Tate Addis, Organist

Tate Addis

Organist, Pianist, Church Musician

Biography

Organist Tate Addis’ performances have been described as ‘spectacular’ and acclaimed for their ‘deeply communicative musicality,’ leading the Kansas City Star to write, ‘this organist has the right stuff.’ His recent solo performances have taken him to Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Princeton, Washington, D.C., the Bloomfield Organ Series at Wichita State University, and to Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria for a series of concerts commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of organist and composer Anton Heiller’s birth. His performances have been broadcast in North America on American Public Media’s Pipedreams and in Europe on Radio Klassik Stephansdom.

A church musician since his childhood, Tate has held positions at New York City’s Brick Presbyterian Church, Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, and the Yale Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven. Currently, he serves as Associate Director of Music and Organist at First Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina, where he collaborates with the Pastor for Music and Worship in a comprehensive music program, directs the youth and adult handbell ensembles, and teaches organ and piano in the church’s Academy for the Arts. He is also the Artist-in-Residence at St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina, where he performs annual organ recitals and accompanies the St. James Choir in their Evensong services. He is the collaborative artist for the Blue Ridge Consort, a professional vocal ensemble serving Western North Carolina, and serves as Assistant Director and Accompanist for the Asheville Symphony Chorus. As a collaborative pianist, he has performed with violinists Daniel Hope and Benny Kim, tenor Vinson Cole, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Tate Addis holds degrees from Wichita State University, the University of Missouri – Kansas City, Yale University, and Oberlin Conservatory. His principal teachers were James David Christie, Lynne Davis, Thomas Murray, Andrew Trechak, and Robert Weirich. Additional studies were with Marie-Louise Langlais and Roman Summereder, and in masterclasses with Leon Fleisher and Jerome Lowenthal. Tate makes his home in Asheville with his wife, Rev. Laura Addis, and their daughter, Maggie.