Our guest organist July 24 and July 31 will be the esteemed Dr. James Vail,
Professor Emeritus of Choral and Sacred Music at the USC Thornton School of Music, where he taught and conducted choirs from 1961-1999.
Dr. Vail was named Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Westwood in 2009, after serving for 40 years. Prior to that he held the same post at St. John’s Episcopal Church (now Pro-cathedral), Los Angeles from 1954-1969, and most recently at Pacific Palisades Presbyterian from 2010-June 2014. In December, 2009, Dr. Vail was named an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral Center of St. Paul by Bishop J. Jon Bruno, in recognition of his fifty-five years of service as a musician in the Los Angeles Diocese.
James Vail has been Choirmaster and Organist at Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church since May of 2010. He has held similar posts in churches in Los Angeles, La Jolla, and Philadelphia since 1947. He was named Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, in 2009, after serving for 40 years. Dr. Vail is also Professor Emeritus of Choral and Sacred Music at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, where he taught and conducted choirs from 1961 to 1999.
James Vail holds the B.M. degree in organ from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the M.M. and D.M.A. in church music from USC.
