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THE VERY REV. HARRIETTE J. SIMMONS
RECTOR
The Reverend Harriette Simmons has returned as Priest in Charge of Christ Church after having been in Augusta, Georgia as Associate Rector of St. Paul’s and Rector of St. Augustine’s of Canterbury. Harriette was previously Associate Rector of Christ Church as well as Interim Rector. She is currently serving as Dean of the Macon Convocation.
Harriette is a native of Macon and a graduate of Wesleyan College. She attended seminary at the University of the South and at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Harriette has four adult children and six grandchildren.
RECTOR
The Reverend Harriette Simmons has returned as Priest in Charge of Christ Church after having been in Augusta, Georgia as Associate Rector of St. Paul’s and Rector of St. Augustine’s of Canterbury. Harriette was previously Associate Rector of Christ Church as well as Interim Rector. She is currently serving as Dean of the Macon Convocation.
Harriette is a native of Macon and a graduate of Wesleyan College. She attended seminary at the University of the South and at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Harriette has four adult children and six grandchildren.
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THE REV. JOSEPH J. SHIPPEN
ASSOCIATE RECTOR
A native of Atlanta, Joseph graduated from Mercer University in Macon, where he met his wife,Suzanne. They have two children.
Joseph attended seminary at The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City. He has served as the Assistant Rector at St. James in Marietta, Georgia, as a chaplain at a prison, as the Interim Rector at St. Francis, Macon, and as the Rector of St. James, Macon.
ASSOCIATE RECTOR
A native of Atlanta, Joseph graduated from Mercer University in Macon, where he met his wife,Suzanne. They have two children.
Joseph attended seminary at The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City. He has served as the Assistant Rector at St. James in Marietta, Georgia, as a chaplain at a prison, as the Interim Rector at St. Francis, Macon, and as the Rector of St. James, Macon.
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THE REV. ARTHUR VILLARREAL
DEACON
Deacon Arthur comes to us from St. James, Macon. He is from Houston Texas and part of large family of eight children. He spent most of his summers at Lake Lanier near Gainesville Georgia. His family fell in love with the North Georgia Mountains and finally made it their home. Arthur earned a BA in Finance and Management from the Cottrell School of Business at the University of North Georgia. After spending fifteen years in corporate banking with a national bank, he pursued a management and paralegal career with an Atlanta area law firm representing the banking industry. He attended Emory University where he received a certificate of paralegal studies.
Arthur found the Episcopal Church after moving just a block from Saint Philip’s Cathedral early in his adult life. He was confirmed in the Episcopal Church on the Feast of St. Bartholomew (August 1991) at St. Bartholomew’s in Atlanta. After discernment into the ministry, Arthur left his management career to attend the Episcopal School for Deacons at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley California. In May 2011, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Diaconal Studies. Arthur was ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Church on the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 2011) by Bishop J. Neil Alexander at the Cathedral of Saint Philip.
Arthur’s partner, The Reverend Ben R. Wells, is the Rector at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Macon Georgia. They are blessed with a host of god children, as well as, nieces and nephews. They enjoy traveling to visit family and friends.
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JACK MITCHENER
ORGANIST / CHOIRMASTER
Jack Mitchener has recently been appointed Director of the Townsend-McAfee Institute of Church Music, Associate Professor of Organ in the Townsend School of Music and University Organist at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He also serves as Organist/Choirmaster at the historic Christ Episcopal Church in the same city. A former faculty member at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he also has served on the faculties of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Salem College, the Eastman School of Music (Community Education Division) and the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.
Dr. Mitchener has concertized widely and received critical acclaim for his “expressive and original playing” and his “poetic style” (The American Organist). He has given recitals, lectures, and master classes for national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Music Teachers National Association, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (Montreat Conference), the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, and the Historical Keyboard Society in North America. He has performed in notable venues such as the Church of St. Sulpice and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, St. Thomas Church, New York City, the Augustinerkirche (St. Augustine’s) in Vienna, the St. Jacobikirche in Lübeck, Germany, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. He also has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Nick Eanet (Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), the Mendelssohn and Ying String Quartets, lutenist Paul O’Dette, baroque flutists Sandra Miller and Rebecca Troxler, and composer John Corigliano. A laureate in the Philadelphia American Guild of Organists Competition, Music Teachers National Association National Organ Competition, and Dublin International Organ Competition, his performances have been heard in concert and in broadcasts (such as Pipe Dreams) throughout the USA and Europe. In June 2012, he toured Asia giving recitals, master classes, lectures, and workshops in Hong Kong and Japan. He also has spent the last two summers in residence at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In July 2013 he will serve on the faculty for the Birmingham AGO Pipe Organ Encounter (POE). His work as a collaborative artist can be heard on five compact discs, and his solo recordings are available on the Raven label. His CD Dulcet Tones: Jack Mitchener Plays the Salem Tannenberg has garnered praise by the critics: “Superb…an impressive and rather moving listening experience” (International Record Review, London).
