JOHN AYER has received praise and accolades from church musicians and sacred music devotees on both sides of the Atlantic for his work as founder and musical director of the Memphis Boychoir and Memphis Chamber Choir. From 1990 through 2003, while serving as Organist and Choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Memphis, his choirs explored and showcased new composers and repertoire. Ayer’s dozen CD recordings with his Memphis choirs and their frequent performances in Memphis and in radio broadcasts created an international presence which has served as models for innovative conductors and choral ensembles around the world. In 2003, Ayer departed from his Memphis base to the East Coast. While holding a variety of interim posts, including that of Music Director at Trinity Church, Princeton, he concentrates his efforts on making new recordings on his primary instrument, the pipe organ. This CD is John Ayer’s fourth organ recording to be released on the Pro Organo label. A native of Boston, Mr. Ayer graduated from the Hartt College of Music with a double major in organ and choral conducting, received two master’s degrees in organ and sacred music from Southern Methodist University, and pursued doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music. His teachers have included Marlan Allen, Edward Clark, David Pizarro, Yuko Hayashi, Robert Anderson and David Craighead (organ), and Vincent Allison, Gerald Mack, Lloyd Pfautsch and Donald Neuen (choral conducting). In addition, he apprenticed with former Harvard University organist Murray Forbes Somerville, and with Allan Wicks at Canterbury Cathedral, England. Ayer also served as a Music Fellow under Gerre Hancock at St. Thomas Church, New York City, and has been an officer in the American Guild of Organists, and a member of both The Association of Anglican Musicians and The American Choral Directors Association.