Noon Organ Concert at ONU – Josh Ring

Josh Ring, a 2013 graduate of Olivet, is currently a graduate student at the University of Iowa School of Music. He studies organ with Gregory Hand and is a recipient of the Rahn and Frawley Organ Fellowship. He placed first in the 2018 Fox Valley Young Organists Scholarship Competition, a national competition through the American Guild of Organists. He is also the organist at Coralville United Methodist Church and an active performer, accompanist and educator in the Iowa City area. As a recitalist, he is an avid supporter of the Appalachian Service Project.

Ring’s program will include Bach’s “Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major” and the traditional favorite hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” among other selections.

While at Olivet he was the recipient of the 2012 Walter B. Larsen Award & Naomi Larsen Scholarship, which is awarded to the most outstanding music student from ONU School of Music. The accolade requires excellent musicianship, exceptional character and attitude, and high commitment to ONU. He is also a 2016 recipient of the E. Power Biggs Fellowship Award from the Organ Historical Society and a 2016, 2017, & 2018 recipient of Kay Hotchkiss Scholarship from the Rockford chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Josh earned his Master’s of Music in Composition with David Maki and his Performer’s Certificate in Organ with James Russell Brown, both from Northern Illinois University with a 4.0 GPA. He also received his Bachelor’s of Music, summa cum laude, from Olivet Nazarene University in Music Composition and Piano Performance.

His past organ teachers include Melanie Sigafoose, James Russell Brown, and Timothy Nelson, and his piano teachers include JeongSoo Kim, Karen Ball, Gerald Anderson, Ovid Young, and Brenda Conroy. He has also studied composition with David Maki, Ted Hatmaker, Robert Fleisher, and Karen Ball.

Josh enjoys spending time with friends and family, exploring the outdoors, and backpacking in the mountains. More information, compositions, and recordings can be found at www.JoshRing.com.

Olivet’s Pipe Organ was custom built by Famiglia Artigiana Fratelli Ruffatti (Ruffatti Brothers, Family of Artisans) of Padua, Italy, and Marshall & Ogletree of Boston. Both firms are represented in the Midwest by Triune Music, a local firm from Elmhurst, IL  www.triunemusic.com.

This instrument has six divisions, a four-manual console, and an AGO concave pedalboard with 32 notes.  It has 125 ranks making it one of the largest instruments in the Midwest (it has 75 ranks of wind-blown pipes and 50 digital pipe ranks).