The
Bach Festival of Central Florida Music Director
Dr. Gabriel Statom
received the Bachelor of Music Education degree with voice
and piano emphasis from The University of Mississippi, the
Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting with organ as
the principal instrument from Florida State University and
the Doctor of Worship Studies degree from the Institute for
Worship Studies, affiliated with Wheaton College and
Northern Theological Seminary, both in Chicago,
Illinois. Dr. Statom has recently been appointed as
director of the Lake Wales Chorale, has led workshops for
the Central Florida Bach Festival and has begun a
professional ensemble specializing in the sacred music of
J. S. Bach, which performs on the First Presbyterian Church
Concert Series. In addition, the FPC Chancel Choir was
selected to perform at the 2002 Florida Chapter of the
American Choral Directors Association Fall Conference in
Orlando, Florida. This choir toured Scotland and England in
2003. Performances were in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh,
Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Hall in London.
He has served in various Presbyterian and Baptist churches
as choral director, accompanist, and minister of music. He
has produced two compact discs:
Glory to God: Songs of Reflection
and
Inspiration and Praise
with the College Hill Presbyterian Church Choir; and
Music at First Presbyterian Church at Lake
Wales.
He has conducted extensively throughout the country
including performances at the Spoleto Festival, the Oregon
Bach Festival, Carnegie Hall and with orchestras such as
the Memphis Symphony and the Mississippi Symphony. He has
studied conducting with Robert Shaw, André Thomas, Helmuth
Rilling, Jerry Jordan, John Rutter and David Wilcocks. His
organ teachers have included Michael Corzine and Warren
Steele. His choral arrangements have been published with
the Gene Thomas Music Group, and he has published articles
in the American Choral Directors Association Choral
Journal. Gabriel has been on the staff of the Berkshire
Choral Festival in 2002 and 2003, serving at the Sheffield,
Massachusetts, and Salzburg, Austria, Festivals.