Brent Johnson, Organist

Brent Johnson came to Third Baptist Church in 2004 while working as a technician for the Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois. He started there in 1998 after studying organ with Robert T. Anderson at the Meadows School of the Arts and Kenneth G. Hart at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. While at SMU he also performed with the Meadows Percussion Ensemble and was a member and Drum Major of the Mustang Band. His work with Wicks took him across the country tuning, repairing, and installing pipe organs. He is currently responsible for the care of the 72-rank Kilgen/Moller pipe organ at Third Baptist, and does freelance organ work around St. Louis. As an arranger and music director he has worked in many different fields of classical, church, and pop music, but has always returned to the organ.

In addition to his work at Third, Brent is a founding member of the non-profit Organ Media Foundation. There he oversees web development and production of the Internet audio stations Organlive and Positively Baroque, and The Organ Experience, and produces video content exploring pipe organs all over the country. In 2017, he was awarded the Avis Blewett Award by the St. Louis Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, presented to “those who have made a significant contribution to the musical life of the Saint Louis area.”

Brent and his wife Carrie Bradfield are completing the restoration of a historic house in the Carondelet neighborhood of St. Louis.