Jim Hejduk, Lincoln, Neb., will perform in the first of four Langenberg Organ Recitals, Sunday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m., at First Presbyterian Church, 621 N. Lincoln Ave., Hastings, Neb. This is the second year for the organ recital series.

The recital is free and open to the public. Following the recital, a light meal will be served in Fellowship Hall.

 Hejduk retired following a 38-year career as a music educator. For 12 years, he was director of choral activities at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

A church organist and choirmaster since ninth grade, Hejduk completed a bachelor’s degree at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J., studying with Joan Lippincott, the late Alec Wyton and Julius Herford. He received a master’s degree in choral directing at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he studied with Fiora Contino. 

Hejduk also studied organ in France, then at Columbia University in New York.

Past dean of the Boston chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Hejduk serves as sub-dean of the Lincoln chapter. He is past president of the Nebraska Choral Directors Association and served on the choral panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Hejduk is a substitute organist, conductor, and baritone soloist in several Lincoln, Neb., churches, and will appear twice this season with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra as narrator of Stravinsky's "L'histoire du soldat." He will also conduct Lincoln High School’s Honor Choir for the orchestra's holiday concert. 

 The Langenberg Organ Recital Series commemorates the 50-year anniversary of First Presbyterian Church’s Austin organ. Through the generosity of the Langenberg Music Endowment, a four-year organ enhancement/renovation project began in 2002.

The Langenberg Music Endowment was established in 2001 following the death of Luella Langenberg. The endowment provides for special needs of the church’s music program including the purchase of Steinway piano, honoraria for collegiate chancel choir section leaders, and for the purchase of Orff instruments.

The organ recital series is co-sponsored by the Hastings College Department of Music, the Hastings College Vocation and Values Program, and First Presbyterian Church.
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