Artistic Director

F. Allen Artz, III received his Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and earned the Masters of Arts degree (summa cum laude) with a major in organ performance from Montclair State University studying with Dr. Jon Gillock (of the Julliard School). He serves as Director of Music at the Far Brook School in Short Hills, New Jersey, a private, independent school of 225 students in grades Pre-K - 8. On the faculty since 1990, he conducts 4 choirs, the school orchestra, handbell ensembles and teaches classroom music.

Mr. Artz has held full-time positions as Education/Music Director in several large parishes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and, more locally, he served as Associate Director of Music/Organist at Newark’s Cathedral-Basilica of the Sacred Heart. As Director of Music/Organist at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, South Orange for nearly 10 years, Mr. Artz developed a music program involving four choirs which sang at Masses on a weekly schedule. He was Artistic Director for “Musica Sacra”, a monthly series of choral, organ and other instrumental ensemble concerts at Our Lady of Sorrows from 1999-2006.

An active member of the American Guild of Organists, Mr. Artz served as Dean of the Metro NJ Chapter from 2002-2004. He is also a member of the American Choral Director’s Association. As a recitalist, he has performed in several Midwestern and Northeastern states and in England and has had the distinct honor of playing Vespers at the Cathedral-Basilica in the presence of Pope John Paul II and President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Artz founded and directs a select choral ensemble of 22 singers, the “Carrollton Chorale”, which specializes in mostly a cappella music of the Renaissance, but not strictly limited to that period. The chorale is gaining a reputation for achieving an exquisite choral sound and beautiful phrasing and musicality.