Christopher Creaghan, organist

Organist Christopher Creaghan is active in the New York City region as a recitalist, accompanist, and church musician. He has performed recitals on many of New York’s largest instruments including the organs of St. Bartholomew's Church, the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Mary the Virgin, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. His appearances with orchestra have included concertos by Poulenc and Handel, and he recently was a featured artist with Musica Viva performing Rheinberger’s Concerto in F Major. He has participated in the dedication of several new organs, including the Brick Presbyterian Church podcast of Marcel Dupré’s Stations of the Cross. Formerly Associate Organist for The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City, he frequently appeared with orchestra on the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series. For six years he served as Music Director and Organist for St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, where he produced a CD recording of the parish’s professional choir.

Known for accompanying difficult, large-scale choral works, Mr. Creaghan appears often with many of New York’s choral organizations in works such as the Duruflé Requiem, the Langlais Messe Solennelle and Mendelssohn’s oratorio St. Paul, and twentieth century works such as Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, MacMillan’s Cantos Sagrados and Gowers’ Viri Galilaei. He has performed with such groups as The Virgin Consort, Ars Musica, The St. Cecilia Chorus, The Dalton Chorale, The Dessoff Choirs, and at the Berkshire Choral Festival, and the Bard Music Festival with the American Symphony Orchestra. He is organist on the recent recording by the Marble Collegiate Church Choir featuring works by Leo Sowerby and Calvin Hampton. He has toured Eastern Europe with The Canticum Novum Singers. He accompanies frequently at a number of New York City churches including St. Bartholomew’s, St. Luke-in-the-Fields, Marble Collegiate, Church of the Ascension, All Souls Unitarian, and The Interchurch Center. This year includes premieres of choral works by Bruce Neswick and Stephen Paulus.

Mr. Creaghan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with McNeil Robinson, whose works he has often performed. He is Organist and Choir Director for Temple Israel of New Rochelle. An active member of the American Guild of Organists for many years, he  recently concluded his term as Dean of the New York City Chapter. He has been a finalist in several competitions, and has recorded for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A native of Canada, Mr. Creaghan became an American citizen in 2001. He is married to composer and mezzo-soprano Nancy Wertsch.