Final organ concert in series to feature Kansas graduate students

The final concert in the 2017-18 Andover Organ Series hosted by Hesston College will feature two doctoral students from the University of Kansas (Lawrence). Tyler Boehmer and Rob Hobgood will perform music by Bach, Buxtehude, Vierne and Reger at 7 p.m., Friday, April 20, at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus.

This concert continues to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the installation of the Andover Organ at Hesston Mennonite Church. The concert is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the concert in the Hesston Mennonite Church Community Center.

Competitive in world organ competitions from a young age, Boehmer earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah). Upon completion of his graduate and doctoral degrees, he plans to remain active as a performer and teacher.

Originally from Raleigh, N.C., Rob Hobgood received a bachelor of music degree in church music and organ performance from Covenant College (Lookout Mountain, Ga.). Hobgood then completed a master of music degree in sacred music from Westminster Choir College of Rider University (Princeton, N.J.). He is now pursuing a doctorate of musical arts degree in church music with concentrations in organ performance and choral conducting, studying Michael Bauer.

Andover organs are built by the Andover Organ Company of Methuen, Mass. The company builds and restores mechanical action pipe organs, and since its founding in 1948, has restored more than 500 organs across the United States, as well as building new instruments, including the Opus 116 pipe organ, installed at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus in 2007.

Funded by the John Earnest Foundation, the Andover Organ Series at Hesston College features organists from around the world.