Wolfgang Rübsam

German-American organist Wolfgang Rübsam is known for many recordings of music from the Baroque and Romantic periods, as well as for his own compositions and his long career as an educator. Born in Giessen, Germany, Rübsam studied with Erich Ackermann in Fulda, and he attended the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, where he worked with <a href="spotify:artist:7B6snlfpfMKPul0nyep8aZ">Helmut Walcha</a>. Rübsam continued his studies in organ with <a href="spotify:artist:71DVPBXILu9RWED4ROAZHK">Marie-Claire Alain</a> and Robert T. Anderson. A first-prize winner at the International Organ Competition in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Rübsam went on to win the 1973 Grand Prix de Chartres for interpretation. In 1974, Rübsam became a professor of sacred music and organ at Northwestern University, a position he held for 23 years, and he also served as organist for the University of Chicago, playing at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel from 1981 to 1997. He became a professor at the Hochschule des Saarlandes fur Musik und Theater in Saarbrücken in 1996, and he also held the position of University Organist and Artist in Residence at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, from 1999 to 2003. Rübsam has recorded the organ works of <a href="spotify:artist:5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408">Johann Sebastian Bach</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2YfFYZnshSzgfLsKZMM4VL">Dietrich Buxtehude</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6VqbzLwDT1yDg7ghR4jKyL">Joseph Rheinberger</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5s5DbmkHjHiMe5rlFdUMGL">Louis Vierne</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0AFbebB7EpLm1qzqBRwyWt">Jehan Alain</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7B6snlfpfMKPul0nyep8aZ">Helmut Walcha</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2qpchAUtJNY45rG7auwQgz">Max Reger</a>, and he has also performed <a href="spotify:artist:5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408">Bach</a>'s non-organ keyboard works on piano. In 2018, he released a recording of <a href="spotify:artist:5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408">Bach</a>'s Goldberg Variations, played on a lute-harpsichord by Keith Hill. Most of Rübsam's recordings have appeared on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Naxos%22">Naxos</a> label.