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The American choral conductor and organist, Chad Fothergill, obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Organ Performance from Gustavus Adolphus College (2006); his Master of Arts degree in Organ Performance from the University of Iowa (2008), where he studied with David Fienen and the late Delbert Disselhorst; and his PhD degree in Musicology from Temple University in Philadelphia, where he held a University Fellowship at Temple University, and his dissertation research examines with focus on the social and vocational histories of Lutheran cantors from the Reformation through the time of J.S. Bach. He attended the Lutheran Summer Music (LSM) of Valparaiso University, Indiana in 2000.
Chad Fothergill has been interim co-director of the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University, editor of CrossAccent: Journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and held visiting faculty appointments at Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Delaware. He served as interim chapel organist at Duke University since 2002, and since August 2023, he Chapel organist there, where, in addition to leading and supporting congregational singing at services and University events, he regularly collaborates with the chapel’s choral ensembles, composes liturgical music, presents pre-concert lectures as part of the Bach cantata series. In addition to accompanying the Chapel Choir, he mentors the Chapel’s organ scholar and performs at weekly organ demonstrations as well as in Chapel concerts. At the Divinity School, he assists with the planning and leadership of weekday liturgies.
Chad Fothergill has served as cantor at Lutheran Summer Music since 2018. In addition to helping plan and lead between 40-50 daily and Sunday liturgies each season, he regularly teaches organ and church music, conducts the chapel choir, and attends to ways in which the immersive “laboratory” environment of LSM can serve and enrich the wider church.
Chad Fothergill is a member of American Bach Society, American Guild of Organists, American Musicological Society, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Society for Christian Scholarship in Music. As a scholar-performer, he is frequently engaged as a worship leader, speaker, writer, consultant, and composer. He is author of Sing with All the People of God: A Handbook for Church Musicians (Augsburg Fortress, 2020) and has fulfilled commissions for articles, blogs, compositions, editorials, reviews, and reference entries for several worship resources and professional journals. He has presented solo recitals, lecture-recitals, hymn festivals, workshops, and papers at gatherings of, among others: the American Guild of Organists; Haydn Society of North America; National Worship Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran and Anglican Churches of Canada; North American Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music; Society for Christian Scholarship in Music; and congregations throughout the USA. He currently lives in in Birmingham, Alabama. |
