Edmund Shay

b. 1938

Edmund Shay received his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School in New York City, and his DMA in performance and music theory from the University of Cincinnati. His career as concert organist, teacher and composer included teaching at the University of the Pacific, Beloit College, Pembroke State University, Madison College (now James Madison University), and Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina.

In 1962 Dr. Shay won a Fulbright Award allowing him to study in Germany with the renowned Bach performer, Helmut Walcha. He has maintained an active recital schedule while teaching, and at the same time wrote many scholarly articles for The American Organist magazine and The Diapason magazine. His four sets of “Hymn Harmonizations,” inspired by his mentor Eric Thiman, and published by MorningStar, received a glowing review in The American Organist magazine in 1995. From 1986 through 1991 he wrote reviews for the “New Organ Music” column in The Diapason.

For fourteen years Dr. Shay directed a summer seminar for organists called Bach Week; sponsored by Columbia College. Its international faculty attracted teachers and graduate students from coast to coast.