Dean Wagner holds a Master of Music degree in organ performance from the University of Akron and a Bachelor of Music education degree from Cedarville College. His organ teachers include Barbara MacGregor and Karl Stahl. Besides being awarded the John E. Kohl
Music Scholarship and Trophy while attending
Cedarville College, Mr. Wagner also won two statewide
competitions in 1987: The Frentz Organ Scholarship for
organ performance and the Marguerite Imhoff Church
Musician Scholarship for Church Music Studies, both
awarded by the Tuesday Musical Club of Akron.
Currently, Mr. Wagner is the full-time Associate
Director of Music and Organist for the First United
Methodist Church of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. In addition
to extensive accompanying duties there, he also
directs the fully graded children's choir program
ranging from preschool to fifth grade, and a fully
graded handbell program of six choirs. Mr. Wagner has
served as the Conference Organist for the East Ohio
Conference of the United Methodist Church. He also
served as an accompanist at the National Convocation
of the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians in
Grand Rapids. At present, he is working on presenting
a series of recitals at First Methodist of the
complete organ works of Bach. In February of 2000 he
presented an organ concert at the National Cathedral
in Washington, DC. Mr. Wagner has recorded a solo
organ recording entitled Four Centuries of Organ
Music.
In the realm of handbells, Mr. Wagner is known
nationally for his work as a handbell composer,
arranger, and clinician. He has served as a regular
clinician for the AGEHR, and Handbell Exploration
International . He has published several works for
handbells that have been performed internationally. He
is the founder and director of the professional
community handbell ensemble in Northeast Ohio.
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