Walter Klauss

Minister of Music

Email: wklauss@aol.com  

Walter Klauss, Minister of Music at All Souls and Artistic Director of Musica Viva, received his M.A. degree from Case Western Reserve University and pursued doctoral studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York. At the age of 17, Mr. Klauss made his debut as an organ recitalist at the Cleveland Museum of Art and was later invited by the Museum to perform the American premiere of Jean Langlais’ Organ Concerto for the May Festival of Contemporary Music. At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, Mr. Klauss was one of six organists invited to perform the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in a concert honoring the composer, who was present. He continues to appear as a recitalist and most recently appeared with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra performing Jean Langlais' Pièce en Style Libre with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra at the Tonhalle in Zurich.

Mr. Klauss studied conducting with F. Karl Grossman in Cleveland, Ohio, and Wolfram Wehnert in Hanover, Germany. Since 1976 Mr. Klauss has been Minister of Music at All Souls Church in New York City. He retired as Chairman of the Music Department and Professor of Music at the CW Post Campus of Long Island University in 1998. Long Island University awarded Walter Klauss the status of Professor Emeritus upon his retirement as Chairman.

He is also the founder and conductor of the critically acclaimed Musica Viva concert series in New York and has appeared as guest conductor of festival choruses and led several workshops in choral conducting and performance techniques. In recent years, Mr. Klauss has appeared as guest conductor of various choral and orchestral works with L'orchestre de J.L. Petit in Paris. Thanks to Maestro Jean-Louis Petit, Musica Viva presented a series of concerts in Paris in February 2004 to standing ovations in such venues as Eglise de la Madeleine and Notre Dame de Paris. Musica Viva's 2006 European tour included performances at several historic venues, including the honor of performing as a guest choir for Evensong at the Thomaskirche, Leipzig. Other performance venues in March 2006 included Dresden, Polditz, and Prague.