About
The Southern Ohio Chapter of the American Guild of Organists — later renamed the Cincinnati Chapter —was founded on September 27, 1913 thanks to the efforts of Alois Bartschmid, who arrived in Cincinnati from Boston, and Sidney C. Durst, a member of the first Ohio Chapter, headquartered in Cleveland.
The Chapter today is governed by the Executive Committee under the leadership of the Dean and the other officers elected by our members.
Michael Unger, Dean
Michael Unger has served as Dean of the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Guild of Organists since 2022. He is Associate Professor of Organ and Harpsichord at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and performs regularly as a soloist and chamber music throughout the region, as well as nationally and internationally. Recent orchestral appearances include Camille Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3 “Organ”, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts with Performers’ Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and is also a Gold Medal graduate of the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Formerly the Director of Music at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word in Rochester, NY, he currently serves as organist of Cincinnati’s historic Isaac M. Wise –Plum Street Temple.
Stella O’Neill, Sub-Dean
Stella O’Neill, an organist and choral conductor in the Cincinnati area, earned her Bachelor of Music in piano performance at the University of Minnesota. Stella continued on to pursue a Master of Music at the University of Florida in organ performance, where she also began work in harpsichord accompanying and continuo playing. She earned her doctoral degree in organ performance at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where she also was organ scholar at Christ Church Cathedral and gained experience in directing choirs. She is now director of music at St. Rose of Lima, Cincinnati. Other than making music, Stella enjoys spending time with her family: her husband and daughter, where gardening and jewelry making are some of her preferred pastimes.
Christopher Holman, Secretary
Christopher Holman is Director of Music at St. Gertrude Church (Roman Catholic, Dominican Order) in Madeira, Cincinnati. Prior to moving to Ohio, he completed the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Music at the University of Oxford in England, where he directed the Choir of Exeter College, was Lecturer in Organ History at the University’s Betts Centre for Organ Studies, and taught counterpoint and fugue. From 2017–2019 he was a Frank Huntington Beebe Fellow at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. He holds undergraduate degrees in organ and voice from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in organ from the University of Houston. He is the Founder and Editor of the AGO-affiliated online journal Vox Humana, and currently serves as the Chair of AGO national's Editorial Resources Committee and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s Music Committee.
John Webb, Treasurer
John Webb has been an active member of the AGO for many years. He earned his BA in Music and BS in Business Administration in 1997 and then earned his MBA 2005. John has been active in several AGO chapters including Charlotte and Indianapolis where he served as sub-dean and dean. He also served as the chair of the program committee for the Great Lakes Regional Convention in 2015 and served two terms as the Great Lakes regional coordinator of Professional Development. John previously service the Cincinnati AGO as treasurer in 1998–2000.
Members at Large
Sean Connolly
Jason Gunnell
Daniel Grotz
Andrew Hackett
Brenda Hayden, Membership Coordinator
Cheryl Raine
Tyler Robertson