Europe, with a repertoire that ranges from the 14th century to the present day. After completing two honours degrees at Yale, where she won several major prizes for scholarship and for organ playing, she travelled to England, where she studied organ and harpsichord at the Royal Academy of Music, and, latterly, with Dame Gillian Weir.
Passionate about bringing organ music to a wider audience and injecting new ideas into the organ world at large, Ann Elise Smoot has been involved in founding several initiatives. These include co-founding the London Organ Summer Course for university age students, which takes place every July and attracts students from all over the
UK,
Ireland, and the
USA. She is co-founder of the successful new London Organ forum, a study day which aims to encourage organists to look at their repertoire in a wider musical context.
Ann Elise Smoot is also one of the most sought-after organ teachers in Great Britain, and is in frequent demand for master classes throughout the UK and North America. She is director of the St. Giles Junior Organ Conservatoire, a unique and highly successful programme for teenage organists. She has also taught and performed three times in recent years at the Oundle International Festival and associated summer school for young organists, and has been a frequent and popular tutor on several Royal School of Church Music courses.
