Theresa Magidsohn
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Christine Chun, pictured at the organ at St. Anastasia Church in Troy, started playing the organ in her 20s, which is late by professional standards. Now, the St. Anastasia music minister is heading to the Netherlands for a significant international organ competition. | Photo by Theresa Magidsohn
TROY — Although she didn’t begin to play the organ until her early twenties, Christine Chun, director of music ministry at Saint Anastasia in Troy, has certainly made up for lost time.
Now in her early thirties, with a Doctorate of Music in Organ Performance/ Church Music, Chun is one of only ten musicians worldwide to have made it to the 13th International CĂ©sar Franck Competition in Haarlem, Netherlands, this September.
“The competition is a three-part series on excellence in technique and interpretation,” says Louis Canter, Coordinator of Music Ministries for the Archdiocese of Detroit. “We liturgical musicians strive for excellence in our field and want to share our gifts for the glory of God and for the future of our craft – these types of competitions do just that.”
Chun began her musical career as a child pianist.
“Like all young children who play the piano, I wanted to become a concert pianist,” said Chun. It wasn’t until her third year of undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, as piano performance major, that Christine first played the organ.
To fill an extra elective space, Chun took the suggestion from her mother to take organ lessons.
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“I didn’t think about it as a career,” said Chun, “I just thought it was great to learn the organ, in addition to being a pianist; it’s practical.”
It was much to her surprise, then, when her instructor, Marilyn Mason, University Organist and Chairman of the Organ Department at the University of Michigan, whom Chun calls “legendary,” called Chun into her office to tell her that she would make a fine organist.
“My jaw dropped,” said Chun.
Feeling that her piano training wasn’t yet completed, Chun obtained her Master of Music in Piano Performance, with a cognate in musical education from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music before returning to the organ and receiving her Doctorate of Music from the University of Michigan, under the instruction of Professor Mason.
“I discovered that my love for music did come from church,” says Chun.
According to Chun, her mission in music ministry at Saint Anastasia has been to uplift the hearts of others and to appreciate, as well as help those around her to appreciate, the beauty in life that has been given to us by God. The International César Franck Competition, she says, is an opportunity to push herself and learn more repertoires.
Louis Canter couldn’t be more excited for Chun.
“It’s great on a lot of levels,” says Canter, “because Christine represents her parish, the Archdiocese, the state of Michigan, the United States, U-M, and Marilyn Mason’s studio. To know somebody who is part of this is just really cool.”
Chun will leave for the Netherlands mid-September to compete in the first round of the competition. She will play pieces from Olivier Messiaen and César Franck at the Roman Catholic Cathedral and Basilica of St. Bavo. The first two eliminatory rounds of the competition will take place on Sept. 21 and Sept. 23; finalists will perform on Sept. 25.
The winner of the competition will be invited to give a recital in the Cathedral Notre-Dame in Chartres, France,in addition to a monetary prize of € 2.000 (approximately $2,650).  The first- and second-runners up also receive cash prizes.
“This is definitely an honor for me to play (Messiaen and Franck’s) music,” she says. “These people are two of the greatest French composers of our time and to be able to play their compositions in Europe is really just a dream.”
