Trainers

Don Cook joined the organ faculty of Brigham Young University in 1991. In that capacity he oversees a highly successful group organ program and serves as organ area head and as university carillonneur. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from BYU, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Kansas. Don appears frequently as a Guest Organist at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, and currently serves as National Councillor for Education, American Guild of Organists. He and his wife Kim have six children and five grandchildren.

Felipe Dominguez (b. 1983) is a Chilean/American organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist. A graduate of Brigham Young University (B.M. 2010, M.M. 2012), he studied organ and harpsichord with Douglas Bush and Don Cook. He has pursued further postgraduate organ instruction in Europe with Edoardo Belotti, Hans Davidsson, Francesco Cera, Harald Vogel, Leon Berben and Luc Ponet. Mr. Dominguez has performed as a soloist and in ensembles in Chile, Argentina, the United States and Europe. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Musicology at Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. He currently services as the Organist and Music Director at First Presbyterian Church of Annandale (Washington, DC Metropolitan Area).

Jonathan Evans, a native of Warrenton, VA, earned a Bachelor's degree in Organ Performance from Brigham Young University in 2012. During his senior year, Jonathan was a finalist in the annual BYU Concerto Competition, earning the chance to perform Samuel Barber's "Toccata Festiva" with the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, for his Honors Thesis, he studied the British composer Charles Parry's major organ work "Fantasia and Fugue in G Major," writing an analysis and completing a scholarly edition. Jonathan has played for LDS, Anglican, Christian Scientist and Catholic services. Currently, he serves as a ward organist in the McLean Stake. Jonathan has a Master's degree in Government from Georgetown University and works as a social science researcher. He is married and has two girls.

Acclaimed as “one of the finest products of the American organist school,” [La Nuova Venezia] Neil Harmon was recently appointed to the organ faculty at Brigham Young University where he will begin teaching this fall.  An organist, conductor, composer, and teacher, he is completing 19 years as Director of Music and Organist at Grace United Methodist Church in Wilmington, Delaware.  Neil holds a Bachelor of Music degree from BYU and Masters and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees from The Eastman School of Music.  Dr. Harmon’s widely published compositions include a seven-movement Requiem for choir, orchestra, and soprano, as well as music for solo organ, handbell choir, mixed chorus, and brass quintet.  Active in the American Guild of Organists, he served twice as Co-Director of the Delaware Pipe Organ Encounter.  Neil and his wife, Anese, are the parents of five children.

Valerie Harris holds a Master of Music in Organ Performance from Shenandoah University and will complete the Graduate Certificate in Church Music from Shenandoah University this year.  She holds a B.A. in piano pedagogy from Brigham Young University, where she also studied organ and harpsichord.  She is certified as a Colleague with the American Guild of Organists, of which she is an active member.  She also has extensive experience as interim and long-term substitute organist and choirmaster in a variety of Washington D.C. Area Churches.  She has served as an LDS organist for 35 years and has taught piano and organ for over 35 years. She served as music director for the Washington D.C. Area production of Savior of the World at the Temple Visitors’ Center in 2016 and 2017.

Kymberly (Stone) Payne is a young organist who is passionate about sharing her love of the organ, and the power we have as organists to bless others and change lives. Kymberly completed her Masters of Music with an emphasis in Organ Performance at Brigham Young University in 2016, even though she didn’t start playing the organ until just a few years earlier.
In November 2016, she moved to California when she married Curt Payne, and they are currently living in the Bay Area. She continues to teach and perform extensively in the Bay Area and is humbled that she gets to continue her involvement with these LDS Organ Workshops as Organ Workshop Consultant on behalf of the BYU School of Music.
Her busy schedule includes recitals as Guest Organist at the Tabernacle of Temple Square in Salt Lake City Utah, teaching her private piano and organ students, and serving as Organist at First Covenant Church in Oakland.