Chapter Officers

RRVAGO Chapter Officers, Committees, and Appointed Positions

Our chapter officers consist of a Dean, Sub-Dean, Secretary, and Treasurer, who make up the Executive Committee. These officers and other committees and positions are volunteer-filled by the membership. All terms begin on July 1st and expire on June 30th of the following year.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (OFFICERS) 2024-25

Benton Schmidt, Dean

email: dean@rrvago.org

Benton has belonged to the RRVAGO since 2023, and currently serves as the Director of Music at the Newman Center, North Dakota State University.

He received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at NDSU, a Master of Sacred Music from Notre Dame, and is currently completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Kansas.

As an organist, Benton particularly enjoys liturgical music of seventeenth-century France, early Baroque Lutheran music from Germany, and modern works of Messiaen and Olivier Latry.

He is passionate about singing, studying, and teaching chant in its multiplicity of forms, from medieval manuscripts to modern vernacular pieces.

Benton's academic interests include the liturgical theology of Joseph Cardinal Razinger, musical aesthetics, and ancient Greek classics.

Bill Tweten, Sub-Dean

email: sub-dean@rrvago.org

Since August, 2023, Bill has held the position of organist at First Lutheran Church of Fargo, on the largest pipe organ in Fargo-Moorhead.

A native of Buxton, ND, Bill studied organ under Ruth Berge at Concordia College in Moorhead.

He has belonged to the RRVAGO since the 1990s, and he has held the offices of Dean, Sub-Dean, Secretary, and Treasurer, in addition to serving on various committees.

He has also served as organist and several area churches, including Messiah Lutheran Church, Fargo; Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Moorhead; and Gethsemane Episcopal Cathedral, Fargo.

Patrick McGuire, Secretary

email: secretary@rrvago.org

Patrick, a native of California, joined the RRVAGO in 2023, and serves as Music Director and Organist of Sts. Anne & Joachim Catholic Church in Fargo.

He studied organ under Dr. Peggy Johnson (a former Dean of the RRVAGO), and earned a B.A. in Vocal Music Education at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, followed by a Master of Music at University of Mary, Bismarck, ND.

Alex Swanson, Treasurer

email: treasurer@rrvago.org

ALEX SWANSON was raised on a farm near Moorhead, Minnesota, graduated from Moorhead High School, attended Minnesota State University Moorhead and earned a B.A. in Communication Studies, and then attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and earned a B.S. in Mortuary Science.

He studied organ under his grandmother Beth Buchholz, Gaylord Fagerland, and Michael Olson.

He was an active member, organist, and historian of the Oak Mound Congregational Church until its closing and has since belonged to North Buffalo Lutheran Church in Kragnes Township, where he serves as church treasurer, substitute organist, historian, and choir director.

Alex has served as a substitute organist for many Fargo-Moorhead area churches and as part-time organist at Peace Lutheran Church (Fargo), Glyndon Lutheran Church, First Congregational UCC of Moorhead, and St. John Lutheran Church (Arthur, ND).

He is also member and treasurer of the Red River Theatre Organ Society where he has held various offices, and is also a house organist of the Fargo Theatre on the "Mighty Wurlitzer" theatre pipe organ there.

He has belonged to the Red River Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists since November 2017 and has served as secretary and on various committees.

He is employed as a mortician at West Funeral Home in West Fargo, ND.

COMMITTEES 2024-25

Upcoming Events

05

AUG

Noon Recital with Michael Olson at

First Lutheran Church

RRVAGO Chapter Officers, Committees, and Appointed Positions