Michael Farris, Associate Professor of Organ at the Eastman School of Music since 1994 and co-chair of the Keyboard Department, died on March 27. Dr. Farris was 41.
Born in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 5, 1957, Michael Delman Farris demonstrated a strong affection for the pipe organ at an early age. He began serious organ study at the University of New Mexico with Wesley Selby, and later completed his bachelor's degree at Southern Methodist University as a student of Robert Anderson. He received the MMus degree and Performer's Certificate at Indiana University, where he studied with Wilma Jensen and Larry Smith. He went on to earn a DMA degree, Performer's Certificate, and Artist's Diploma from the Eastman School of Music, studying with the late Russell Saunders.
As a student, Farris won three national performance competitions: in 1976, at age 18, the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition; in 1985 the Ft. Wayne Competition; and in 1986 the National Young Artist Competition of the AGO. He was sent by the AGO to perform before the International Congress of Organists in Cambridge, England, in 1987, and later that year was featured in Musical America among a number of promising young artists. He joined Karen McFarlane Arists management in 1988.
Cited by The New York Times as "an organist of unusual brilliance and versatility," he was invited to give a recital for Vienna Musik Sommer in 1991, and in 1992 was invited to play a solo recital of American organ literature for Austrian National Radio. In addition to lectures and master classes, Dr. Farris also gave annual concert tours in North America since 1986 and performed in recital for regional and national conventions of the AGO in 1987, 1989, 1993 and 1996. His recordings include French Fireworks (Delos, 19th- and 20th-century French works, St. Peter's Cathedral, Erie, Pennsylvania) and a recent release on the Gothic label of works by Bach, Bruhns, Mozart, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Pärt, played on the Fisk organ at Southern Methodist University.
Dr. Farris was a faculty member and chairman of organ at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1989 until 1994. While at Illinois, he received the University Scholar Award for distinction as a faculty member in 1993. He was first appointed to Eastman as a visiting associate professor in 1993, and became a permanent member of the faculty the following year.
A service for Dr. Farris was held on April 1 at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word in Rochester. Memorials may be made to the Michael Farris Organ Scholarship at the Eastman School.
