John Schaefer has retired after 40 years as director of music and organist of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, Missouri, and 27 years as organist of Park University.
Educated at Ohio State University, Union Theological Seminary, the Royal Academy of Music (London), and the University of Oxford (New College), he served as principal musician at First Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio (1969–1973) and St. James Episcopal Church, Greenfield, Massachusetts (1974–1976) before coming to Kansas City. At the cathedral, he was in charge of a music program that included four choirs and several concert series.
He oversaw the installation of an organ by Gabriel Kney in 1981, the acquisition of a chamber organ built by Leslie Smith in 1998–1999, and the addition of a harpsichord built by Oliver Finney in 1982. Under his direction, the cathedral’s Trinity Choir toured Great Britain five times, and elsewhere in Europe in 2001. Schaefer was named Canon Musician Emeritus at his final service on December 31, 2016.
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