Five Fast Facts: Dean Billmeyer 

May 13, 2021
Dean Billmeyer
Dean Billmeyer surrounded by the pipes of the Northrop organ.

Photo by Patrick O'Leary.

1

Dean Billmeyer has been a faculty member at the University of Minnesota since 1982 where he has established himself as one of the most highly respected teachers in the Midwestern United States, teaching courses in keyboard curriculum including Organ Literature and History, Continuo Realizati on, and Advanced Keyboard Skills.

Dean Billmeyer playing the organ on the Northrop stage.

Photo by Patrick O'Leary.

2

Billmeyer’s many awards include prizes in the Dublin International Organ Festival Competitions in 1980 and 1988, and the Lewis Elmer Award, given for the highest scores in the nation on the American Guild of Organists Certification examinations, which he won two years in a row.

Dean Billmeyer playing the Northrop organ.

Photo by Patrick O'Leary.

3

Throughout the last 19 seasons, Billmeyer has appeared regularly as a guest artist with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His 2003 recording of Dominick Argento’s A Toccata of Galuppi’s with the Dale Warland Singers received a Grammy nomination.

Dean Billmeyer sitting at the Northrop organ on the stage

Photo by Patrick O'Leary.

4

Billmeyer has also made significant contributions to research in the field of organ music. He annotated a volume of introductory organ works by Max Reger in 2016, and is currently researching the organ music of Austrian composer Johann Nepomuk David.

Dean Billmeyer

5

In 2018, Billmeyer released the first ever commercial recording of all ten works in Karl Straube’s edition of the Peters edition of Bach’s organ works. Straube’s edition contains ten of Bach’s most iconic organ pieces and was published in 1913.