The Webb/Ehrlich Organ, C. B. Fisk, Opus 91 in Alumni Hall, Indiana University Memorial Union

The 2026 Summer Organ Academy will be held July 12-17, 2026

with three tracks:

Pre-College

Collegiate

*New Track: Adult Continuing Education

More details and registration soon to be announced.

About the 2026 course . . .

The Jacobs Summer Organ Academy is designed for the inquisitive and motivated organ student who seeks a week of engagement with artist faculty, the stimulation of encountering new ideas, opportunities to perform on outstanding instruments, and the camaraderie of other organists. The week will offer specific and course offerings and performance opportunities appropriate for the experience levels and learning goals of students in three categories: pre-college, collegiate and our new track for adult continuing education learners. Instruction includes daily lessons, classes in practice techniques, registration, repertoire, performance practice, sacred music, and the opportunity to study harpsichord and carillon.

Contact the Course Director

Course Founder/Director and Organ Instructor:

Janette Fishell

Janette Fishell is Professor of Organ and Chair of the Organ Department at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University where she teaches Applied Organ and Organ Pedagogy. Her students have distinguished careers as performers, educators, and church musicians throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. A frequent guest artist and teacher at conservatories, universities and civic concert series throughout the United States, she has been a featured solo recitalist at four national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and, in July, 2024, became the first female recitalist to present the endowed Saint Cecelia Recital at the Biennial Convention of the AGO in San Francisco. In addition, she frequently plays concert tours in Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia and regularly teaches at international summer schools in the US and England. Dr. Fishell concertizes throughout North America under the management of Karen McFarlane Artists.

Widely recognized as a leading authority on the organ music of the Petr Eben, she has just completed Velvet Revolution, a two volume, six-disc collection of that composer’s complete solo organ works for the Dutch classical music label Brilliant Classics. Volume one, issued in October, 2022, garnered international critical praise, earning a place on Germany’s prestigious Schalpattenkritik’s best new keyboard recordings list of 2022.

A life-long church musician, she is the recipient of the Paul Creston Award for contributions to sacred music and was named Young Organist of the Year by Keyboard Arts, Inc. while an undergraduate student. She has served as organist and organist/choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greenville, NC, The Episcopal Church of All Saints, Indianapolis, Interim Organist at Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral, Indianapolis, and is now Organist/Choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington where she leads a vibrant choral program and mentors several choral and organ scholars.

Organ Faculty: Dr. Steph Price

Stephen “Stef” C. Price recently joined the University of Washington (Seattle) music faculty as the inaugural Paul B. Fritts Faculty Fellow and Artist-in-Residence in Organ studies. Dr. Price teaches Organ performance, Organ literature, Church music, and Keyboard harmony courses. In addition, he leads ongoing initiatives toward the development and revitalization efforts of the UW Organ program, continuing the legacy of his predecessor, Dr. Carole Terry. He received the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music under the mentorship of Dr. Janette Fishell. He has competed and garnered awards in International Organ Competitions, such as the Franz Schmidt Competition (Austria), the André Marchal Competition (France), and the Canadian International Competition (Montreal). Before his Seattle appointment, he was an Assistant Teaching Professor (Organ) at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. He is an active Church musician, freelancing throughout the Pacific Northwest, and as a recitalist, he has given performances across the country. Most recently, he was a featured performer for the 2024 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in San Fransico, CA. His debut album, Paris Impact Organ Suites, is released on the Raven recording label, and he is represented by Seven Eight Artists, Inc.

Carillon Instructor: Elijah Buerk

Elijah Harrison Buerk holds the BM in both Organ Performance and Composition from the Indiana University Bloomington Jacobs School of Music. An avid student of carillon from his pre-college days, Elijah now holds the Associate Instructorship in Carillon at Jacobs, where he teaches secondary and non-major students and administers the full schedule of carillon events, including performing the majority of the university’s weekly carillon recitals on Indiana University’s Arthur R. Metz Bicentennial Grand Carillon in the Cox Arboretum. In addition to his studies, Elijah is Organist and Choir Director at First Presbyterian Church, Martinsville, IN, having previously served as Organ Scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, IN. He conducted his first opera in the summer of 2025, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, in his hometown of Centralia, Illinois.

Collaborative Sessions with the Jacobs Schola Cantorum Course:

Jeffrey Smith

Jeffrey Smith is professor of practice in organ: sacred music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and founder/director of the Jacobs Schola Cantorum Course, held in tandem with the Jacobs Summer Organ Academy.

Smith was music director at St. Paul’s Parish, K Street, in Washington D.C., for 17 years. St. Paul’s is well known as a beacon of liturgical and musical excellence.From 2004 to 2009, he served as canon director of music at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. While there, he conducted its Choir of Men and Boys in an extensive liturgical program, devised and conducted tours and recordings, and oversaw a weekly concert series.

He is active as a choral conductor, workshop leader, and recitalist, and in the work of the Royal School of Church Music, American Guild of Organists, and Association of Anglican Musicians.

Smith earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University and also studied at Northwestern University and the Royal College of Music, London. He won highest honors in receiving the fellowship of the American Guild of Organists and being named a fellow of the Royal School of Church Music and of the Guild of Church Music (U.K.).Smith’s teachers included Thomas Murray, Wolfgang Rübsam, John Birch, and David Willcocks. He studied improvisation with Gerre Hancock and Philippe Lefebvre, organist of Notre Dame de Paris.

As a commentator on church music, Smith has been heard on both NPR and BBC radio, and his choral and organ discs on the Pro Organo label have been critically praised. His compositions are published by E. C. Schirmer.