David Messineo dies at age 45

David Messineo, principal university organist at Princeton University, died June 11 of an apparent heart attack at his home in Shohola, Pennsylvania. He was 45. Born on August 14, 1958, in Hackensack, New Jersey, Messineo began playing the piano at age four and took up the organ at age 11. He served as organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Port Jervis, New York, and Rutherford (NJ) Congregational Church while still a teenager. He attended the Juilliard School in New York City, where he graduated with a Mus.B., M.M. and doctor of musical arts with honors in organ performance. During his time at Juilliard, he served at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Kearny, New Jersey, and for eight years was associate director of music/organist at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. For 16 years, he was minister of music at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church, where he played the organ and directed seven choirs. He also taught organ at Montclair State University for many years. Messineo joined the Princeton staff in 2000. He gave recitals across the United States and performed in historical venues in Germany, the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands. Messineo also played theater organ, and in 1979, he opened the new Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and continued as organist there for several years. He studied theater organ with a former silent movie accompanist and was known at Princeton for his annual performance around Halloween improvising with the 1925 silent movie, “The Phantom of the Opera.” Funeral services took place on June 16 at the Milford United Methodist Church, Milford, Pennsylvania.