January 31, 2026: De-mystifying Registration!

**THIS IS A FREE EVENT**

That vast array of buttons, drawstops, expression pedals and other controls on an organ console can seem overwhelming at first glance--but if we start with a systematic understanding of what they are and their possibilities, we can use our (always-limited) setup time much more efficiently and effectively. In the same way, a score with no registration or dynamic indications can seem like a closed book: how do we start exploring the possibilities in a new piece? In this session of the Virtual Organ Academy, Jonathan Oldengarm presents two structured approaches to understanding organ registration, one from the organology side, and the other from the repertoire performance practice side.

Hailed for his “unalloyed musicality”, organist, harpsichordist, conductor, chamber musician and arranger Jonathan Oldengarm loves to colour outside the lines. Passionate about repertoire from the 16th to 21st centuries, he is equally at home as a soloist and ensemble player. 

His recording credits include discs on the ATMA Classique, Klanglogo and Analekta labels with Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal; saxophonist Claudia Tesorino; the Ottawa Bach Choir (Lisette Canton, director); the A&P Choir (Jean-Sébastien Vallée, conductor); the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and Buzz Brass. Recent performance credits include the Leipzig Bach Festival, the Bachkirche Arnstadt, the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, McGill University, Ottawa’s Pro Organo series, Hammer Baroque, the 2023 RCCO National Conventions, KW Symphony Brass Quintet, the Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, Trinity Bach Project, the Elora Singers and Festival, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Gallery Players, North Winds Concerts and Cappella Intima.

An enthusiastic teacher, Jonathan has made a specialty teaching keyboard harmony, improvisation, continuo, score reading, accompanying at the organ, hymn playing–in short, the professional keyboard artist’s essential skills. In addition to private studio teaching, Jonathan is an adjunct music faculty member at the University of Toronto. 

Since 2022 Jonathan has been Minister of Music and Organist at Metropolitan United Church in Toronto, home to multiple ensembles and a treasury of instruments that include Canada’s largest pipe organ and Canada’s oldest tuned carillon. Under his leadership the Metropolitan Festival Choir has recently performed Bach’s Markus Passion (Koolstra reconstruction), Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien, Handel’s Brockes Passion, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem and other masterworks. 

He holds degrees in organ and harpsichord performance from Wilfrid Laurier and McGill Universities; the Fellowship diploma of the Royal Canadian College of Organists; and studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart. Principal organ teachers included Douglas Haas, Barrie Cabena, and Ludger Lohmann. Germany. From 2008 until 2022 he taught organ, harpsichord, keyboard skills, and liturgical improvisation at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, while serving  as Director of Music and Organist at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montreal.