Biography
Composition and improvisation are both creative arts. Each requires a different skill but both call upon the creative process. Gerre Hancock is one of the leading improvisors in America today. Among his teachers to this end were Nadia Boulanger, Jean langlais and Searle Wright. In his position of Organist and master of the Choristers at St. Thomas Church, his talent was used almost on a daily basis and congregants and visitors of St. Thomas Church certainly experienced the result of Dr. Hancock's ability Sunday after Sunday.
Gerre Hancock received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas and his Master of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He also studied in Paris as a recipient of a Rotary Foundation Fellowship. He was awarded the Doctor of Music degree by Nashotah house Seminary in 1986. His organ study has been with E. William Doty, Robert Baker, Jean langlais, and Marie-Claire Alain. Dr. Hancock is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists. He has been a member of its national Council, and a founder and past president of the Associan of Anglican Musicians. He has been on the faculties of The Julliard School and the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. Prior to his appointment at St. Thomas, he was Assistant Organist at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City, and organist and Choirmaster of Christ Church in Cincinnati where he also served on the Artist Faculty of the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. He is currently Professor of Organ and Sacred Music at the University of Texas, Austin.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.