Gail Archer, organist, presented by the John and Alice Butler Pipe Organ Recital Series

Gail Archer is an international concert organist, recording artist, choral conductor and lecturer who draws attention to composer anniversaries or musical themes with her annual recital series in New York City, including A Slavic Celebration, Max Reger, The Muse’s Voice, An American Idyll, Liszt, Bach, Mendelssohn and Messiaen.  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 2022 Polish release, Cantius, and Chernivtsi, A Russian Journey, The Muse’s Voice, Franz Liszt: A Hungarian Rhapsody, Bach: The Transcendent Genius, an American Idyll, A Mystic in the Making (Meyer Media), and The Orpheus of Amsterdam: Sweelinck and his Pupils (CALA Records).  Ms. Archer’s 2023 European tour took her to Italy, France, Austria, Germany and Poland.  Highlights include St. Cyriakus R. C. Church, Krefeld, Germany, Basilica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Messina, Sicily,the Cathedral of Santa Maria, Alghero, Sardegna, the Church of Saint Bruno Les Chartreux, Lyon, France, and the Church of St. Vitali, Ravenna, Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its extraordinary mosaics.

She is the founder of Musforum, an international network for women organists to promote and affirm their work. Ms. Archer is 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 a faculty member of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University.  She is artistic director of the artist and young artist recital series at historic Central Synagogue, New York City.