Stephen Tharp

Having played more than 1550 concerts and 60 tours worldwide, Stephen Tharp has built one of the most well-respected international careers of our age.  He is the recipient of the 2011 International Performer of the Year Award by the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists, considered by many to be the highest honor given to organists by a professional musicians' guild in the United States.

His extensive list of performance venues includes The Royal Albert Hall, London; Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; the Berlin Cathedral; the Gewandhaus, Leipzig; Monaco Cathedral; Victoria Hall, Geneva; the Sydney Opera House, Australia; Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow; the Hong Kong Cultural Centre; the Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas; Symphony Center, Chicago; the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles; and Spivey Hall, Atlanta.

He has given master classes at Yale University; the Eastman School of Music; Rice University, Houston; Westminster Choir College; and for chapters of the American Guild of Organists.  He has also adjudicated for competitions at the Juilliard School and Northwestern University, and served as a member of the jury for the 2018 Chartres International Organ Competition.

His commercial CD release The Complete Organ Works of Jeanne Demessieux on Aeolus Recordings, received the 2009 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Germany’s premier critic’s prize for recordings, as well as the French 5 Diapason award.  He is currently the Artist-in-Residence at St. James’ Madison Avenue (Episcopal) in New York City.