Our Faculty

Distinguished Artist Faculty Organ

Dr. Ann Labounsky, FAGO, ChM. As Distinguished Artist Faculty for the Sacred Music Institute of America, she will offer seminars on improvisation, online masterclasses, and coaching for organ students in the Institute’s certification programs.

Dr. Labounsky holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.Mus from the University of Michigan (where she studied with Marilyn Mason), and a B.Mus. from the Eastman School of Music (where she studied with David Craighead).  She studied in Paris with André Marchal and Jean Langlais on a Fulbright Grant, holds diplomas from the Schola Cantorum and École Normale, and is the author of a biography of Langlais, Jean Langlais: the Man and His Music, published in 2000 by Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon. Dr. Labounsky also recorded the complete organ works by Jean Langlais for the Musical Heritage Society which have been reissued on the Voix du Vent label. As Chair of Organ and Sacred Music at Duquesne University, she oversees undergraduate and graduate programs in sacred music. An active member of the American Guild of Organists, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and the Church Music Association of America, she has held positions as Director of the National Committee on Improvisation, Councilor for Education for the American Guild of Organists, and national Director of Certification for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. She serves as Organ Artist in Residence at First Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh and as past-dean of the Pittsburgh, AGO Chapter.