7:30 pm -- William Schlueter, Organ

Gesu Parish is pleased to present William Schlueter as soloist in our monthly organ concert on June 10, at 7:30 p.m. William is a recent graduate of Trinity Academy in Pewaukee. He was first exposed to the pipe organ at the age of four months, when he was carried into the gallery at the Church of the Gesu and heard organist John Weissrock play the first of many concerts and weddings, at which his father, Tom, was often the trumpeter. As a little boy, he carried his father’s trumpet case into organ lofts all over the city, and accompanied him to performances in the orchestra pit at the Skylight Opera, the Waukesha Symphony, and other musical events around the city. At age four, he began studying violin at the String Academy of Wisconsin, and two years later switched to piano study with Stephanie Jacob at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. He has also studied percussion with Bob Lalko.

During his freshman year at Trinity, he expressed an intense interest in studying the pipe organ, at which time he began organ studies with well-known Milwaukee organist and instructor Sister Mary Jane Wagner, SSSF. He is also currently studying piano with Shanti Daya, longtime piano instructor at Carroll University in Waukesha. Since beginning organ studies with Sister Mary Jane in May 2011, he has played many church services and several concerts, including St. Matthias Episcopal in Waukesha, St. Joseph’s Chapel in Milwaukee, and as a contestant in the Regional Competition for Young Organists (sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, and Quimby Pipe Organs) in 2013. William, his father Tom and John Weissrock jointly presented our monthly concert on January 10, 2012.

In the fall, he will be attending Wheaton College near Chicago as an organ performance major. In addition to playing the organ, he also has a keen interest in the “inner workings” and the technical aspects of the instrument, and plans to learn more to that end in the near future. Will has a long connection to the Church of the Gesu, and is very much looking forward to returning again to play for you!

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