Instructors

Present Class Instructors

Grand Rapids Instructors

Jonathan Bading, Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Program Coordinator

Jonathan Bading has been the Director of Sacred Music at Sacred Heart since January 2018, where he serves as the parish's organist and choirmaster. Mr. Bading holds a B.Mus. in Organ Performance from Hope College, where he studied organ with Huw Lewis and voice with Linda Dykstra. While a student, Jonathan also spent two summers transcribing and researching Gregorian chant manuscripts in Vendôme, France on two grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2018, he received First Prize in the Annamae Rotman Young Organist Competition. He is also the founding director of the vocal ensemble, Gaudete, as well as the executive director of Palestrina500, a musical-liturgical festival that Sacred Heart hosted in 2025. Jonathan, his wife Madison, and their four children, enjoy living on the west side of Grand Rapids, where they're but a quick walk to and from the parish.

In addition to serving as the SOE Program Coordinator through the Grand Rapids AGO, Jonathan has served as one of the Scholarship Program instructors.

Eric Strand, First United Methodist Church

Eric H. Strand, is a musician with broad experience, interests, and repertoire. As an organist, vocalist, and conductor, he has performed with such diverse groups as Pro Arte Singers at Indiana University, Albany Pro Musica, The Berkshire Bach Festival, The St. Cecilia Orchestra, The Kalamazoo Symphony and The Grand Rapids Symphony. A native of Kansas, he began his organ studies with his father, Dr. James Strand, and received degrees from Southwestern College, Kansas, and Indiana University, Bloomington. He is a doctoral candidate in choral conducting and organ at the Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut. Teachers included Marilyn Keiser, Larry Allen, and Richard Coffey. Mr. Strand is Director of Music and the Arts at First United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids and the Artistic Director of Early Music Michigan. From 1998 to 2011, he was the Organist-Choirmaster at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Kalamazoo, and he has held similar posts in Indiana and New York.

Julia Brown, mayflower congregational church

Dr. Julia Brown is currently the Director of Music and Organist at Mayflower Congregational Church, Grand Rapids. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Brown studied piano, harpsichord and organ in her native Brazil before receiving her MM and DMA from Northwestern University as a student of Wolfgang Rübsam. She began teaching as a teenager and has continued teaching piano, harpsichord and organ, all ages, and levels, throughout her life, both privately and in masterclass settings.

Holland Instructors

Rhonda Sider Edgington

Rhonda Sider Edgington is the Organist and Music Director at Hope Church, Holland MI, and an organ Instructor at Calvin University in Grand Rapids MI. She maintains an active performing career in the US and Europe. She is often commended for her innovative programming, colorful use of registrations, and exciting playing. She spent seven years studying, working and performing in Bremen, Germany, originally under a Fulbright scholarship. Edgington has played recitals at venues such as St. Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York City, Arizona State University, and the Cadet Chapel at West Point. Edgington has performed at national and regional organ conventions of the American Guild of Organists and Organ Historical Society. She has taught organ at Concordia University (IL), and Houghton College (NY). Edgington has performed at national and regional organ conventions of the American Guild of Organists and Organ Historical Society. She is an avid collaborative musician, accompanying on organ, piano, and harpsichord, and also plays the carillon.

Aaron Goodyke

Aaron Goodyke is a native of the Zeeland/Holland area and a proud graduate of Hope College, earning the Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Education with an emphasis in organ studies with Huw Lewis. He has performed at several venues throughout West Michigan as a keyboardist and vocalist, and collaborative artist. He currently serves as Sub-Dean of the Holland AGO and is a member of the Grand Rapids AGO, the Michigan School Vocal Music Association, and the American Choral Directors Association. Aaron is in his second year as Middle School Choir Director at Byron Center West Middle School and serves as Co-Director of Music at Second Reformed Church where he and his wife Kristin lead worship on the organ, direct the choir, and coordinate the Second Recital Series. He loves board games, reading, and exploring Michigan along with Kristin, their son Daniel, and golden retriever Ollie.

Dr. Elizabeth west

Dr. Elizabeth (Claar) West most recently served at the Music Director and Organist at First Reformed Church in Holland, MI. She also serves as an assistant organist at La Grave Avenue CRC, following 11 years as organist at Trinity Lutheran Church. She has taught organ and theory at Hope College and Cornerstone University, and she is a collaborative pianist at Hope. In addition, she has taught private organ students ages 8 to 94. Dr. West earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Houghton College in New York and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Michigan, where she also completed a certificate in music theory pedagogy. Her organ teachers have been James Kibbie, the late Robert Glasgow, Huw Lewis, William Haller, Judy Congdon, and Susan Klotzbach. In addition, she studied harpsichord with Edward Parmentier. West directed two highly successful Pipe Organ Encounters at Hope College for the American Guild of Organists, and she served on the national AGO Committee on the New Organist, which supervises all Pipe Organ Encounters. Dr. West spent the 2006-2007 school year in Armenia, where she immersed herself in Armenian culture and researched Armenian organ music. She resides in Holland with her husband and son.

Past Class Instructors

Norma DeWaal Malefyt, Central Reformed Church

Matthew Jakubisin, Cathedral of St Andrew

Dr. Peter T. Kurdziel, Basilica of St Adalbert

Brian Bartusch, Central Reformed Church

Charles Nolen, Cathedral of St. Andrew

Linda Fridsma, Calvin CRC

Chan Gyu Jang, Seymour CRC

Private Instructors

Dr. Julia Brown, Mayflower Congregational Church