Education

B.M. Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.; M.M. Yale University; D.M.A. The University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Areas of Expertise

Church Music, Organ Literature, Service Playing and Improvisation, Music Theory, and Handbells

Interests

Backpacking and Brewing

Chad Winterfeldt

Chaplains' Office and Music

Chad Winterfeldt is Associate Organist at Christ Chapel and Director of Handbells at Gustavus. He received a doctorate in organ performance from the University of Nebraska where he studied with George Ritchie and Quentin Faulkner. His doctoral document focused on the organ music of Pamela Decker, an American composer living in Arizona. His musical interests include music for the church and organ music of the 20th century.

Dr. Winterfeldt earned his bachelor's degree at Concordia College, Moorhead and his master's degree at Yale University. While at Yale, he won the Charles Ives Prize for an outstanding major in organ playing in 1994 and the Julia R. Sherman Prize for excellence in organ playing in 1995. At Yale, he studied with Thomas Murray and Charles Krigbaum. Other teachers include Clyde Holloway at Rice University and Peter Nygaard at Concordia College.

Career highlights include the solo performance in 2002 on the Bach organ (built in 1746 by Zacharias Hildebrandt) at Wenzelskirche in Naumburg, Germany and a three-year tenure as Associate Organist for Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas (home to an instrument based on the Central German designs of Hildebrandt and others.) Most recently, Dr. Winterfeldt performed the complete La Nativit du Seigneur (The Birth of Our Lord), a set of nine meditations for organ by Olivier Messiaen at Christ Chapel in February 2009.

In addition to his work at Gustavus, Chad serves First Lutheran Church, Saint Peter, as Director of Music. He serves his professional community as the Dean of the Sioux Trails chapter of the American Guild of Organists and as the Secretary/Treasurer of Region 3 of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He is married to pianist Beth Winterfeldt; together they raise their three children Quentin, Eleanor, and Cecily.

Contact Information

Chaplains' Office
Gustavus Adolphus College
800 West College Avenue
Saint Peter, MN 56082

Phone: 507-933-6005
E-mail: cwinterf@gustavus.edu