Artistic Director: Thomas Bara
Interlochen Arts Academy Instructor of Organ

Thomas Bara is Instructor of Organ, Music Theory and Class Piano at the Interlochen Arts Academy and at the Interlochen Arts Camp.  He also is Choirmaster at Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City and serves nationally on the Committee on the New Organist.

Mr. Bara came to Interlochen from Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York, NY where he worked as Assistant Organist under Gerre and Judith Hancock. Prior to his appointment to Saint Thomas, he served as Organist-Choirmaster and Fine Arts Chair at the Saint James School, Saint James, MD and as Director of Music Ministries and Organist at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY.  He was Organ Scholar at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in 1991-92.

Mr. Bara studied organ at the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he was awarded the Fine Arts and Young Artist awards upon graduation in 1987. He then earned the B.Mus. from the University of Michigan and the M.Mus. from the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman, Mr. Bara received the prestigious Performance Certificate and the first Harold Gleason Emerging Artist Award. His teachers include Robert Glasgow, Arthur Haas, Gerre Hancock, David Higgs, Robert Murphy and Russell Saunders.

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