David Peckham named Theatre Organist of the Year

David is well-known to theatre organ audiences throughout the world and has served as resident organist at the Clemens Center in Elmira, NY since its opening. Hearing theatre organ music even before he was born, he was fortunate to grow up in a home packed with a modest theatre organ and all sorts of automatic musical instruments. Like so many child prodigies, Dave began taking piano lessons at age eight, then moved to the pipe organ when he was 11. He studied liberal arts and music at the Eastman School of Music, then returned to his home in Horsehead, New York, to work at his family’s pipe organ repair shop, L.A. Peckham and Son Pipe Organ Service. He credits his parents with giving him a musical background. ’’I was going to concerts, apparently, before I was born,’’ he said.