Photo Credit: Virginia Kemp
Bio
Described as a “dynamic young organist,” Ted Babbitt is a concert organist and collaborative artist who has performed in the United States, Italy, and Morocco. ​Ted is a music education student at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where he also studies organ performance with Dr. Jack Mitchener. Ted was awarded the Jo Phelps Fabian Distinguished Music Scholarship at Mercer and is excited for the many opportunities this scholarship allows. Ted began studying organ with Scott Lamlein, and has taken lessons with Christa Rakich, Jonathan Moyer, and Christopher Houlihan.
Ted currently serves as the assistant organist-choirmaster at Christ Episcopal Church in Macon, Georgia where he also helps lead their robust music program: Walnut Street Music. Ted leads the Choristers, an ensemble in the Choir School of Macon, and accompanies the Christ Church Choir and Walnut Street Singers. Previously, Ted served as the organ scholar at Saint John's Episcopal Church in West Hartford, CT and as the organist at the Church of the Transfiguration in Norfolk, Connecticut.
As a competitor, Ted has placed highly in multiple competitions. Most recently, he garnered first prize in the 2022 L. Cameron Johnson Organ Competition in Connecticut, after having tied for second and winning the audience favorite prize the year prior. Additionally, in March of 2022, Ted placed second in the young organists competition in Colombia, South Carolina. He also won prizes for the best Bach performance and the best hymn performance at that event.
Additionally, Ted has accompanied groups ranging from solo artists to full symphonic bands and choirs. In the summer of 2023, Ted toured Connecticut with soprano Sarah Marze in the Fresh Voices of Summer recital tour featuring works of Brahms, Gershwin, Bellini, and more. During his tenure as Organ Scholar, Ted also served as rehearsal accompanist for the Saint John's Episcopal Church Choir School and Adult Choir.
Ted has sung in choirs since the first grade, when he began singing in a Royal School of Church Music affiliated program at Saint John’s Episcopal Church. He now sings with the Mercer Singers at Mercer University under the Direction of Dr. Stanley Roberts. Ted has sung in the Yale Music Shed in Norfolk, Connecticut, the National Cathedral in Washington DC, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, and the hallowed hall of Teatro Verdi, in Florence, Italy. This summer, Ted will tour parts of France with the Mercer Singers performing the Durufle Requiem for the 80th anniversary of D-day.