January 19, 1995: Vol26n13: CHOICES

Organist Michael Farris, associate professor of music at the Eastman
School of Music, will perform works by Bach, Buxtehude, Franck and
Liszt at 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22 in Slee Concert Hall as part of the
Slee/Visiting Artist Series.
	Farris, whom The New York Times has called "an organist of
unusual brilliance and versatility," previously was chair of the Organ
Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a
student, Farris won three national performance competitions. In 1976
at age 18 he won the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition as well as the
Ft. Wayne Competition in 1985 and the National Young Artist
Competition of the American Guild of Organists in 1986.
	He holds an undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist
University, and earned the Master of Music degree and the prestigious
Performer's Certificate at Indiana University. He received his Doctor
of Musical Arts degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman
School of Music, which in 1986 bestowed upon him its highest honor,
the Artist's Diploma.
	Farris performed before the International Congress of
Organists in Cambridge, England, in July 1987 and in September of that
year was among a number of promising young artists in the field of
classical music featured in Musical America magazine.