The program, including music by Mozart, Beethoven, Poulenc and Hanson, will be led by Mark Laycock, WSU director of orchestras.

An international concert artist, Davis is the Ann and Dennis Ross Endowed Faculty of Distinction in Organ. She lived in France for more than 30 years, where she was recognized with the “Certificat d’Aptitude de Professeur d’Orgue” by the French government.

Her recordings include discs and broadcast recordings in England and on the famed organ at Chartres Cathedral in France, where her recording “Musique pour Cathédrales” won the coveted French 5 Diapasons award.

Davis will perform Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto in G Minor (1938), a colorful and dramatic work. Faculty harpist Ann Glasmann will join Davis and the WSU Symphony in Howard Hanson's Concerto for Organ, Harp and Strings (1926).

Davis will open the program with a selection of three of Mozart's Church Sonatas, delightful miniatures accompanied by strings.
Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F Major will also be featured.

Composed in 1812, it is one of the composer's most playful and humorous works.

A native of Michigan, Davis graduated with honors from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Robert Clark.

Shortly after, she went to France to study with Marie-Claire Alain. While there she also studied with Jean Langlais, Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, and Edouard Souberbielle, as well as other great European master organists.

Davis’ career was launched by taking First Prize at the prestigious St. Albans International Organ Competition in England. Since then, her activities have included featured performances at American Guild of Organists national conventions, international competition juries, and concerts, masterclasses and lectures given about French organ literature and its history.

A renowned teacher, Davis has served as organ professor at the Conservatory of Music in Clamart, near Paris, and from 1997 to 2006 at the French National Regional Conservatory in Caen, France. She came to WSU in 2006.

In addition to heading the WSU’s organ program, she also produces the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series for the university.

Davis performs extensively and always to enthusiastic critical acclaim both in Europe and North America, said Laycock. Her most recent recording is “Lynne Davis en Concert” on the world-renowned Cavaillé-Coll organ at the church of St. Etienne in Caen, France.

Laycock is an associate professor of music at WSU, where he holds the Ann Walenta Faculty of Distinction Endowed Professorship.

His work as guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator spans 16 states, including the leadership of all-state orchestras in Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington; recent and upcoming engagements include the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Maryland All-State Orchestra, Oklahoma Youth Orchestra, Kansas Junior High State Orchestra, Northeast Kansas Ninth Grade Honor Orchestra and Hastings (Neb.) College High School Honor Festival.

The concert also will be simulcast on WSU Internet Radio at http://wsuir.wichita.edu.