Organ Recital: Kimberly Hess

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fantasia on In Dulce Jubilo, BWV 729

Pietro Yon (1886-1943)
Christmas in Sicily

Richard Purvis (1913-1994)
Greensleeves

Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20


Kimberly Ann Hess is Ceremonial Organist at Arlington National Cemetery where she plays funerals in Old Post Chapel. In addition, she is Director of Music and Liturgy in Memorial Chapel at Ft. Myer and Instructor of Music at Marymount University, both in Arlington, VA. She is currently the Dean of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Prior to her position at Ft. Myer, she was Director of Music and Organist at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Chapel at the United States Military Academy (West Point, NY), where she directed the Cadet Catholic Choir. As one of three post organists, she played in the many chapels on post including the Post Chapel, Old Cadet Chapel and the Cadet Chapel, which houses the largest, all-pipe, church organ in the world.

She was Director of Liturgical Music at Georgetown University from 2002 to 2006, where she directed the chapel choir, served as chapel organist, and oversaw the music for all campus liturgies. In addition, at Georgetown, she taught organ and music courses through the Program in Performing Arts. From 1994 to 2001, she was Director of Music and College Organist at Stonehill College in Massachusetts.

She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Organ Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Music degree in Sacred Music from the University of Notre Dame, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from the University of Illinois. Her teachers have included Carol Teti, Craig Cramer and Michael Farris.

In 1994, Dr. Hess won first prize in both the Arthur Poister National Organ Competition in New York and the Gruenstein Memorial Organ Contest for Women, a national competition sponsored by the Chicago Club of Women Organists.