William J. Gatens, Organist, Pianist

WILLIAM J. GATENS, Organist-Choirmaster at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Bridgeport, PA; organist for Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park; and a regular contributor to American Record Guide. For twenty years (1991-2011) he was Organist-Choirmaster of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, and for eleven years, he was an announcer for Philadelphia's classical music station WFLN-FM until the station ceased operations in 1997. He holds a BA from Swarthmore College as well as the BA, MA, and D.Phil. from Oxford University. He is the author of Victorian Cathedral Music in Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 1986), several published articles and essays, and has furnished numerous reviews of books and musical editions for Music and Letters. He is a contributor to the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and to The New Dictionary of National Biography. His organ recital appearances have included performances at Longwood Gardens, the University of Pennsylvania (Irvine Auditorium), Drexel University, Beaumont at Bryn Mawr, and many Philadelphia-area churches. He is active as an accompanist with the Main Line Opera Guild and the Media Chamber Chorale.