Thanks to the generosity of Drs. Judith and John Ranlett, admission to both events is free and open

 Organist, pianist, harpsichordist, conductor and composer, Marvin Mills has performed

extensively throughout the United States and appeared as soloist with the Jacksonville,

Pittsburgh, Peabody and National Symphony orchestras in concertos by Handel, Hindemith,

Jongen, Poulenc, Rheinberger and Saint-Saëns. Keyboard/continuo artist/choral conductor for the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival from 2000-2025, he has collaborated with numerous

ensembles including The Washington Bach Consort, Concert Artists of Baltimore, The Ritz

Chamber Players, MasterSingers of Wilmington, The Philadelphia Brass and The Opera

Philadelphia Chorus.

PipeDreams (Minnesota Public Radio) featured Mills in a broadcast entitled Music of Color

(#0407), his Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Recital was an early webcast from the Concert

Hall, and he was a recitalist for the inaugural of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ at

Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. In the spring of 1992, Mr. Mills performed the complete organ

works of Johann Sebastian Bach in an acclaimed weekly series of fourteen programs on the 96

rank Rieger organ at All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, DC. His west coast debut was in

July 1992 at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion International Organ Summer Concert Series in Balboa

Park, San Diego, and his New York City recital debut in July 1993 at the Riverside Church. He

has performed for numerous chapters of The American Guild of Organists and been a featured

artist at several national conventions, particularly the 1996 Centennial Convention in New York

City, and at numerous regional conventions as performer, clinician and adjudicator.

Commissions include Four spirituals for Denyce Graves and a setting of the Phyllis Wheatley

poem, On Virtue, for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. His theatrical conducting debut was in

Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha with Washington Savoyards, and he served as music director/pianist

for Washington National Opera's 2023 and Pittsburgh Opera's 2024 productions of Sandra

Seaton’s The Passion According to Mary Cardwell Dawson. A member of The African American

Art Song Alliance he has been a collaborative pianist to singers for over 40 years and was a vocal

coach at Morgan State University for nearly a decade.

Mr. Mills is a proud product of the public schools and the Settlement Music school in his native

Philadelphia, both provided an exceptional foundation for him to excel at Westminster Choir

College and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, culminating in the

Performance Diploma. Currently organist at St Paul’s UMC, Kensington, MD, previously served

as Director of Music-Organist at All Souls Church/Unitarian, University Organist at Howard

University, and Associate Minister of Music at National City Christian Church, all in

Washington, DC. Performances for the 2025-2026 season include Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony

with the National Symphony, a featured recital at Washington National Cathedral, and the

Requiem of Maurice Durufé with Cantate Concert Choir.