Valerie Thorson

Department/Affiliation: Music
Phone: 330-263-2419
Office Address: 165 Scheide
Email: vthorson@wooster.edu

Degrees

• Master of Music (Voice), Kent State University 1984
• Bachelor of Music (Organ), Oberlin College Conservatory 1974

Courses Taught

• MUSC 130: Organ
• MUSC 230: Organ

Biography, Performance, and Research

Valerie Thorson holds performance degrees in organ and voice from the Oberlin College Conservatory and Kent State University, respectively. She has been the principal keyboard player for the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and has performed as vocal coach/accompanist for the Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Akron. As a professional organist/choir director for over twenty-five years, she has served churches in Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and Ohio. Valerie has taught voice at Kenyon College, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the University of Akron. She is currently Instructor of Organ at the College of Wooster and the University of Akron. Her recent performance of Handel’s Organ Concerto in F Major with the Akron Baroque Orchestra was called “clear and lively…eloquent,” by ClevelandClassical.com.

Valerie is Director of Music for Akron’s historic First Congregational Church, where she plays a beautifully restored 4-manual Casavant Freres organ.