Music Staff
Dr Gwendolyn Toth, Organist & Choirmaster and Director of Music
Recognized as one of America’s leading performers on early keyboard instruments, Dr Toth performs with equal ease on the organ, harpsichord, and fortepiano. Indeed, the New York Times have remarked that “her interpretive skills are sensitive and intelligent, and she clearly has a gift for program conceptualization.” As a soloist on historical organs, Dr Toth has performed and recorded on many of the great Renaissance and Baroque instruments of Europe, including the 1434 organ in Sion, Switzerland; the 15th-century organ in Oosthuizen, Netherlands; the 1509 organ in Trevi, Italy; the 1531 organ in Krewerd, Netherlands; the 1649 organ in Zeerijp, Netherlands; the 1655 organ in the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam; the 1696 Arp Schnitger organ in Noordbroek, Netherlands; and the 1714 organ in St. Michael’s Church, Vienna.
Dr Toth is perhaps best known to us at Saint Ignatius of Antioch as the founder and artistic director of the acclaimed period instrument ensemble ARTEK, which most recently participated this past May in our Saint Ignatius at 150: a Festival of Early Music. Under her direction ARTEK performs regularly here in New York (often at Saint Ignatius) and has toured extensively in the United States and abroad. Their commercial recordings include Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo, Monteverdi: The Complete Madrigals, Book 5, Monteverdi: Complete Madrigals, Book 7, and Soli Deo Gloria: Cantatas of Johann Rosenmüller.
Dr Toth received her undergraduate degree (“cum laude”) from Middlebury College and an M.A. in composition from City College of the City University of New York. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in organ from the Yale University School of Music, and is currently Adjunct Professor of Historical Performance Practice at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and Orchestra Conductor at Manhattan College in Riverdale. She taught previously at Rutgers University, Barnard College, Mount Holyoke College, and Mannes College of Music, among others.
From 2008 until 2022 she was Music Director at Immanuel Lutheran Church on East 88th Street, and from 1989-2008 was Organist and Choral Director at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street.
Dr Toth is married to Dongsok Shin, harpsichordist of Rebel Baroque Ensemble, harpsichord tuner for the Metropolitan Opera and the Flint Collection of antique harpsichords, and an in-demand audio-video engineer. They have three children living in Brooklyn, Seattle, and Ireland, and two cats here on the Upper West Side.
You can listen to a number of Dr Toth’s organ performances on YouTube:
A canzona by Giovanni Gabrielli on the 1651 organ in the Jakobuskerk, Zeerijp, The Netherlands
The Choir of Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church
At each service, our professional Choir sings the traditional Gregorian chant propers as well as a polyphonic setting of the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) and an anthem, drawn from the great tradition of composers such as Lassus, Byrd, Monteverdi, Josquin, Hassler, and Victoria.
Jenna Takach, soprano, is an NYC transplant originally from San Antonio, TX. She has a BA in Psychology from Swarthmore College where she also studied choreography, vocal performance, and choral conducting. She sang at Church of the Good Shepherd Rosemont in Bryn Mawr, joined the Philharmonia Chorus during a semester in London, and participated in an ACDA-PA conducting masterclass as one of five students selected from across the state. She currently works as a middle school special education teacher in Brooklyn.
Richard Pittsinger, tenor, began as a treble at St. Thomas Choir School in New York, from 4th through 8th grade. In his final year, he was Head Chorister and received the T. Tertius Noble Award, upon graduation, for outstanding musical contribution. At St. Thomas, he recorded with conductor John Scott and the St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Faure’s Requiem. Currently a masters’ student at the Juilliard School, he appeared last season with Juilliard415 in the title role of Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo and as the tenor soloist in Bach’s B Minor Mass, as well as singing the role of Tempo in Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disganno.
Bennett Mahler is a violist, violinist, baritone, and international civil servant from New York. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Viola and Early Music Performance from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and is currently completing a Diploma in Procurement and Supply from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply in the United Kingdom. Mr. Mahler developed an interest in chant, polyphony, and the Anglo-Catholic Tradition while singing at St. John the Evangelist in Montreal, and is very excited to now be joining the choir at St. Ignatius of Antioch.
Peter Becker, bass, performs repertoire ranging from medieval to contemporary, both sacred and secular. A lifelong chorister, he has participated in Divine Service as a treble in Mumbai and Washington DC; as a countertenor in Washington Cathedral, Magdalen College, Oxford, and St. Thomas Fifth Avenue; and as a baritone/bass chorister and soloist in many other sacred spaces. He is a member of Hudson Shad, a vocal quintet, and ARTEK early music ensemble. Guest appearances include Tafelmusik, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Magnificat, the Newberry Consort, Folger Consort, and Portland Baroque, and festivals including Spoleto (Italy and USA), Caramoor, Ravinia, Aldeburgh, Utrecht, Hong Kong, Ravenna, Jerusalem, Macao, Miyazaki, and Saratoga.
Choral Scholar
Justin Davis is choral baritone/tenor and also has training as a violinist. His choral formation was in the Episcopal/Anglican tradition, in which he has an abiding interest. Before moving to New York, he had a long tenure in Greenville, South Carolina as a singer in the Catholic Church, where he developed a deep affinity for the music of the Catholic liturgy as expressed in Gregorian chant and Latin polyphony.
Eddie Zheng, Assistant Organist
Driven by a passion to bring the beauty and grandeur of organ music to wider audiences, Eddie Zheng is a rising concert organist whose performances have been “rapturously received” by diverse audiences around cities across the United States, Canada, France, and China. He has won several prominent competitions, including first place awards at the 2018 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition and the 2019 AGO Quimby Northeast Regional Competition.
In addition to concertizing, Eddie is dedicated to broadening the appreciation of organ music and engaging with audiences of all ages through service playing and teaching. He currently serves as Assistant Organist at Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church in New York, where he maintains a thriving teaching studio with more than 10 organ students of all ages.
Eddie’s journey with the organ began at the Juilliard Pre-College division, where he studied with Matthew Lewis before earning his combined BM/MM degree from Juilliard with Paul Jacobs. He currently continues his study with Jacobs in the Artist Diploma program at Juilliard.