$4,000* Award for 2025 (* up to $8,000) – Submission Deadline June 1, 2025
A scholarship fund was established in 1998 to honor the life and work of Dr. M. Louise Miller (1914 – 2008), a founding member (1948) of the Greater Bridgeport chapter, and to recognize her great achievements in the fields of church music, organ playing and teaching. In 2015, through a generous gift from the estate of Dr. Paul E. Knox (1930-2015), an esteemed colleague of Dr. Miller and outstanding church musician and teacher, the Greater Bridgeport Chapter of the AGO renamed the scholarship. A $4,000* scholarship will be awarded in July 2025 to an undergraduate student pursuing study in fall 2025 at an American college, conservatory, or university, leading toward a career in organ performance and church music. The winner will also be invited to play a recital in Connecticut for the AGO.
The application process includes writing a short essay and submitting a recording of two standard organ pieces (Bach and Romantic). Application deadline is June 1, 2025.
Click here for the .doc application form and detail instructions (check you Download area for the .doc). Please email lmillerpknoxscholarship@gmail.com the completed form or any other questions.
*The Greater Bridgeport AGO Chapter is also pleased to inform scholarship applicants that John Polo is also the Program Director of the Greenville SC AGO Chapter (Robert & Nancy) Powell Scholarship. Both scholarships have the same criteria and timeline but submitted separately and have separate judges. This is a unique opportunity to win up to $8,000 in scholarships. That application is available at this link.
John J. Polo
Program Director & Treasurer, M. Louise Miller-Paul E. Knox Scholarship Program
Current Judges – Galen Tate, Dr. Stephen Rapp, Kevin Bailey, Alex Hodgkinson
Former Judges – K. Bryan Kirk, Dr. Paul Knox (In Memory), Dr. John Michniewicz, Rev. Dr. Paul Jacobson, Dr. Heitor Caballero, Dr. Alice Caldwell
Previous Winners
Daniel Colaner
Ryan Giraldi
Anne Maria Lim
Katherine Jolliff
Hannah Engwall
Nathan Pennington
Elena Baquerizo
Jeremy Paul Jelinek
Alden Wright
David von Behren
Colin MacKnight
Katelyn Emerson
Amanda Mole
Mary Pan
Kevin Neel
Nicholas Capozzoli
Christopher Howerter
Scott Montgomery
Susan Beisner Powell
Frederick Teardo
Congratulation Daniel Colaner – 2024 Winner!
Daniel Colaner has been captivating audiences since the age of 12 when his same-day performances on piano at Carnegie Hall and on organ at St. Patrick’s Cathedral went viral. His talents have been showcased on ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, The Harry (Connick Jr.) Show, and the BBC World Service Newsday. He has performed on the NPR radio show From the Top (Show #377) and on PBS with the American Pops Orchestra in One Voice: The Songs We Share–The Sacred. In 2023, he made his orchestral debut with Joseph Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante under Carlos Kalmar.
His contributions to the organ field have been recognized by The Diapason magazine as a member of their “20 Under 30” Class of 2021 and by the YoungArts Foundation as a 2023 National YoungArts Winner with Distinction in Organ/Classical Music. Career grants from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and the Anthony Quinn Foundation have followed. Daniel has been a top prize winner at numerous organ competitions, including the Arthur Poister Organ Competition, the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition, and most recently, the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition. He is a dedicated recitalist with future engagements at Central Synagogue, New York City, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, New College, Oxford, Trinity College Cambridge, and a Bach Corner concert at the St. Albans International Organ Festival.
His love of sound, a fascination with buttons and knobs, and his exposure to classical music after cancer treatment as an infant, unleashed his passion for the piano at age 5 and the organ at age 10. He received his pre-college music education at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at the Eastman Community Music School as a student of Dr. David Higgs. Daniel has just completed his first year at the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Alan Morrison, where he holds the Dr. Mi Wha Lee Fellowship and serves as the Michael Stairs Organ Scholar at the Episcopal Church of The Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, PA. In addition to making music, his passions include promoting the benefits of classical music on radio and television and raising funds for non-profit organizations that support music therapy and music education.
Daniel’s exposure to classical music as a pediatric cancer survivor unleashed his passion for the piano at age 5 and the organ at age 10. He received his pre-college music education at the Cleveland Institute of Music and as a private student of Dr. David Higgs. A dedicated church musician since the age of 12, he has served as the Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, OH, and for the 2024 RSCM Washington, DC Choral Residency. Daniel is currently a student of Alan Morrison at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Michael Stairs Organ Scholar at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, PA, and an Assistant Grand Court Organist on the Wanamaker organ at Macy’s Center City in Philadelphia.