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Jordan DeRouen wins composition competition

March 18, 2015

Jordan DeRouen is the winner of an organ composition competition sponsored by the French Organ Music Seminar. His Toccata on Victimae Paschali Laudes, composed in January 2015, is a three-minute toccata of medium difficulty. Judges for the competition were Jill Hunt, Jens Korndoerfer, Charles Ore, E. Ray Peebles, D. H. Clark, and Kiyo Watanabe.

DeRouen studied organ with Fred Sahlmann, earned his bachelor of sacred music at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, studying with Mary deVille, and studied organ improvisation with E. Ray Peebles. Currently a graduate student in organ performance at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, studying with Stefan Engels, he has been a scholarship student in the French Organ Music Seminars (www.bfoms.com), receiving instruction from Louis Robillard, Sophie-Véronique Choplin, Frédéric Blanc, François Espinasse, and Jean-Baptiste Robin.

Currently organist and director of music for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Dallas, DeRouen has served in Louisiana as director of music and organist for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Zwolle, organist for the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Natchitoches, and organist-choirmaster for St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria.