David
Pickering
Active recitalist, recording artist, scholar and author David Pickering is Professor of Music Kansas State University where he teaches organ and music theory. His career as a performer has carried him across the United States as well as to Austria, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, and Japan. His performances have been broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio’s Pipedreams, Iowa Public Radio, as well as organlive.com.
Pickering’s multifaceted research has focused on the composers, pedagogues, music, and organs of the American organ scene in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
His four solo recordings have focused on the organ music of American composers from the twentieth century to the present day.
His four solo recordings have focused on the organ music of American composers from the twentieth century to the present day.
His scholarly works are published by the Organ Historical Society Press (The Auditorium Organ) and Wayne Leupold Editions (Arthur Poister—Master Teacher and Poet of the Organ, Harold and Catherine, and Leroy Robertson Organ Works. Pickering’s additional articles and reviews appear in The American Organist and The Diapason.
Pickering completed his degrees from the University of Kansas and Brigham Young University in organ performance and musicology; he has also pursued technical studies with pianist Sheila Paige and posture work at the organ with Gokhale Method teacher Julie Johnson.
His organ teachers include Parley Belnap, James Higdon, J.J. Keeler, and Arlene Small.
Pickering is currently on a yearlong sabbatical leave from Kansas State University and living in Denver, Colorado writing G. Donald Harrison’s biography, which will be published by the Leupold Foundation in the summer of 2026.
Pickering and his wife, Melinda, are the parents of seven children. For more information about his professional activities, visit davidcpickering.org.