The Congregational Church in Tryon, UCC, will host German organist, Thomas Strauss, on Sunday, March 24, at 3:00 PM, for its Sunday Serenade. The recital will have pieces from Bach and Mozart to Chaminade and Clérambault.  

Thomas Strauss earned the highest church music degree with honors from the State Academy of Music in Freiburg, Germany. In 1990 and 1991 he received recognition for his outstanding abilities as an organist by winning major prizes in the National Young Musicians Competition of Germany and the Strasbourg Conservatory Organ Competition.  

Since 1993, Mr. Strauss has been the Organist Music Director at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Oppenau, where he also serves as artistic director and conductor of “Festwoche klassischer Musik.” In 1995, Mr. Strauss founded the “Bach-Chor Ortenau”. This ensemble has twice been invited by Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, to perform at the Bach-Handel-Festival. In 2002, the faculty of Shenandoah Conservatory voted unanimously to award Thomas Strauss the “Conservatory Medal of Excellence”. Upon invitation by the Petrie School of Music at Converse College, the “Bach-Chor Ortenau” performed, together with the Festival Chorus, Bach’s B-minor Mass in Spartanburg, SC, in 2016. 

As pianist with the “Freiburg Chamber Choir,” Mr. Strauss has toured Brazil, New Zealand, and the south of France. He plays harpsichord with the well-known German Chamber orchestra, the “Wuerttembergische Kammerorchester Heilbronn.” Mr. Strauss regularly accompanies and records with the composer and recorder player Hans-Juergen Hufeisen, in this context often performing with the Father of the Benedictines Anselm Gruen or Bishop Margot Kaessmann. 

Strauss keeps a busy schedule as a solo performer, presenting organ and harpsichord concerts all over Europe, in Russia, South America, South Africa as well as in Hawaii and other locations in the U.S. 

The Congregational Church of Tryon, UCC, is located at 210 Melrose Avenue in Tryon, NC. Please call the church at 828-859-9414 should you have any questions. This concert is free to the public.  

– Submitted by Ellen Harvey Zipf