Peggy Haas Howell has been the Organist and Choirmaster at St. John's since 1996 She has worked in the Episcopal Church for the past 35 years, and has served three churches during her professional career: St. James's Church, Richmond; The Church of the Good Shepherd in Baltimore, and St. John's.
Peggy Howell graduated from Susquehanna University with a Bachelor of Arts in Church Music degree where her organ teacher was James Boeringer. She then spent a semester at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Hamburg, Germany studying with Heinz Wunderlich. She graduated from Union Theological Seminary, New York City, with a Master of Sacred Music degree. Other organ teachers have included Harald Vogel and Cherry Rhodes.
Along with her church music career, Peggy Howell has had a parallel career as an organ recitalist and organ teacher. She has won top prizes in organ playing competitions including first prize in the National Young Artists Playing Competition of the American Guild of Organists (1974) and a shared top prize in St. Alban's International Organ Interpretation in England in 1976. She has played recitals in Finland, England, Germany, Austria, Holland, Switzerland, and the United States. In 2009, her engagements include a recital and masterclass at Peabody Conservatory in March, a recital for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Norfolk, VIrginia and a recital for the Columbia, South Carolina chapter of the American Guild of Organists in October. She has recorded for the BBC, for Sender Fries Berlin, for the Finnish Broadcasting Service, and for Raven Recordings. She taught organ from 1986-1996 at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.
Peggy Haas Howell is also skilled as a choral conductor, and serves as the director of Cantate, the Children's and Youth Choir of Central Virginia. In 2005 she founded the Jefferson Youth Chorale, a children's chorus affiliated with the Jefferson Choral Society. These two children's choirs sometimes collaborate in concerts. She directed Chorale, the Concert Choir of Randolph Macon Woman's College, from 1996-2001.
