J. Owen Burdick, internationally active composer and conductor, served as the seventeenth organist and director of music at Trinity Church, Wall Street from 1990 to 2008. The late Michael Hammond, former chairman of the NEA, described Burdick as ‘an extraordinary artist…a unique individual who is able to combine musical excellence and historically informed tradition with the pursuit of cutting-edge innovation’.

Burdick received his PhD from UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music. In 2005 The New York Times music critic Bernard Holland wrote of Burdick’s interpretation of Handel’s Messiah: ‘My deepest respect goes to Dr Burdick, both for the carefully prepared agreements on phrasing and dynamics and for the utter sincerity with which they were realized by all involved…’ Of the 2006 performance, Steve Smith wrote: ‘…he demonstrated the kind of insight that distinguishes a truly fine Handel performance…’

Burdick’s own compositions, commissioned by the Episcopal Church, the American Guild of Organists and others, have been performed in major venues internationally, including New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles and Reims. He has composed scores for numerous documentaries and films, and his 1988 oratorio Paschal Triptych: A King Portrait was nominated for a New York Emmy Award.