Director of Music Ministries
Dr. Timothy E. Guenther joined Gethsemane's staff as our Director of Music Ministries on Ash Wednesday 2011. He has served as University Organist and Adjunct Instructor in Music at Ashland University since 1996. There he teaches applied organ and harpsichord, as well as courses in the fundamentals of basic musicianship, and serves as accompanist as needed for the University Choir, Chamber Singers, and Ashland Area Chorus. He holds degrees in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester (B.M. with distinction; also post graduate coursework), the University of Alabama (M.M.), and The American Conservatory of Music (D.M.A). His doctoral essay topic was The Lutheran Harp: A Modern Edition of Shaped-Note Settings of Tunes Used in Current American Lutheran Worship Books. He has served as a church musician for over 41 years, serving Lutheran, Episcopal, UCC, and American Baptist congregations in Ohio, New York, and Alabama.
Tim serves as resident organist for the Bach Vespers series at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ashland. He also regularly performs as keyboardist for both the Ashland Symphony Orchestra and the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra. He is in frequent demand as a recitalist and hymn festival leader.
Dr. Guenther is rostered as an Associate in Ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He served on the hymnody editorial team for the current ELCA hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship. He is active professionally in the American Guild of Organists (holding certificates of Associate and Choir Master), the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (Past President of Region I), the Columbus Cantor Connection, the Hymn Society, the Organ Historical Society, the Reed Organ Society, the American Theatre Organ Society, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He also performs regularly on the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ at the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield.
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