W. Raymond Ackerman is Assistant Director of Music / Organist for Bluffton United Methodist Church, 101 Calhoun Street, Bluffton, South Carolina. Prior to that (from May 1999 to January 2004) he was Director of Music Ministries / Organist for Holy Family Catholic Church on Hilton Head Island, SC. In 1999 he was instrumental in establishing the Low Country Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He was elected the first Dean of the Chapter and is the current Dean.
Before moving to South Carolina he was at St. Columbkille Roman Catholic Church in Brighton, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) for 9 years. Whilst there he established a concert series called Music at St. Columbkille, and the Boston Festival of Orthodox Music, which brought choirs from Moscow, Russia, and invited orthodox choirs from the northeast to participate in a three-day festival; and a multiple parish choir program.
In the summer of 1995 he exchanged positions and served St. Michael's Church in Dun Laoghaire (Dublin) Ireland. He performed a concert of the prestigious Summer Series at St. Michael's Church, which has a 2m, 35s, 36r, Rieger Organ (1974).
Michael Dervan, writing in the IRISH TIMES said " ... in keeping with the style of the evening as a whole, Ackerman presented it in a musically attractive manner. His playing of his altogether unusual programme was musical and attractive, the manner generally forward and robust, rhythmically firm, and pleasing grainy in texture. Note: The programme did not include a composition by J. S. Bach!
He made significant contribution to choral and organ music in New England by his numerous workshops dealing with small church choirs. For twelve years he was a faculty member at the Colby Institute of Church Music, (Waterville, Maine) serving as Chapel Choir Director, Director of Chapel Worship, and Academic Coordinator. Dr. Ackerman holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Boston University, and the University of Toronto, where he served as an assistant to Healy Willan. Prior to his appointment at St. Columbkille's, he was, for eighteen years, Music Director at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Lexington, Massachusetts. His choir became well known for their exceptional blend and musicianship, as well as their service to the church. He also established a multiple choir program at Pilgrim Church. He retired, after nineteen years, as Chairman of the Fine Arts Department, The Bromfield School, Harvard. Dr. Ackerman was also a member of the adjunct faculty of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where he taught organ, choral techniques, and psalm singing to Roman Catholic organists and choir directors.
Dr. Ackerman has studied organ with many well know organists including Dr. Paul Guilana, George Faxon, and Dr. Max Miller, of Boston University; Dr. Joan Lippincott of Westminster Choir College,; John Betts of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England, and Christopher Herrick of Westminster Abby. While studying at the Royal School of Church Music at Addington Palace, he was chosen to present a command performance for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
He has recorded for Decca Records as organist for a recording of original choral music composed and conducted by Richard Elsasser, and for the Organ Historical Society, 'resurrecting' the organ sonatas of Josef Rheinberger. Dr. Ackerman has performed concerts and recitals for national conventions of the Organ Historical Society, and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists.
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