Saint Dunstan’s is happy to announce that we have extended an Invitation to Krista Mays to become our Parish organist effective February 10, 2022. A native of Denver, Colorado, Krista has served over the past twenty-five years as an organist/choirmaster and director of liturgical arts in various churches. She has also been a pianist and accompanist, classroom and private teacher, and symphony violist.
Krista holds a degree in music from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri (1995.) At Jewell, the organ professor asked Krista if she had ever tried to play the pipe organ. The professor believed Krista would love the instrument because of her combined keyboard and symphony experience. The professor was right, Krista began to see the organ as “a wee symphony in a box.” She studied organ for the rest of her undergraduate work, then applied her learning in several church jobs.
Krista also holds a master’s degree in viola performance from the University of Texas at Austin (1998,) where she was a University Fellow. When she was working on her master’s degree, Krista worked as an organist/choirmaster at St. George’s Episcopal Church. It was there that she fell in love with the Episcopal Church and Anglican liturgy and music. After graduation, Krista served as organist/choirmaster at Ascension Episcopal Church in Pueblo, Colorado, where she worked under theologian and author Ephraim Radner, who is both an Episcopal Priest and an accomplished violinist.
In Colorado, Krista was trained in Godly Play and was a Musikgarten early childhood music and movement instructor. She also started Happy Notes, a “Mommy/Daddy and Me” program for children birth through age three. At some point along the way, Krista and her family moved to Iowa where she spent a few years at Trinity Cathedral, Davenport. I was blessed to be the Associate Dean at the time when Krista was the Director of Music and Organist. It was during her term at the Cathedral that Krista traveled to Canterbury, England, where she studied at the Royal School of Church Music. Krista describes her time in England as a magical time of learning and renewal, “Compline by candlelight led by the Cathedral Dean in that cavernous space is something I’ll not soon forget. In the course of the week, when I visited Dover Castle, I was delighted to find a dedication in their small chapel to my favorite hymnist, Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy.” Her favorite hymn by Kennedy is “Not here for high and holy things.” The last verse of that famous hymn reads, “To give and give and give again what God hath given thee, to spend thyself, nor count the cost, but serve right gloriously the God who gave all worlds that are, and all that are to be.”
After Iowa, Krista and her family moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, after spending about a year in Ormond Beach, Florida. For three years, she served as Music Director at First Presbyterian, “where my kids and I threw ourselves whole-heartedly into children’s and youth music programs.” At Fort Smith, Krista started a group for older kids and teens called “WAMM” (Worship Arts Music Ministry.) Then, when her husband Dan was recruited to Bentonville Arkansas to head a big orchestra program, Krista went through alternative licensure and became a classroom orchestra teacher. From Arkansas, Krista and her family moved to Texas, where she was the music director of the Episcopal Church in Conroe
Krista’s experience as a symphony musician informs her approach to the pipe organ and its many voices. She strives through her music ministry to clothe the liturgy with reverence and beauty. Krista currently resides in Shenandoah with her husband, Dan, a real estate agent and the Director of Orchestras at Oak Ridge High School, where Krista also teaches orchestra part-time. She enjoys coffee, crossword puzzles, poetry, yoga, chamber music, and quality time with Dan and their three children when they are home from college-- Dani, a third-year illustration student at the Kansas City Art Institute, Aidan, and Dana, both in their first year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland studying cello and voice/violin.
Now, let me leave you with one of Krista’s favorite prayers, “O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with [us] your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to [us] even now glimpses of your beauty, and make [us] worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Please join me in welcoming Krista to our congregation. I feel blessed to reconnect with her after so many years. I am looking forward to her artistry, faith, and devotion. She will be a great asset to David and our music ministries, and I know you will love her as you get to know her.
Blessings to all,
Fr. Roman+
