Gail Archer (organist)

Gail Archer is an American organist, music director, choral conductor and an academic. She is a Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College, Columbia University and the founder of an international forum for women organists called Musforum. She directs the ‘Barnard-Columbia Chorus & Chamber Choir’ and the ‘Music Program’ of Barnard College, Columbia University, and is College Organist of Vassar College. Quotes about Gail Archer (organist) "...A powerful rendering of Les Corps Glorieux... she played with an agility that met the musics coloristic and rhythmic demands."- The New York Times Ms. Archer was the first American woman to play the complete works of Olivier Messiaen for the centennial of the composer's birth in 2008; Time Out New York recognized the Messiaen cycle as "Best of 2008" in classical music and opera. Her recordings include her new May 2022 release, Cantius, recorded on the Casavant organ at St. John Cantius R. C. Church, Chicago, IL featuring contemporary Polish composers. Ms. Archer's recordings span the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries, a festive discography that highlights her musical mastery on grand Romantic instruments as well as Baroque tracker organs. Ms. Archer is the founder of Musforum, www.musforum.org an international network for women organists to promote and affirm their work. She serves as college organist at Vassar College, director of the music program at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she conducts the Barnard-Columbia Chorus and Chamber Singers and she is a faculty member of Harriman Institute, Columbia University. She is artistic director of the artist and young artist recital series at historic Central Synagogue, New York City. Gail Archer Retrieved 26 February 2015. External Links Category:Women musicians Category:Organists from the United States