Scott Dettra

Scott Dettra is acclaimed as one of America’s outstanding concert organ virtuosos.  Hailed as a “brilliant organist” (Dallas Morning News), and an “outstanding musician” (The Diapason), his playing is known for its clarity, rhythmic intensity, and musical elegance, and has been described by The American Organist as “music making of absolute authority and sophisticated expression.” He is Organist of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Director of Ensemble XIV, and organist for The Crossing, the multi-Grammy-winning professional chamber choir based in Philadelphia. 

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     Throughout 2022, Mr. Dettra undertook a celebrated national tour of the complete organ works of César Franck in commemoration of the composer’s bicentenary. Recent and upcoming performances include appearances in New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Kansas City. Festival appearances include the Lincoln Center Festival, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Arizona Bach Festival, the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He has been a featured performer at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Organ Historical Society, and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator for master classes, workshops, and competitions.

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​     Mr. Dettra is featured on many recordings, including The Anglo-American Classic Organ, Majestus, and Tongues of Fire. Additional recordings may be found on the Gothic, Innova, Lyrichord, Pro Organo, and Linn labels. In addition to commercial recordings, his performances have been broadcast numerous times on such radio programs as American Public Media’s Pipedreams and Performance Today, the BBC’s Choral Evensong, and The New York Philharmonic This Week.

     Mr. Dettra holds two degrees from Westminster Choir College, where he was a student of Joan Lippincott, and has studied organ and jazz piano at Manhattan School of Music.