GROVE CITY, Pa. – Grove City College’s series of organ concerts concludes with Dr. John Weaver, internationally renowned concert organist, at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Parker Organ Studio of the Grove City College Pew Fine Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public.

This year’s concert series showcased the Miriam (Shellito ’52) Parker Memorial Organ, which was dedicated almost a year ago. Donated by Royal Parker ’52 in memory of his wife, the tracker organ was built by Fritz Noack of Georgetown, Mass., and produces sound mechanically. Two years ago, Royal Parker was inspired to donate the organ after reading an article from Grove City College’s alumni magazine, the GeDUNK, about J.R. Daniels ’89, one of the series’ performers, who was involved in organ restoration in Pittsburgh.

Weaver, 2005 International Performer of the Year, has had a distinguished career as a concert organist and instructor. He was director of music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City for 35 years, head of the organ departments at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia for 31 years and The Juilliard School for 17 years, respectively. Now retired, he continues to perform.

A concert organist since 1959, Weaver has played throughout the United States, Canada, western Europe, the United Kingdom and Brazil. He has performed on national television and radio programs in the U.S. and Germany, and has produced a number of recordings. Weaver’s performances include American Guild of Organists conventions, as well as an International Congress of Organists in Cambridge, England. He has played with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall and Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and has played solo recitals at Boston Symphony Hall, Philadelphia’s Academy of Music and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall.

Weaver has taught at Westminster Choir College, Union Theological Seminary and the Manhattan School of Music, and has published a number of compositions for organ, chorus and organ and flute and organ.

He began studying music at age 6 at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, and at 14, began studying organ with Richard Ross and George Markey. After completing undergraduate studies with Alexander McCurdy at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1959, Weaver was appointed music director at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City, a post he held for 11 years. During this time, he spent two years in the U.S. Army as organist and choir director of the Post Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and earned a master of sacred music degree from Union Theological Seminary, studying with Robert Baker.

In 1989, The Peabody Institute honored Weaver with a Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2005, the American Guild of Organists honored him as the International Performer of the Year.

On Feb. 8, Weaver will perform “Voluntary in G Major” by William Walond; “Concerto in B-flat, Op. 4, No. 6” by George Frederick Handel; “Flute Sonata in G Minor” and “Partita: O Gott du frommer Gott” by Johann Sebastian Bach; “Sonata No. 2 in C Minor” by Felix Mendelssohn; “Sonata da Chiesa, for Flute and Organ” by Dan Locklair; and one of his compositions, “Partita on ‘Kingsfold.’”

Weaver’s wife, Marianne, a noted flutist, will perform with him during Bach’s “Flute Sonata” and Locklair’s “Sonata da Chiesa.” Marianne Weaver, a student of renowned instructors in the U.S. and France, was first flutist of Holy Trinity Bach Orchestra in New York City for 25 years. A frequent performer with various orchestral groups, she also had a successful teaching career in New York.