Michael Gagne has lived in the Chicagoland area all of his life.  and is no stranger to Chicago.

 

Michael is an active musician and performing organ recitals all over Illinois. Some notable churches that Michael has performed at have been St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, First Presbyterian Church in Arlington Heights, North Park Covenant Church in Chicago, and various churches around the Chicagoland area.

 

In May of 2012, Michael  graduated from North Park University in Chicago where he obtained the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music.
While at North Park, Michael was the senior accompanist to the North Park University Women's Chorale under the direction of Dr. Tom Tropp for 4 years and also was instrumental in developing in what has become the annual Hymn-Festival at North Park. 

Some of Michael's instructors have been Dr. Marilyn Kay Stulken of Racine, Wisconsin; Dr. Marcia van Oyen, and Dr. David Christiansen of Park Ridge.

While Michael was at North Park University, he studied the organ with Mr. Leon Nelson and was also in demand as an accompanist.   In the Fall of 2009, Michael took up the role as Interim University Choir accompanist.

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Michael has also participated in several Organ master classes across the U.S. Some notable instructors that taught the master classes were Dr. John Weaver, Christa Rakich, J. Christopher Pardini (former organist of the Crystal Cathedral); Ken Cowan, Samuel Metzger (former senior organist of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church), and Diane Bish all of which were highly receptive of Michael's performance at the organ.

Michael currently serves as the Principal Organist/Music Associate at Saint Matthew's Lutheran Church in Hawthorn Woods after serving 3 successful years as Minister of Music at Faith Lutheran Church in Arlington Heights where he oversaw  and built up the music ministry program. While at Saint Matthew's, Michael has also taught music in their Day School from 2015-2018. On October 27th, 2020, Michael performed the  Organ Dedication Recital on the newly installed 3 manual, Rodgers Infinity 361. This new organ has greatly enhanced the Music Ministry and worship services at Saint Matthew's.
 Before he came to Faith Lutheran Church back in 2011, he was a Director of Music at Grace Lutheran Church in Villa Park (now closed) and previously Organist at Grace United Methodist Church in Lake Bluff, Illinois from 2004-2009. 

In March 2014, Michael began playing the organ for Saturday evenings at Saint Matthew's Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Hawthorn Woods and occasionally special worship services and in October of 2014, recently joined on staff at Saint Matthew's as their Principal Organist where he is responsible for accompanying the Chancel Choir, Glory Singers, and Chamber Choir.
In the Fall of 2015, Michael was appointed the General Music Teacher to Saint Matthew Lutheran Day School and teaching music classes for grades Pre-School - 8th grade. In addition to the appointment of General Music Teacher, Michael also was appointed as the Children's Choir Director for the Sunday School at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church. 

From 2013-2016, Michael served as the Choral Accompanist for School District 300 of Dupage County  at Carpentersville Middle School and Lakewood Middle School.