. In addition, he performs frequently at the Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri, where he holds the title of staff organist. Hofeling is also a guest recitalist at the Salt Lake Tabernacle which houses the famous and historic Aeolian-Skinner organ. The KC Metropolis wrote that Hofeling’s playing, “had a wonderful variety of registers and colors and displayed a secure sense of control.” As a continuo player he has had the honor of performing with the Kansas City Symphony in December 2018. Hofeling was a semi-finalist in the Mikhael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in Kaliningrad Russia, and he was awarded second prize in the Fort Wayne, IN National Organ Playing Competition. His performances have been heard on the radio at KBAQ in Phoenix, Arizona and KPR in Kansas.