About Kirk A. Wilson...

Kirk A. Wilson, himself an organist, received his early education in East Liverpool and Wellsville, OH, small communities with roots in the Pottery Industry in northeastern Ohio located about 40 miles west of Pittsburgh, PA.  Having developed a love of music from an early age, and having the encouragement and support of his parents, Mr. Wilson began private piano lessons at the age of six and also joined the Children’s Choir at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Liverpool. His paternal Great-grandmother, Kathryn Mauntz, was a charter member when the parish was founded in 1863.

While in middle school, Mr. Wilson began private study with Russell G. Wichmann, Director of Music and Organist at The Shadyside Presbyterian Church and chair of the Music Department at Chatham College in Pittsburgh. It was during this same period of time that Mr. Wilson was appointed Organist at The First Baptist Church of East Liverpool, which housed a small pipe organ built in 1946 by M. P. Möller of Hagerstown, MD. Faced with no maintenance budget and an instrument that only partially functioned, Mr. Wilson began the systematic releathering of the organ and rebuilding the console resulting in a fully functional organ before his fourteenth birthday. Thus began his life-long interest in the mechanical aspect of the pipe organ.

After high school, Mr. Wilson continued his education at Jefferson Technical College in Steubenville, OH, pursuing an Associates Degree in Drafting/Design. It was during this same period that Mr. Wilson studied Organ with Donald Wilkins and Choral Conducting with Dr. Larry Marietta at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In 1991 Mr. Wilson became involved with the restoration of Farrand & Votey organ #793, built in 1895 for Calvary United Methodist Church in  Pittsburgh, PA. At three manuals and 33 stops, this is one of the largest extant Farrand & Votey organ, in its original condition and installation, remaining in the United States.

Mr. Wilson relocated to South Carolina in 1993 serving Episcopal and Lutheran parishes in Myrtle Beach and Charleston areas and functioning as an adjunct Tonal Finisher to The Fox Music House in Charleston. Mr. Wilson relocated to Abbeville, South Carolina in October 2004 and opened his own shop there.