Alison Riseley Clark

Alison started piano lessons with her father when she was five years old, and by the time she was 17, had completed two Diplomas in Piano Performance. At the time, she wanted to become a concert pianist, but the famous organist, Dame Gillian Weir, persuaded her that becoming a concert organist was a lot more fun. Other teachers who have helped her along the way include John Grew, Gerald Wheeler, David Sanger, Daniel Roth, Guy Bovet, Lionel Rogg, and Harald Vogel.

Alison maintains a very active, professional career. She gives many concerts as she has become popular with audiences for her varied and interesting programs. She has performed at Organix (the annual organ-festival held in Toronto, Canada, in May). In 2011, Alison gave a concert at King's Chapel in Boston and then returned to Boston in 2012 to give a concert at Trinity Episcopal Church, Copley Square.

Currently, Alison is the music director at Trinity United Church, Kitchener, Ontario, where she directs a large choir that includes several choral scholars from Wilfrid Laurier University, and where she oversees two series of annual concerts (Advent and Lent). She has also held church-positions in Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo and Hilton Head (South Carolina, USA).

Since 2005, Alison also has been employed by Music Plus of Kitchener, Ontario, as a consultant in church- and organ-music. With her extensive knowledge of both music and the publishing-industry, she has become well-known across Canada as one of the most valuable resources to church-musicians and composers. For organists and choir-directors, she is frequently asked to lead workshops in new or useful music. For the Summer Institute of Church Music (SICM) and the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO), she has led many such workshops.