Australian-born Edith Yam is finishing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she studies organ with Prof. David Higgs. She also served as his teaching assistant, and taught secondary organ at Eastman. Edith has presented her research on nineteenth-century organ performance practice, not only for her degree lecture-recital requirement, but also for the University of Michigan’s 63rd Annual Organ Conference in Ann Arbor, the recent Organ Historical Society convention in Baltimore, and Eastman’s organ department Colloquium.

Edith holds a Bachelor of Music degree (with First Class Honours) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she studied with Philip Swanton. Further studies have taken Edith to Europe where she completed an exchange semester during her undergraduate years at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen where she studied with Klaus Eichhorn, and a Master’s degree from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam where she studied with Pieter van Dijk and Matthias Havinga. Edith has played in masterclasses including those of Jacques van Oortmerssen, Louis Robilliard, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Michel Bouvard, Olivier Latry, and Arvid Gast. She has performed at venues across Europe, including the Waalse Kerk and Orgelpark in Amsterdam, Laurenskerk in Alkmaar, Bremer Dom, St. Cosmae and Damian in Stade, and Royaumont Abbey in France.

Edith currently serves as Organist/Director of Music at St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, and has taught classroom music at elementary school. She was also recently invited to perform at Methuen Memorial Music Hall for their 2024 summer series, and will perform next month at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, IL, on their famous Opus 327 organ by E. M. Skinner, as part of the Biggs Scholars program of the Organ Historical Society.