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. David Pickering
Active recitalist, recording artist, scholar and author David Pickering is Professor of Music and Chair of the Keyboard Division at Kansas State University where he teaches organ and music theory. His career as a performer has carried him across the United States as well as to Canada and Europe.
Pickering’s multifaceted research has focused on the composers, music, organs, and pedagogues of the American organ scene in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His four solo recordings have focused on the organ music of American composers from the twentieth century to the present day. His scholarly works are published by the Organ Historical Society Press and Wayne Leupold Editions.
Pickering completed his degrees from the University of Kansas and Brigham Young University in organ performance and musicology; he has also pursued technical studies with pianist Sheila Paige. His organ teachers include Parley Belnap, James Higdon, J.J. Keeler, and Arlene Small.
Pickering and his wife, Melinda, are the parents of seven children.
Dr. Linda Margetts
As a Temple Square organist in Salt Lake City, utah, since 1984 and adjunct associate professor of music at the University of Utah (U of U) since 2000, Dr. Linda Margetts has extensive performing and teaching experience.
Dr. Margetts performs with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and its affiliated Chorale and Bells at Temple Square. She joins with her fellow organists in presenting daily 30-minute organ recitals at Temple Square in both the Tabernacle and Conference Center. In addition, Dr. Margetts is associate director of the Choir School, which trains new Tabernacle Choir members.
At the U of U, Dr. Margetts teaches matriculated organ students and runs the School of Music’s community organ training program. She has concertized on organs in the United States, Canada, Armenia, Israel, England, and Austria. She is a published composer.
Dr. Margetts is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and has presented recitals and workshops at their conventions. As chapter dean and western region coordinator, she worked to help organists and to promote the organ.
Linda and her husband, Bert, are the parents of six children and 36 grandchildren.
Sharee Thompson
Sharee Thompson is an active performer, accompanist, church musician, and teacher. She currently serves as organist at Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, MO. Prior to living in Kansas, Sharee appeared frequently with the Utah Symphony, as a guest organist on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, and accompanied a number of large choirs along the Wasatch Front including Vox Humana Choral Ensemble, Utah Valley Millennial Choirs and Orchestras, Maple Mountain High School Choirs, Sterling Singers, and Mapleton Chorale.
Sharee earned the Master of Music degree in organ performance from the University of Kansas where she studied organ with Dr. James Higdon and carillon with Dr. Elizabeth Berghout. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Utah State University where she studied with Dr. James Drake. While a student at KU, she served as organist at First Presbyterian Church, Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church, and Baldwin First United Methodist Church. Visit shareethompson.org to learn more about Sharee and see and hear some of her performances.
Sharee is married to Director of Music at Country Club Christian Church, Dr. Matthew Thompson, and they are the parents of three children.