Jack Mitchener’s repertoire includes extensive works from the early literature, the complete organ works of J. S. Bach, many major compositions of the 19 th century, and premières of new works by Emma Lou Diemer, Dan Locklair, Margaret Vardell Sandresky, and Robert Ward (winner of the Pulitzer Prize). A former organ student of Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, David Craighead, David Higgs, Susan Landale, Louise Leach (his first organ teacher), John Mueller, Robert Murphy, and Russell Saunders, he also studied improvisation with Gerre Hancock. He studied piano with James Cobb, Louise Leach, Kimberly Kabala, and Clifton Matthews and harpsichord with Arthur Haas and Huguette Dreyfus. He holds two master’s degrees and the Doctor of Musical Arts as well as the Performer’s Certificate in both organ and harpsichord from The Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. His undergraduate degree is from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. During his two years studying in Paris, he won the Médaille d’or (Gold Medal), Prix d’Excellence , and Prix de Virtuosité at the Conservatoire National de Rueil-Malmaison, France.
He has served on competition juries including the recorded round of the AGO National Competition (NYACOP) and the Biarritz International Organ Competition in France. In March 2013 he will serve on the jury of the William C. Hall Pipe Organ Competition in San Antonio, Texas.
In addition to teaching and performing, Jack Mitchener has had a long career in the field of church music, serving several congregations including the American Cathedral in Paris and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, NC, where he played the historic E.M. Skinner organ, Opus 712. For the American Guild of Organists, he has been a chapter dean and a member of the National Committee on Professional Education. In addition, he was President of the Board of Trustees of the Moravian Music Foundation, is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, and has been cited in numerous Who’s Who publications. Jack Mitchener is a member of Windwerk Artists Management. For more information, visit www.jackmitchener.com .
ORGANIST / CHOIRMASTER
Jack Mitchener has recently been appointed Director of the Townsend-McAfee Institute of Church Music, Associate Professor of Organ in the Townsend School of Music and University Organist at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He also serves as Organist/Choirmaster at the historic Christ Episcopal Church in the same city. A former faculty member at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he also has served on the faculties of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Salem College, the Eastman School of Music (Community Education Division) and the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.
Dr. Mitchener has concertized widely and received critical acclaim for his “expressive and original playing” and his “poetic style” (The American Organist). He has given recitals, lectures, and master classes for national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Music Teachers National Association, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (Montreat Conference), the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, and the Historical Keyboard Society in North America. He has performed in notable venues such as the Church of St. Sulpice and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, St. Thomas Church, New York City, the Augustinerkirche (St. Augustine’s) in Vienna, the St. Jacobikirche in Lübeck, Germany, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. He also has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Nick Eanet (Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), the Mendelssohn and Ying String Quartets, lutenist Paul O’Dette, baroque flutists Sandra Miller and Rebecca Troxler, and composer John Corigliano. A laureate in the Philadelphia American Guild of Organists Competition, Music Teachers National Association National Organ Competition, and Dublin International Organ Competition, his performances have been heard in concert and in broadcasts (such as Pipe Dreams) throughout the USA and Europe. In June 2012, he toured Asia giving recitals, master classes, lectures, and workshops in Hong Kong and Japan. He also has spent the last two summers in residence at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In July 2013 he will serve on the faculty for the Birmingham AGO Pipe Organ Encounter (POE). His work as a collaborative artist can be heard on five compact discs, and his solo recordings are available on the Raven label. His CD Dulcet Tones: Jack Mitchener Plays the Salem Tannenberg has garnered praise by the critics: “Superb…an impressive and rather moving listening experience” (International Record Review, London).
Jack Mitchener’s repertoire includes extensive works from the early literature, the complete organ works of J. S. Bach, many major compositions of the 19 th century, and premières of new works by Emma Lou Diemer, Dan Locklair, Margaret Vardell Sandresky, and Robert Ward (winner of the Pulitzer Prize). A former organ student of Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, David Craighead, David Higgs, Susan Landale, Louise Leach (his first organ teacher), John Mueller, Robert Murphy, and Russell Saunders, he also studied improvisation with Gerre Hancock. He studied piano with James Cobb, Louise Leach, Kimberly Kabala, and Clifton Matthews and harpsichord with Arthur Haas and Huguette Dreyfus. He holds two master’s degrees and the Doctor of Musical Arts as well as the Performer’s Certificate in both organ and harpsichord from The Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. His undergraduate degree is from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. During his two years studying in Paris, he won the Médaille d’or (Gold Medal), Prix d’Excellence , and Prix de Virtuosité at the Conservatoire National de Rueil-Malmaison, France.
He has served on competition juries including the recorded round of the AGO National Competition (NYACOP) and the Biarritz International Organ Competition in France. In March 2013 he will serve on the jury of the William C. Hall Pipe Organ Competition in San Antonio, Texas.
In addition to teaching and performing, Jack Mitchener has had a long career in the field of church music, serving several congregations including the American Cathedral in Paris and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, NC, where he played the historic E.M. Skinner organ, Opus 712. For the American Guild of Organists, he has been a chapter dean and a member of the National Committee on Professional Education. In addition, he was President of the Board of Trustees of the Moravian Music Foundation, is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, and has been cited in numerous Who’s Who publications. Jack Mitchener is a member of Windwerk Artists Management. For more information, visit www.jackmitchener.com .