Nashotah House is pleased to welcome Thomas Heidenreich as our new organist at St. Mary’s Chapel. Mr. Heidenreich is a native of Cincinnati and is currently completing his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with Dr. Michael Unger. Mr. Heidenreich anticipates completing his DMA document and graduating in December 2021.

From 2017-2018, Mr. Heidenreich was the Association of Anglican Musicians’ Gerre Hancock Organ Fellow at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina. Previously, he studied with Alan Morrison at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, completing his Bachelor and Master of Music degree in Organ Performance. At Westminster, he was the 2016 winner of the Joan Lippincott Competition for Excellence in Organ Performance and a two-time Andrew J. Rider Scholar, an award recognizing the top academic students in each class. He served as organ scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church Princeton and, for three years, as Co-Director of Music for The Episcopal Church at Princeton and has served as organist for the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer while completing his studies in Cincinnati. 

“God moves in mysterious ways, but he does move, and I know he has brought me to this place,” says Mr. Heidenreich. “I had heard favorable things about Nashotah House before, so this past spring as I was contemplating next steps post-graduation, I looked at the seminary’s website to find a contact for your music staff to ask some questions and advice. I ended up paging through much of the Nashotah website and saying to myself, ‘I wish I could work at a place like this one day.’ When Dr. Geoffrey Williams replied to my query by letting me know that Nashotah House was looking for an organist and asked if I would be interested in applying, I knew that this was something I needed to consider. I certainly know now that it was a good thing that I did, and I’m very excited to be coming here.”

Worship is at the heart of the Christian life. Mr. Heidenreich notes that it is the only fully appropriate response to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. “In worship, we praise God for the reality of his presence and salvation but wait for the complete fulfillment of both at the end of all things. As such, worship is both a participation in and an act of longing for the new heavens and new earth.” 

He is looking forward to the opportunity to immerse himself in the daily rounds of worship and prayer at the Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin and the chance to use his gifts and training as an organist to help lead in those services.

In addition to his work at Nashotah House, Mr. Heidenreich will also serve as Canon Musician at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Fond du Lac. There, he will play organ for the services and work with the choir, and he looks forward to the opportunity to share in ministry with the cathedral congregation as well. 

As to his current focus while he wraps up his DMA degree, Mr. Heidenreich reports, “I am continuing the research for my final written document, which looks at the historic organs of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati (the church where I grew up) as a case study for church organ design and use in Cincinnati.” 

The earliest records of an organ in the church date back to 1836, although the congregation itself traces back to 1790. Throughout those 185 years, the church has engaged the services of several important names in midwestern and American organ building. As someone who has always loved history, Mr. Heidenreich is enjoying the excuse to read through these historic books for a glimpse into religious life of the nineteenth century—even if the books are quite dusty and some rather smelly from the mold acquired in their lifetimes of dirt-floor basement storage.