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About Stephen & Wanda's Organ Duo

Stephen and longtime friend Wanda Griffiths have been performing as a duo organ team since 2002. Their performance venues have included the Post-Compline Organ Concerts at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle, "Trinity Artists at the Organ Series" at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, All Pilgrims Christian Church, Seattle, "Fine Arts at Faith" at Faith Lutheran Church, Redmond, the Claremont United Church of Christ in Claremont, California (2004 and 2006), and at St. James Cathedral on last year's American Guild of Organists' Celebrate Organ ("Pipes Spectacular") Concert. In June 2009 Stephen and Wanda were the featured performers on an "Organ Plus" concert sponsored by the AGO for the Region VIII Convention. The concert was held at First Presbyterian Church, Bellevue, and included The Evergreen Brass Quintet, Harpist John Carrington, and Percussionist Ethan Slater. A Seattle Times article featuring the duo was published in 2010.

Stephen and Wanda on performing as a Duo Organ Team: "We enjoy the challenges that come with playing this rarely-heard repertoire. There is a great deal of choreography involved when we are preparing to perform. Working out which hands will be on which keyboard and how one gets to and from those keyboards is important in order to make the music happen beautifully and seamlessly. When pedal passages move from one performer to the other, we have to be careful to get out of the way of the other person's feet or risk potential injury! It's a lot like dancing, and sometimes we feel like a pair of figure skaters, as they turn and spin across the ice. Our collaborative movement is vitally important to how the music sounds. We have to play as if we are one person."

Stephen & Wanda Bios

Stephen Marshall-Ward has performed concerts on both the east and west coasts, as well as throughout Europe.  He holds degrees in church music, has completed post-graduate studies at Westminster Choir College and Southwestern Seminary, and in 2012 was awarded a Doctor of Sacred Music Degree through The Graduate Theological Foundation completing his studies at Oxford University where he worked closely with his mentor, Bishop David Stancliffe, to present a detailed analysis of Morten Lauridsen’s Midwinter Songs.  His organ teachers have included William Fawk, Ed Dunbar, Joan Lippincott, Al Travis, and John Weaver.  Dr. Marshall-Ward has taught Music Theory and directed the Men’s Chorus at Seattle Pacific University, and from 2011 to 2015 served as Professor and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett.  He is a past Dean of the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and has served faith communities for forty years.  Moving to Seattle in 1993, he has served First Presbyterian Church and Edmonds United Methodist Church.  Presently, Dr. Marshall-Ward has the privilege of serving as Minister of Music and Organist for All Pilgrims Christian Church, Accompanist and Assistant Choir Director at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, Music Director of Cantabile Chamber Choir of Skagit Valley, and Founder & Music Director of reSound – a Northwest Chamber Ensemble in-residence at Lynnwood’s Trinity Lutheran Church.  Frequently asked to be a guest speaker at area churches on Worship and the Arts, Dr. Marshall-Ward greatly enjoys helping people free personal expression through creative arts and the study of aesthetics. Dr. Marshall-Ward owns Stephen Marshall Design, Inc., an award-winning interior and architectural design company specializing in sacred spaces.  He lives in Lynnwood with his husband, James, and is grateful to his loving family for the many ways they support and inspire him.

Wanda Griffiths has played numerous solo organ recitals on the west coast and in the Midwest.  She has appeared as Guest Organist with the Tucson Masterworks Chorale in Tucson, Arizona, and in recital on the Glatter-Götz/Rosales organ at the Claremont United Church of Christ in Claremont, California.  Dr. Griffiths has taught at Cal State Los Angeles, Eureka College (Eureka, Illinois), and the University of Washington.  From 2011 to 2015 she taught Music Theory and Music History at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, and from 2015 to 2016 taught Music Theory and Orchestration & Arranging at Concordia University, Portland.  Shehas been a program annotator for the Organ Recital Series sponsored by the Seattle Symphony, and is a Past Dean of the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.  She has been a clinician for many church music workshops in Illinois, California, and Washington, and recently directed the January Jubilee Event (a one-day workshop for church musicians) sponsored by the American Guild of Organists and Plymouth Church.  She has a Bachelors degree in Music Education and Organ Performance from Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas, holds a Masters Degree in Organ Performance from USC, where she studied with Ladd Thomas, and a Ph.D. in Musicology from Claremont Graduate University, where she focused on the tragédie lyrique (French Baroque Opera), and especially on Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre’s 1694 tragédie lyrique “Céphale et Procris.”  She is presently Minister of Music at the Green Lake Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Seattle and Transitional Director of Music & Organist at Plymouth Church, UCC, Seattle, where she conducts the 50 voice Plymouth Choir and the Plymouth Ringers.