John Coble has served as Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church in Athens, Georgia since 2013. He directs and oversees the church’s music program, including adult, youth, and RSCM trained children’s choirs, and handbell choirs, and he is administrator of the Wayne F. Middendorf Memorial Concert Series which features both local and nationally known performers. John is also part-time instructor of organ at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music, and he has served as Artist-in-Residence at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. John’s previous church positions include Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Lutheran churches in Georgia, Indiana, and North Carolina.
As a church musician, John has conducted major choral works including music of Bach, Handel, Rutter, and Vaughan Williams. John has hosted choral and handbell festivals, presented joint concerts and services with other churches. He has participated in and led services at regional and national gatherings for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Episcopal Church.
As an organist and pianist, John has appeared as a soloist, and with other musicians across the country, including performances in Atlanta, Dallas, Indianapolis, New Orleans, and New York. In 2008, he served as organist and accompanist for the International Presbyterian Choral Festival tour of Scotland which performed in Stirling, Inverness, Aberdeen, and St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. He performed numerous recitals on the historic Tannenberg organ at the Old Salem Visitors’ Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 2012 he performed as a featured soloist with the Mississippi State University Symphony Orchestra. In 2014 he performed as part of the Westobou Festival in Augusta, Georgia. He also performs with faculty and students from the University of Georgia.
John is currently Dean of the Northeast Georgia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, where he has worked to involve organ students from the University of Georgia, offering educational programs, as well as uniting students with professional organists in the chapter. He has performed recitals, and presented lectures and workshops for other chapters of the American Guild of Organists, including sessions on organ improvisation techniques and resources, hymn and service playing, choir directing skills for organists, and the administration of church music programs and concert series. In 2017, he was a presenter at the Fall Organ Conference and IOU Reunion at Indiana University.
In 2009, he founded Horns for Haiti, a project to raise funds and collect instruments, music, and other supplies for the St. Francis Episcopal Church and school on the island of La Gonâve, Haiti. In addition to presenting benefit recitals for Horns for Haiti, he has also performed and conducted concerts benefitting Buckhead Christian Ministries in Atlanta, and for the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.
John received his Doctor of Music degree in Organ and Church Music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he served as an Associate Instructor of church music. He also holds degrees from Florida State University and Augusta College. His teachers include Dr. Edward Wayne Lord, Dr. John G. Schaeffer, Dr. Michael Corzine, and Dr. Marilyn Keiser. He has also studied organ improvisation with Bruce Neswick. John is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the Royal School of Church Music, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
The Central Arkansas Chapter meets once a month, September through May, for dinner, business meeting and a concert. These meetings are a time for fellowship, to visit with old friends, to make new friends, and to enjoy the performances of world-class artists. Our recitals are free, open to the public, and made possible by the support of our members, chapter friends, and program sponsors.
Now is the time to join, or renew your membership of, the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. If you are an organist, church musician, or love the organ and its music, support our mission by joining us today. Memberships run from July 1 to June 30.
Please join us today by filling out a membership form and mailing it, along with your dues, to the address printed on the form, or visit the AGO ONCARD website to pay your dues online.
CACAGO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All contributions are tax-deductible.
