STILLWATER, OK, November 19, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Rebecca Groom te Velde with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Mrs. te Velde celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
A leader in her profession for more than 35 years, Rebecca te Velde currently serves as Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church in Stillwater, OK (Organist since 1991). Previously, she served Denny Park Lutheran Church in Seattle, WA (1983–1987) and St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Fargo, ND (1987–1991), among others. She also taught as adjunct instructor of music at Oklahoma State University 1999–2014, and as adjunct instructor of organ at Oklahoma City University 2014–2015.
Ms. te Velde began piano study at an early age with her mother, Myrtle Groom, and then studied with Helen Burgess. While in high school, she began organ study with her father, Lester H. Groom, and continued organ and composition studies with him at Seattle Pacific University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in music (organ performance) in 1978. She went on to complete the Master of Music degree in organ performance and literature in 1982 at the University of Western Ontario in London (Canada), where her organ study was with Hugh J. McLean, and composition with Jack Behrens. In 1980, she performed at the national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Minneapolis as a finalist in the AGO National Organ Playing Competition, an early career highlight. That same summer, she was one of 22 young organists chosen from around the world to study for two weeks with the great Belgian virtuoso, Flor Peeters, at the International Flor Peeters Masterclass held in Mechelen, Belgium.
For the academic year 1980-81, te Velde was awarded a full grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to study with internationally renowned pedagogue and recording artist Michael Schneider at the Musikhochschule Köln (Cologne, Germany). During that year, she was able to research her master's document, "Ornamentation in the Eighteen Organ Chorales of J. S. Bach", studying Bach's own manuscript in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin (then in East Berlin, DDR).
Ms. te Velde's organ studies also included work with German performing artist Almut Rössler, and later with Gerald Frank at Oklahoma State University. She has performed in the U.S., Canada, Germany, England, and Switzerland, and has performed and given workshops on service playing and organ repertoire at regional and national AGO conventions. In 2017, she was a featured performer at the AGO Southwest Region Convention in Dallas.
Ms. te Velde is a long-time member and proponent of the American Guild of Organists, the largest professional organization for organists with 295 chapters supporting approximately 15,000 organists and choral directors worldwide. In 1989, she earned the Associate certificate (AAGO). She has gone on to serve the AGO in the Seattle, Fargo-Moorhead, and Cimarron Chapters, the latter in various roles including two terms as chapter Dean. She was also AGO District Convener for Oklahoma, and she served at the national level on the AGO Committee for Educational Resources from 2003 to 2009.
A fourth-generation professional organist herself, Ms. te Velde also gave her son, Brent, his early organ instruction. In addition to college and private organ teaching, Ms. te Velde has served as an adjudicator for many organ competitions, including twice for the AGO Southwest Regional Competition for Young Organists, and for the William C. Hall Pipe Organ Competition in San Antonio in 2015.
As a composer, Ms. te Velde won the 2005 AGO Region VII (Southwest) Composition Competition and premiered her winning composition, Variations on a Theme of Samuel Scheidt–Puer natus in Bethlehem, at that year's AGO Region VII convention in Tulsa. It was published by Oxford University Press, and OUP has since published her two volumes of Hymn Miniatures and two anthems in Oxford Book of Easy Flexible Anthems. Other organ compositions are published by Darcey Press, G.I.A., and Selah Music Publishing, and additional choral pieces are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing. In 2016, Ms. te Velde was a commissioned composer for the 2016 AGO national convention in Houston, contributing to their Bayoubüchlein. Together with composer/editor David Blackwell, te Velde is co-editor of the series Oxford Hymn Settings for Organists Vol. 1-6, which also contains many of her organ pieces.
Rebecca Groom te Velde married John Raymond te Velde in 1981. He is Professor of German at Oklahoma State University. They have two children, Vera and Brent. Dr. Vera te Velde is a behavioral economist on the faculty of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Brent te Velde is a leading organist and music director of his generation, currently serving St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA, and completing the Doctor of Music degree at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
In her free time, Ms. te Velde enjoys traveling, hiking, cooking, photography, and especially composing for organists and choirs. She has been featured in several editions of Who's Who in America, and Who's Who of American Women. In recognition of outstanding contributions to her profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Mrs. te Velde has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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