Clair Rozier with William Wozniak
An accomplished performer, teacher, choral conductor, and church musician, organist Clair Rozier collaborates with percussionist William Wozniak (marimba and timpani), presenting rarely performed music for percussion and organ, along with organ solos and transcriptions.
Rozier recently retired as director of music and organist at St. David’s Episcopal Church, a large suburban parish in Wayne, PA, where she served for 25 years. At St. David’s Church, she was privileged to oversee the acquisition of the Dobson, Opus 84, pipe organ in 2007, and developed a thriving music ministry with choirs for all ages. Highlights of her ministry included leading choral residencies at the Cathedrals of Wells, Ely, Lichfield, and St. David’s-Wales in the UK, and at St. Patrick’s in Dublin.
In Washington, DC, Rozier started her organ studies with Richard Roeckelein as a high school student at the National Cathedral School and made her performing debut in school worship services in the Washington National Cathedral. She continued organ study through her undergraduate and graduate years with Dr. Barbara Thomson and Dr. David Mulbury, at Goucher College and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, respectively. At the Eastman School of Music, she earned the Doctor of Musical Arts with David Craighead, and subsequently won the Prix d’Excellence from the French National Conservatory in Rueil-Malmaison as a student of Marie-Claire Alain.
Rozier was assistant professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, NC, where she taught organ, church music, and music theory from 1986–1991. She then relocated to the Philadelphia area where she was organist and director of music at the Ardmore Presbyterian Church until 1999. She has performed organ recitals and led workshops sponsored by churches, colleges, and chapters of the American Guild of Organists. She was a clinician for both the 2000 and 2002 AGO National Conventions and has served as a faculty member for multiple AGO Pipe Organ Encounters. A longtime AGO member, she founded the Wilmington, NC chapter in 1988 and served as dean for the Philadelphia and Wilmington chapters.
William Wozniak began studying percussion at the age of 5 with members of the Toledo Symphony. As a student at the Curtis Institute of Music he studied with Philadelphia Orchestra percussionists Michael Bookspan and Don Liuzzi, and later with Alan Abel at Temple University. He held principal positions with the New World Symphony (Michael Tilson-Thomas) and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and has been a guest timpanist and percussionist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and Naples Philharmonic. Highlights of his performing career include performances at Carnegie Hall, European Festivals Tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Evian Music Festival in France, the Tanglewood Music Center, the 2005 MTV VMAs, and with Luciano Pavarotti on his Farewell Tour. While living in Europe, he performed with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden (London), the English Sinfonia, and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Currently, he is the Principal Timpanist of the Delaware Symphony and performs regularly as an extra with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
