James Callahan
Conductor and Composer
Tuesday, July 4 at 7:00 pm
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul
Dr. James P. Callahan, Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN retired after 38 years of teaching at St. Thomas. He taught piano, organ, composition, music theory, piano literature. He earned a BA from St. John’s University (MN) and an MFA in piano (‘68) and Ph.D. in music theory and composition (’71) from the University of Minnesota. In addition he studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Vienna Academy of Music. His teachers, among others, included Anton Heiller, organ, Willem Ibes and Duncan McNab, piano, and Paul Fetler, composition.
As an organist, Callahan has performed numerous recitals in the upper mid-west, New York and Austria. His performances have appeared on the nationally broadcast radio program “Pipedreams.” Centaur issued a CD of his performances of works by Oberdoerffer, Reger, Rheinberger and Schmidt on the Gabriel Kney organ at the University of St. Thomas.
He also performed solo piano recitals and made concerto appearances. His repertoire includes all five piano concertos by Beethoven. He made five appearances on KTCA-TV’s Private College Concert Series and his recitals have been broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio. In addition to his solo performances, he has been a member of the Callahan and Faricy duo piano team who have performed extensively throughout the upper midwest.
Callahan has composed over one hundred twenty five works for piano, organ, orchestra, band, opera, and chamber ensembles. His works have been performed both by the Minnesota Orchestra, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His two operas, Processions and Sanctuary have left their audiences contemplating how people of faith should respond to a world filled with human evil. Live performances of his “Cantata” for two choirs and instrumentalists, “Psalm Cantata” for choir and organ, and “Tetraptych: a Symphony in Four Scenes” have each been produced as stand alone programs and broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio. His works have been published by McLaughlin-Reilly, GIA, Paraclete Press, Abingdon Press, and Beautiful Star Publishing. Awards have included a study grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Bush Artist Fellowship and the An die Music award from The Schubert Club. He has served as Dean of TCAGO from 2010 to 2012.