Carolyn Diamond
Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis
April 4 - 12:35 p.m.

Biography
Active as both pianist and pipe organist, Carolyn Diamond performs regularly in the Metro areas of New York, Connecticut and Minnesota. As a recitalist, she has been praised for her buoyant style and interpretive vigor. Diamond is a frequent performer at the TCU/Van Cliburn Piano Institute in Texas where she was a winner of the 2003 Piano Concerto Competition, performing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. She is currently preparing a recording of the music of Scandinavian composers, a project initiated by Cala Records (London).

Currently on staff as Musician in Residence at Wayzata Community Church and an Associate Organist at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, she is active as a performing member of the American Guild of Organists, the United Church of Christ Musicians Association, and the National Arts Club (NYC). She has worked with the American Symphony Orchestra and participates as an accompanist, having performed with soloists from the Metropolitan and New York City Opera Companies. She also leads workshops on liturgy, hymn playing and technical challenges related to the piano and organ.

In Minneapolis, Ms. Diamond was an Artist Performer with the Thursday Musical, creator of her own performance company, Keyboard, Etc., and a pianist with Ballet Arts Minnesota. She also served large Lutheran Congregations as Director of Music/Organist.

She received her B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota where she studied piano with Bernard Weiser and organ with Heinrich Fleischer and Dean Billmeyer. Postgraduate work includes keyboard studies at the University of Minnesota and with teachers from the Julliard School and the Manhattan School of Music in New York. Currently, her piano coach is Igor Resnianski of Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. A winner of the Young Artist Competition, she was also a recipient of the Dimitri Metropolous Scholarship.

Susan Alden
Elmhurst College
April 25 - 12:35 p.m.

Biography
Susan Alden (De Kam) completed her undergraduate studies in 2002 with a major in piano, studying under Joan Conway, at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. It was in her freshman year there that she began studying organ as a secondary instrument with Huw Lewis, but it soon became her principal interest. In 2004, Susan earned her Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan. She studied organ with Robert Glasgow and harpsichord with Edward Parmentier.

As an organist, pianist and harpsichordist, Susan has become a well rounded musician not only not through her solo concertizing on all three instruments, but also as an accompanist and chamber musician. In addition to being the recipient of numerous prizes and awards for her performances on organ and piano, she has also been a finalist in the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Organ Competition (2002) and the Miami International Organ Competition (2006). Her recital career has taken her to many parts of the United States as well as all throughout Romania, France and Spain.

Susan is currently enrolled in the doctoral program in organ performance at the University of Michigan where she studies with James Kibbie. She is the first John Leigh Edwards Organ Scholar at St. John's Episcopal Church in Detroit, Michigan and also maintains a private piano studio.