Surrounded by students and friends, AGO Centennial Convention, NYC

With Marie-Madeleine Duruflé

Receiving the International Performer of the Year Award, NYC

At Trinité, Paris

With Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen

At St.-Sulpice, Paris

Press and public alike proclaim American organist Jon Gillock for his sensitive and moving performances. Known for his ability to express and interpret the mystical and sublime, the deep and profound, to communicate with and move his audiences, he is especially fond of performing the "French spiritual repertoire". This includes the music of such composers as César Franck, Maurice Duruflé, Louis Vierne, Nicolas de Grigny, François Couperin, Charles Tournemire, and, of course, Olivier Messiaen and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Often a soloist in international festivals, he has also been a featured recitalist and master teacher for conventions of both the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. In 1996 he was chosen to give the opening recital for the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in New York City, which celebrated the centennial anniversary of this organization.

Jon Gillock grew up in Oklahoma where he began studying the piano at an early age. He received the BM with high honors and the MM degrees from the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville); his major teacher there was John Cowell. He did graduate study at the College of Church Musicians, Washington Cathedral, with Leo Sowerby and Paul Callaway. He earned his DMA degree from The Juilliard School under Vernon de Tar (organ) and Gustave Reese (musicology). It was while he was still a student there that he began his long teaching association with Juilliard. Later, he studied with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory.

Jon Gillock has established an international career both as a performer and as a master teacher.

Chronology of Career Highlights