Organist David Heller has risen to prominence as an outstanding performer and pedagogue in the United States. The American Organist has described him as “an eloquent performer,” and his playing as “an excellent demonstration of outstanding music making . . .” He holds degrees from Lawrence University and the Eastman School of Music, which awarded him the prestigious Performer’s Certificate in Organ. His teachers have included Miriam Clapp Duncan and Russell Saunders in organ, Colin Tilney and Lisa Goode Crawford in harpsichord, and Gerre Hancock in improvisation. He continued his post-doctoral organ study with David Craighead.

As an active recitalist, David Heller has performed extensively throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, France, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Korea. He has appeared at national and regional conventions of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Organ Historical Society, the American Institute of Organ Builders, The Hymn Society, and the American Guild of Organists. As author of the highly acclaimed book, Manual on Hymn Playing (G.I.A. Publications), he is frequently sought as a lecturer and clinician in the areas of church music skills and hymn playing, giving presentations across the country for colleges, local chapters of the American Guild of Organists, The Hymn Society, and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. He has two compact disc recordings in distribution on the Calcante label: Veni Creator Spiritus (1996), recorded on the Rosales organ at University United Methodist Church in San Antonio; and The Art of Gregorian Paraphrase (2000), featuring the Casavant organ of The Church of St. Louis, King of France in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has two recent recordings on the Pro Organo label. Blasts from the Century Past (2005), was recorded on the Rosales organ of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, and has received critical acclaim in such journals as The American Record Guide, The American Organist, and Choir and Organ. His latest recording, ¡Bravo Grande! (2007) features the new Charles Kegg organ at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas.

Since 1986, David Heller has been a member of the faculty at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas serving as Professor of Music and University Organist. His primary teaching responsibilities in the Department of Music are in the areas of organ and harpsichord performance and literature, church music skills, and music theory. He has held a number of church positions, and is currently serving as Artist-in-Residence for NorthPark Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. He also continues to serve as Visiting Artist-in-Residence at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon.

The San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers is a highly acclaimed, 120-voice chorus of volunteers from throughout the San Antonio area. Max Reiter, founding Music Director of the San Antonio Symphony, established the chorus in 1944 to support opera productions presented by the Symphony. Today’s Mastersingers are featured in every area of the Symphony’s performance schedule. The chorus also presents independent performances.

The Mastersingers’ reputation for meticulous preparation and professionalism has brought the group frequent invitations for tours and guest appearances. In 1994, the Mastersingers traveled to Carnegie Hall to present the New York premiere of Robert Levin’s edition of the Mozart Requiem. This second appearance of the chorus at Carnegie Hall received the same critical acclaim as their performances throughout Texas, in Monterrey, Mexico, in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, and in the Royal Festival Hall, London. In May 2008, the chorus performed Mozart’s Solemn Vespers at Carnegie Hall, John Silantien conducting. Later that same year, they were invited to perform a concert version of Cavalleria Rusticana, with Andrea Bocelli in the starring role. The chorus has performed under some of the world’s leading music directors—Zdenek Macal, Jahja Ling, Sixten Ehrling, Nicholas McGegan, Christopher Hogwood, and others.

The Mastersingers have produced two recordings in their history. Their first, a 1978 release on the Telarc label, is an acclaimed album of choral works including Verdi’s “Ave Maria,” John Corigliano’s “Psalm 90,” and a set of six previously unrecorded works by Hugo Wolf. In 1987 the Symphony and Mastersingers released Christmas Festival, an album of holiday music, with James Sedares conducting.

In 1994, then San Antonio Mayor Nelson Wolff proclaimed the Mastersingers “one of the crown jewels within the San Antonio Arts community.” The chorus continues to delight audiences during its upcoming sixty-fifth season.

Dr. John Silantien has taught and conducted choirs on the secondary and collegiate levels in Texas, the Washington, D. C., area, and on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois. His awards include a Rockefeller grant for choral conducting at Aspen, Colorado, and a Fulbright award for research in London, England. He presently serves as Director of Choral Activities at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Director of the San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers, and Choir Director at University Presbyterian Church. Between 1992 and 1998, he served as Editor of the Choral Journal, the official publication of the American Choral Directors Association, with a circulation of more than 20,000. He serves frequently as adjudicator, clin¬ician, and guest conductor. He is listed in the International Who’s Who in Music, Who’s Who among America’s Teachers, the 2006 edition of Who’s Who in America, and the 2007 edition of Who’s Who in the World. In 2009, he received UTSA’s President’s award for excellence in research and creative activity.

Choirs under his direction have been invited to perform before the Music Educators National Conference, the American Choral Directors Association, the Texas Choral Directors Association, and the Texas Music Educators Association. They have sung in New York City’s Lincoln Center and London’s Royal Festival Hall. In June 1997 the UTSA Madrigal Singers toured Brazil performing at major venues in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. His UTSA Concert Choir toured to Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague during the spring of 2006 as an invited participant in the celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday. His orchestral con¬ducting credits include performances with the San Antonio Symphony, the San Antonio Pops, and New York’s West Side Chamber Orchestra, as well as CD recordings of three Mozart piano concertos with the Moscow State Radio Orchestra. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in May 1994 conducting Mozart’s Requiem. In May 2008, he returned to Carnegie Hall to conduct the San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers in a performance of Mozart’s Vespers.