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Eric Plutz
Eric
Plutz is University Organist at Princeton University. There his
responsibilities include playing for weekly services at the Chapel,
official University services, solo concerts and accompanying the Chapel
Choir in services and concerts. He also coordinates the weekly After
Noon Concert Series at the University Chapel.
Acclaimed as "an impressive organist" by Donald Metz writing for
American Record Guide, Mr. Plutz has two solo CD recordings to his
credit, Music Héroïque and Carnival. Both are on the Pro Organo label,
and were recorded at the Princeton University Chapel, utilizing the
137-rank Aeolian-Skinner/Mander organ. Carnival is comprised of
transcriptions, including Carnival of the Animals by Camille
Saint-Saëns. On Music Héroïque, the Washington Symphonic Brass join him,
and, regarding their performance of the Poème Héroïque by Marcel Dupré,
Mr. Metz said it was "…the best interpretation I've heard."
Tim Page, writing for the Washington Post, described Mr. Plutz as a
"spirited and virtuosic organist." As an organ concert soloist, Mr.
Plutz has accepted engagements in distinguished locations across the
United States and abroad including Salzburg, Austria (Franziskanerkirche),
New York City (Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center), Washington, DC
(Washington National Cathedral), San Francisco (Grace Cathedral), and
Atlanta (St. Philip's Cathedral). He was a featured artist at the 2007
Regional conference for the American Guild of Organists in Baltimore,
Maryland, and was a featured performer for the 2007 American Handel
Society Conference.
From 1995 through 2004, Mr. Plutz was organist and director of music at
Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw the
church's music program, including directing and accompanying the
semi-professional choir, and managing a popular weekly concert series.
During that time, he was also organist at Temple Sinai in Washington,
accompanist of the Cantate Chamber Singers, and taught organ at the
Selma M. Levine School of Music. He has served as dean of the District
of Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and, for six
years, was the keyboard artist of the Cathedral Choral Society and
rehearsal accompanist of the Washington Bach Consort.
As an accompanist, Mr. Plutz has worked with many Washington, D.C.
organizations, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Choral
Arts Society of Washington, the American Repertory Singers, the
Fessenden Ensemble, the Washington Symphonic Brass, and the Washington
Ballet. He has accompanied the Voices of Ascension conducted by Dennis
Keene and has worked with conductors Leonard Slatkin, J. Reilly Lewis
and Norman Scribner in various venues in the Washington area, including
the National Gallery of Art, the Barns at Wolf Trap and the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Originally from Rock Island, Illinois, Mr. Plutz earned a Bachelor of
Music degree, magna cum laude, from Westminster Choir College of Rider
University in 1989 and a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School
of Music in 1991. In 2004, while on sabbatical, he studied in Rochester,
New York, with David Higgs, chair of Eastman's organ department, and in
Paris, France, with Marie-Louise Langlais, researching the major organ
works of César Franck.
Last revised
June 26, 2010