William D. Gudger
Music

1982 Distinguished Research Award

William D. Gudger received a B.A. magna cum laude from Duke University and his M.A. M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. He has since been a faculty member or visiting lecturer at the Eastman School of Music, Duke, Arizona State University, and the University of California at Davis. Since 1978 he has been on the faculty at the College of Charleston, where he is presently Professor of Music History and Theory.

Dr. Gudger’s articles have been published in Current Musicology, The Diapason, The Organ Yearbook, The Musical Times, The American Choral Review, The American Organist, and Handel-Jahrbuch. He has also lectured on the music of Handel at many conferences, including the Maryland Handel Festival and the Royal Society of Arts in London. He presently serves on the board of the American Handel Society.

Dr. Gudger held the College Teachers Fellowship of the National Endowment for the Humanities during 1984-85, when he did research in England. He was a fellow of the 1987 and 1996 Aston magna Seminars, a participant in the 1992 Summer Institute for French Organ Studies at Souvigny and Lyon, and the 1996 Historical Organ Tour of Eastern Germany. He is a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Grove Dictionary of Opera.

Dr. Gudger was Associate Organist of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul in Charleston for seven years; since 1985 he has served as Cathedral Organist. In Charleston he has also been organist of St. Alban’s Chapel, The Citadel, and of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. He has been heard in recital during the Spoleto USA Festival, before the North American Conference of Episcopal Cathedral Deans, and played Handel concertos and British organ voluntaries for the 1985 American Guild of Organists Region IV Convention and the 1985 National Convention of the Organ Historical Society. As a harpsichordist, he also often plays Baroque chamber music and oratorios. He has preformed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and such prominent Baroque musicians as Steve Rosenberg, Stephen Preston and David Thomas. His performances as principal continuo player in Handel oratorios include Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Samson, and Solomon.