Steering Committee
David Jenkins
Convention Co-Chair, and Twin Cities Chapter Dean
David Jenkins retired last June after serving 34 years in music ministry at the Saint Paul Seminary, and as an instructor in organ and harpsichord for the University of St. Thomas. He earned a DMA in Organ Performance and the Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. He also studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Iowa, and was awarded a Marshall Fellowship for organ study in Copenhagen. His teachers have included Howard Don Small, Garth Peacock, Delbert Disselhorst, Grethe Krogh, and Russell Saunders.
Dr. Jenkins is Dean of the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and has previously served in various other roles for the chapter, including Sub-Dean, executive board member-at-large, and on the program and professional concerns committees.
Kathrine Handford
Convention Co-Chair, and Twin Cities Chapter Sub-Dean
Kathrine Handford is a musician of wide-ranging interests and accomplishments. She has appeared in recital in the United States, Canada, England, Italy, France and Scandinavia where she has been a featured artist at international music festivals. Handford was the winner of the 35th International J.S. Bach Competition held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In the same year, she received first prize in the John R. Rodland Scholarship Competition in New Jersey. She has received many grants and awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
She holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Concordia College, St. Paul, and the Eastman School of Music, where she received the highly coveted Performer’s Certificate in Organ Performance. In 2020, she received a diploma in Recording and Production Arts from the University of Stavanger in Norway.
She is chair of the program committee and sub-dean of the Twin Cities Chapter American Guild of Organists. She has served as a committee member of the National Young Organists Competition in Organ Performance (NYACOP), the premier performance competition of the American Guild of Organists. She serves on the board of the American Composers Forum and is a member of the Artists Advisory Committee. She is co-chair of the 2023 North Central Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists. Presently, she is Director of Music and Organist at the Church of Saint Mark in St. Paul, Minnesota and University Organist and Instructor of Organ at Concordia University in St. Paul.
Convention Secretary
Convention Secretary
David Fienen
Convention Treasurer and Finance Committee
David Fienen is Emeritus Professor of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College. While there, he served as Cantor at Christ Chapel, taught organ and Music Theory, chaired the Music Department, and for his last two years before retirement, was the Provost and Dean of the College. Now he is a free-lance church musician, accompanies several community choirs, and serves as Volunteer Archivist at First Lutheran Church in St. Peter, MN, He has performed widely in the United States as soloist and accompanist, in addition to recitals at Jakobikirche in Lübeck and at the Schlosskirche in Lutherstadt-Wittenberg. He has been treasurer for three national conferences of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and served four years as secretary/treasurer of the Association.
Jeremy Haug
Publicity, Website, Communications, Convention App and Program Book
Hailing from Renville, Minnesota and attending St. Olaf College to achieve a Bachelor’s of Church Music degree, Jeremy Haug (b. 1975) has served on the Mount Calvary Worship and Music team as principal organist since 2012. Jeremy has strong passions around church music and providing clear leadership in congregational singing having studied with John “Ferg” Ferguson, Paul Westermeyer, Carolyn Jennings, Robert Scholz and Anton Armstrong. He has championed a student intern organist program in partnership with St. Olaf College to nurture, develop and provide practical experience to young organists.
In addition to his church music position at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Excelsior, MN; Jeremy is also a full-time Information Technology Director at Cummins, Inc for the Infrastructure & Operations Communication Services organization. In his spare time, Jeremy is active on the Program and Publicity committees of the Twin Cities American Guild of Organists (TCAGO), going to music clubs, concerts, traveling and spending time with friends eating food at many of the Twin Cities’ best restaurants. Additionally, he holds the esteemed title of "Uncle Jerm" to Ella, Olivia and Carter Coldwell (age 7) of Florida.
Steve Riendl
Gifts and Grants
Steve Riendl began organ lessons during elementary and high school in his native suburban Milwaukee. He continued studies as an undergraduate with Sue Seid-Martin at Notre Dame. After completing a career in medicine he returned to the organ, studying with Kathy Handford and David Jenkins. He is currently assisting at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis.
Lise Schmidt
Registration
As the partner, now spouse, of Michael Barone of Pipedreams for 40+ years, I have attended innumerable organ performances and events. have participated in many AGO, TCAGO, and Organ Historical Society (OHS) conventions. I was the co-registrar for the 2017 OHS Convention in Minnesota.
Samuel Backman and
Phil Radtke
Logistics and Transportation
Samuel Backman currently serves as Director of Sacred Music at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Minneapolis; where he chairs a multi-faceted music program across three campuses. Samuel functions as principal organist and as conductor and founder of the Holy Cross Choir, St. Helena Singers, and Tenebrae Choir.
Twin Cities native, Phil Radtke has degrees in organ and church music from University of Minnesota where he studied with Dean Billmeyer and the University of Michigan where he studied with James Kibbie and Kola Owolabi. Currently, Phil serves as Cantor at Holy Trinity Lutheran church in South Minneapolis where he oversees the music program, directs the adult and children’s choirs, and plays for weekly worship services. Phil is also assistant to the director of the Minnesota Boychoir where he teaches over 100 young singers the basics of music theory and singing in a choir.
Exhibits
Exhibits
Fran Linhart
Hotel and Housing
Fran started her musical career playing the organ at the Oak Lawn roller rink, in Chicago Illinois. After college, she traveled as staff artist for the Wurlitzer Company and Yamaha, performing in the US, Canada, Mexico and Japan. She has served as church organist and choir director in Chicago at the Universalist Society of Geneva, Mayfair Presbyterian, and the First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She currently is the accompanist for the 50-member Edina Singing Singers and substitute organist for churches in the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin.
She has served as organist at the James J. Hill House Museum in St Paul. In 2017 and is honored to perform as a guest artist at the OHS (Organ Historical Society) National Convention.
Kathy Borgen and
Carolyn Diamond
Volunteers
Carolyn Diamond, pianist and organist, performs regularly on concert series and in salon settings. Active as a performing member of Friday Club, the TCAGO (Executive Board), and an Artist Member and Vice President of Thursday Musical, she has been a frequent performer at the TCU/Van Cliburn Piano Institute and a winner of their Piano Concerto Competition, performing with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra. Selections from her CD of piano music, SCANDINAVIAN SUITE, have been played on Minnesota Public Radio. She received her Bachelors Degree (with Highest Distinction) from the University of Minnesota, studying with Bernard Weiser and Heinrich Fleisher, and graduate studies with teachers Howard Don Small, Dean Billmeyer, Kent Trittle, and Igor Resnianski.
Committee Members
We are actively recruiting volunteers for committees and other aspects of the regional convention. If you are interested in supporting in any way, please contact us.
Program Committee
Kathrine Handford, chair
Michael Barone
Isaac Drewes
Jeremy Haug
David Jenkins
Program Book
Jeremy Haug, chair
Kirsten Uhlenberg, editor
Maria Bucka
Laura Edman
Sarah Garner
Kathrine Handford
David Jenkins
Fran Linhart
Publicity and Communications
Jeremy Haug, chair
Sarah Garner
Kirsten Uhlenberg
Advertising
Jeremy Haug
David Jenkins
Transportation and Logistics
Samuel Backman, co-chair
Phil Radtke, co-chair
Hospitality
Maria Bucka
Randy Egan
John Setterlund
Volunteers
Kathy Borgen, co-chair
Carolyn Diamond, co-chair
Worship Services Committee
to be announced