New from Old

Dr. Yuri McCoy, organist of South Main Baptist Church, is a graduate of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he studied with organist Ken Cowan.  Hailed by Gramophone magazine as an organist possessing "rare virtuosity", McCoy has made his mark on the organ world through bracingly original programming and a strong desire to shed a spotlight on less traversed areas of organ literature.  Whether it is Ligeti’s Etudes on piano or his daring transcription of Varese's massive orchestral work, Amériques, for organ, percussion, and assistant, Yuri enjoys the opportunity to share new sounds with audiences.  During the summer of 2019, Yuri performed a transcription of Lutoslawski's piano concerto alongside pianist Yvonne Chen at the Spoleto Music Festival. He also supports the music of living composers, and in 2006 premiered Voices of the Invisible Blue Butterflies by Vach Sharafyan at the SoundSCAPE music festival in Cortona, Italy.