Craighead, David

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Craighead, David

Craighead, David , highly regarded American organist and pedagogue; b. Strasburg, Pa., Jan. 24, 1924. He was a student of Alexander McCurdy at the Curtis Inst. of Music in Philadelphia (B.M., 1946). He began his career as a church organist, then taught at Westminster Choir Coll. in Princeton, NJ. (1945–6) and at Occidental Coll. in Los Angeles (1948–55). From 1955 to 1992 he was prof. of organ and chairman of the organ dept. at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y, where he taught again in 1993. He made extensive tours of the U.S. as a concert artist, giving numerous world premieres.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire