Elisabeth Urtel to Center for Church Music, Concordia University Chicago

Elisabeth Urtel is appointed interim director of the Center for Church Music, Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Illinois, following the retirement of Barry Bobb, who served for thirteen years. As interim director, Urtel will oversee the center’s core functions—preserving and developing its physical collections, online resources, and student scholarship programs. She will also continue the center’s mission of encouraging current and future Lutheran church musicians, liturgical artists, and scholars.

A church musician with experience as an organist, accompanist, and choir director, Urtel currently served as adjunct instructor of music at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minnesota. She previously worked as adjunct instructor of history at Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minnesota, and was adult choir director for Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Mankato. Urtel is also a published scholar with works featured by Canterbury Press and Lutheran University Press, among others, and served as dean of the Sioux Trails Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

An alumna of Bethany Lutheran College, Urtel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. She later received a Master of Arts degree in Lutheran theological studies from Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary and a Master of Church Music degree from Concordia University Wisconsin. This year, Urtel completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in historical theology from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, where her research focused on the development of Lutheran hymnody and church life in America. 

For information: cuchicago.edu.