Known for his virtuosic technique and colorful presentation, organist ALEXANDER STRAUS-FAUSTO gives exhilarating, sensitive,  and innovative performances of repertoire ranging from early fifteenth-century keyboard music to contemporary organ music. Straus-Fausto has created more than fifty original transcriptions of major orchestral works,  reflecting his passion for the symphonic organ as a virtually unlimited medium for artistic expression. His repertoire also includes the complete works of César Franck, Maurice Durufé, and Johannes Brahms. He has been recognized as a member of The Diapason’s “20 Under 30 Class of 2023,” a program that acknowledges artists under the age of thirty who have made significant contributions to the field of

Organ Performance. 

 

At the age of nineteen, Straus-Fausto was named the Titular Organist of Tres Saint Nome de Jesus in Montreal, home of the sixth largest organ in Canada, and at the age of twenty-one, he released his first album, Gothic Expressions. In 2019, the Canada Council funded a summer concert tour in which Straus-Fausto performed in several historic churches and cathedrals throughout the UK. Straus-Fausto has held church positions in some of Canada’s most esteemed Catholic Churches, as well as Episcopal churches in the USA. 

He has performed in many distinguished venues, including St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, Princeton University Chapel, Mechanics Hall in Boston, La Madeleine in Paris, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Trinity Church in Boston, Basilica National Shrine of the Immaculate  Conception, Washington National Cathedral, Yale’s Woolsey Hall, Trinity  Church Wall Street, Maison Symphonique in Montreal, Notre-Dame  Cathedral Basilica in Quebec City, The Peace Memorial Concert Series in Clearwater, Florida, and St. James Cathedral in Toronto. With the funding of the Centennial Millennium Fund of the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists, he co-founded Festiv’Orgue, which introduced new audiences to the historic symphonic organs of several downtown churches in Montreal. 

 

Straus-Fausto holds a Diploma in Performance from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music and the Institute of Sacred Music, and a Bachelor of Music from McGill University, Schulich School of Music. He completed his secondary school studies at Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy. His teachers include David Higgs, Martin Jean, Hans-Ola Ericsson, James David Christie, Isabelle Demers, Jonathan Oldengarm, Alcée Chriss, Christian Lane, Thomas Bara, Peter Nikiforuk, and Joe Carere.