Daniel E. Schwandt (he/him/his)

Raised in a musical family in Appleton, Wisconsin, Daniel Schwandt has established himself as a thoughtful and engaging voice in the organ world through his work as a performer, church musician, composer, and teacher. He is an advocate for music that is engaging and accessible to diverse audiences, honoring both the pipe organ’s historic place in Western music while being responsive to its evolving role in contemporary society.

As University Organist and Lecturer in Music at Lawrence University, Schwandt teaches applied organ and harpsichord, organ literature, and keyboard skills. He has served as the Cantor of congregations in Minneapolis and Chicago and for twelve years was the Seminary Cantor of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He regularly performs concerts, hymn festivals, and leads organ and church music workshops around the United States, including performances at national conventions of the Organ Historical Society and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, along with regional gatherings of the American Guild of Organists. His choral and liturgical compositions are published by Augsburg Fortress, MorningStar Music, and GIA Publications.

As a collaborative musician, Schwandt frequently performs as a continuo player and is an enthusiastic leader of congregational singing. He serves as the Associate Director of Music at Trinity English Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne and Limited Term Lecturer (organ) at the Purdue University Fort Wayne School of Music. He also regularly works as an organ technician, maintaining several pipe organs and his collection of historic American reed organs. 

Schwandt holds degrees from St. Olaf College and the University of Notre Dame. His primary organ teachers have included George Damp, John Ferguson, Douglas Reed, Craig Cramer, and Kola Owolabi. He studied composition with Carolyn Jennings and John Liberatore, conducting with Anton Armstrong and Carmen-Helena Téllez, and harpsichord with Darlene Catello. His doctoral research focused on the mid-twentieth-century organist, composer, and pedagogue David N. Johnson (1922-1987) and his contributions to American organ music.