Aaron Sunstein, Organist

Organist Aaron Sunstein currently serves as Minister of Music at First Lutheran Church in Carlisle, PA where he directs four choirs and plays a fine Aeolian-Skinner organ (Opus 1155/1951). He is a candidate for the Doctor of Music in organ degree at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

While in residence at Indiana he studied organ with Chris Young, served as Associate Instructor for the Organ Department, and was the Organist of St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Bloomington. As Associate Instructor, Aaron taught organ lessons, organ literature, and sacred music coursework. Previously, he lived in the Darlecarlia region of Sweden where he served as Cantor at two historic country churches and completed a master’s degree from Musikhögskolan i Piteå as a student of Gary Verkade. His undergraduate training was at the University of Iowa, where his teacher was Delbert Disselhorst. A native of Boston, Sunstein’s earliest musical formation was received as a member of the Choir of Men and Boys at the Parish of All Saints Ashmont and as an organ student of Michael Kleinschmidt. Sunstein was a semifinalist in the 2014 Young Artists Competition sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, received second prize in the 2014 Ft. Wayne National Organ Competition, second prize in the 2012 Rodland Competition, and first prize in the 2008 Twin Cities American Guild of Organists/Schubert Club Competition.

Interested in organ repertoire of all periods, Aaron Sunstein is involved in a long-term project performing, writing about, and recording the rarely played organ music of American composer Gunther Schuller.