BRANDEN GRIMMETT

Accompanist · Organist · Pianist

Branden Grimmett is the organist at Sacred Heart Church in Lexington, Massachusetts – a progressive Catholic community. Branden came to Sacred Heart after serving as organist at Arlington Street Church, Unitarian Universalist, in Boston’s historic Back Bay. His previous positions have included director of music and organist at First Congregational Church in Somerville and assistant music director and organist at Topsfield Congregational Church, under the direction of Mark Morgan, artistic director of New England Light Opera. 

Highlights of Branden’s musical career have included several significant premieres. In 2009, he served as harpsichordist for the regional premiere of Handel's Messiah in Tomohon, Indonesia, conducted by Andre de Quadros. In 2007, after serving as the organist for the Boston premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Passio with the Boston Choral Ensemble, Branden was invited to join the ensemble as their accompanist, under the direction of Miguel Felipe. He was also the featured accompanist for the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus Boston premiere of When We No Longer Touch: A Cycle of Songs for Survival by Kristopher Jon Anthony. As a singer, Branden performed in the American premiere of Arthur Bliss’ oratorio Morning Heroes with the Saint Olaf Cantorei at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, alongside actor James Earl Jones as narrator.

In June 2009, Branden was the music director and organist for the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) 27th General Synod in Grand Rapids, Michigan Immerse Yourself. He also served as the organist at the previous UCC Synod and 50th Anniversary Celebration in Hartford, Connecticut, where Bill Moyers and then Senator Barack Obama were the featured keynote speakers. Branden is a board member of the United Church of Christ Musicians National Network (UCCMNN) and a member of the editorial committee for the UCC songbook, Sing! Prayer and Praise (Pilgrim Press 2009).

From 2007 to 2008 Branden recorded over 140 hymns on organ for the UCC’s New Century Hymnal on CD project. He was a featured organist on the Viking Chorus album Rise Up, O Men of God, performing Jean Langlais’ Missa Salve Regina and Antonio Vivaldi’s Crucifixus. From 2000 to 2003 Branden could be heard on National Public Radio as the chapel organist at St. Olaf College.

Branden received his bachelor’s degree in music from St. Olaf College in Minnesota, and his master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School. He has studied organ with John Ferguson, Cathy Rodland, Shirley King and Ken Rodgers; piano with Karen Schlabaugh, Scott Donald and Rosella Mason; and voice with Robert Scholz and Anton Armstrong, conductor of the St. Olaf Choir and artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival Youth Choral Academy. Branden is an active member of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the American Academy of Religion and the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

In addition to performing, Branden is also a frequent clinician and workshop leader specializing in hymn improvisation, church music and choral accompanying. In June 2009, he presented workshops on choral accompanying at the Indonesian Symposium on Choral Music. In August 2008 he was a featured presenter at the UCC Musicians National Network gathering in Akron, Ohio, where he led several workshops and accompanied a keynote session led by Dr. James Abbington, editor of the best-selling African American Heritage Hymnal. In November 2008, Branden was an invited guest lecturer at Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he presented "The Theology of Contemporary Praise Music".