Frederick Teardo has been appointed director of music and organist at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham, Alabama, effective November 1. He succeeds Stephen G. Schaeffer, who retired in August after a 25-year tenure. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Teardo served first as assistant organist and subsequently as associate organist at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City, where he worked with John Scott and the renowned Choir of Men and Boys for over six years.
Teardo received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, as well as the Master of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees. At Yale, he studied organ with Thomas Murray and harpsichord with Richard Rephann. During his time at Yale, he held the post of Yale University Chapel Organist and later served as assistant organist at Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green in New Haven, Connecticut. Teardo received his Bachelor of Music degree with highest honors from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he studied organ with David Higgs. His other teachers have included Stephen Roberts and Haskell Thomson; he has also studied improvisation with William Porter and Jeffrey Brillhart.
In frequent demand as a soloist, Frederick Teardo has performed at prominent venues. His solo recording is available from JAV Recordings and features works of Bach, Boyvin, and DeGrigny on the historic 1741 J. A. Silbermann organ of St. Thomas Church in Strasbourg, France. He has also been a featured performer at regional and national conventions of the AGO and OHS, on American Public Media’s Pipedreams, BBC Radio 3 and three CD recordings with the St. Thomas Choir.
