Afternoon Classical on Thursday July 30th featured a special live in-studio interview with K. Scott Warren, organist, pianist, conductor, and composer. We explored sacred music, discovered some of Scott’s compositions, and WKCR Programmer Elisabeth Stam spoke with him about it all. The full interview with Scott is available right here! Before Scott joined us in the studio, we heard Rachmaninov's Vespers and Piano Concerto Number 2 as well as Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. The full program playlist can be found here.

Scott’s experience as a liturgical musician includes serving as Music Director or Interim Director at several Manhattan churches, including Immanuel Lutheran Church, Park Avenue United Methodist Church, and Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He is presently Artistic Director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Director of Music at Saint Ignatius Loyola Parish, and Organist and Choirmaster at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, where he plays the 4-manual, 135-rank Glück pipe organ and directs the 17-voice professional choir in over 120 choral liturgies annually. Scott’s active career as a collaborative musician has led him to perform as organist and pianist with the New York Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, the New York Pops, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Dresden Philharmonic, and such notable choral ensembles as Musica Sacra, the Oratorio Society of New York, and Voices of Ascension. His work as an accompanist has been featured on WQXR, NPR, PBS and now, WKCR. A long-time love of choral music has recently led Scott to compose for the medium. Several of his pieces are published by Oxford University Press, and have been performed in New York City churches and in liturgies and concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. Scott’s musical interests extend beyond classical music. Growing up in Dallas, Texas, he played in a variety of local bands, including a five-year stint with the Al “TNT” Braggs Show Band, a popular Dallas-based rhythm and blues revue. Scott is a graduate of the University of North Texas, where he studied organ with Jesse Eschbach and piano with Mary Nan Mailman. Sources: http://www.kscottwarrenconductor.com http://www.stignatiusloyola.org/index.php/music/music_staff http://smssconcerts.org/site/about/smss-staff