Meet Gabriel Rhys Simerson
In August of 2024, St. Paul’s, Ivy was very happy to add Gabriel Rhys Simerson to our staff, serving as Director of Music Ministries.
Gabe, organist-choirmaster, bass, and composer, previously (2021–2024) served as interim, then permanent, Director of Music and Organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Burke, VA. In college Gabe served as temporary music director at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD during the sabbatical of The Thirteen’s Matthew Robertson, and as Interim Director of Music and Organist of St. Thomas’s, New Haven, Connecticut (a bench once occupied by Charles Ives).
Gabe received his fundamental choral, organ, and liturgical formation at St. Paul’s, K Street in Washington, DC, where he played a degree recital on the parish’s landmark Schoenstein organ, an instrument that inspired Gabe’s love for Schoenstein’s work and primed his appreciation for the St. Paul’s, Ivy organ!
A composer with a particular interest in liturgical music, his works have been premiered and presented annually in the United States, England, and Scotland, including performances at Wells Cathedral and Washington National Cathedral. He serves on the Board of the Westminster Organ Concert Series, the Nominating Committee of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and as Sub-Dean of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, from which he holds the Choirmaster certificate.
Contact Gabe at 434/979-6354 or send an email.