Delivering performances of exceptional color, virtuosity, and imagination, Alexander Richard Straus-Fausto has emerged as one of the leading young organists of his generation. Equally at home in the music of the Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, and contemporary periods, he is recognized for interpretations that combine technical command with a refined sensitivity to registration, acoustics, and orchestral sonority. As a performer, transcriber, conductor, and church musician, he has earned international recognition for expanding the artistic possibilities of the organ and introducing the instrument to new audiences. 

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Straus-Fausto currently serves as Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Miami, Florida, where he oversees the Cathedral’s semi-professional choir and its historic four-manual E. M. Skinner organ, Op. 471. At the age of twenty-six, he was among the youngest musicians to be appointed Director of Music at an Episcopal cathedral in the United States. In his role at Trinity, he is committed to fostering the growth and excellence of the Cathedral’s choral program while helping establish Trinity as a vibrant center for music and the arts in Miami. His plans include the inauguration of a recital series bringing distinguished organists from around the world to perform at the Cathedral. He is also the Artist Director of the Triennial Miami International Organ Competition, held at Church of the Epiphany. 

 

A particular focus of his work at Trinity is the care and stewardship of the Cathedral’s historic E. M. Skinner organ. Its rich orchestral tonal palette aligns closely with Straus-Fausto’s musical interests and specialization in organ transcription, allowing him to explore the instrument’s extraordinary range of color and sonority. Through inventive programming and performance, he seeks to highlight both the historical significance and continuing artistic potential of the symphonic organ.

 

Straus-Fausto has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe at some of the world’s most distinguished churches, cathedrals, and concert venues, including Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London; La Madeleine in Paris; Washington National Cathedral; Grace Cathedral in San Francisco; St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta; Coventry Cathedral; Trinity Church Wall Street in New York; Princeton University Chapel; and Risskov Church in Aarhus, Denmark. Most recently, he was a featured performer at the Bergen International Organ Festival in Norway, where he appeared twice. He has also appeared at the Spoleto Festival USA and at Wesleyan University in connection with a celebration of Wagner transcriptions for organ. He is scheduled to perform at Notre-Dame de Paris in 2030.

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His repertoire encompasses music spanning centuries and includes the complete organ works of César Franck and Maurice Duruflé. Particularly devoted to the art of orchestral transcription, Straus-Fausto has created more than fifty original transcriptions for organ, including works by Leonard Bernstein, Richard Wagner, Gabriel Fauré, Richard Strauss, and Alexander Borodin. His performances are distinguished by their registrational imagination and stylistic versatility, whether on historic tracker instruments or the great symphonic organs of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through transcription, he seeks to reveal the organ’s unique capacity to encompass orchestral color, scale, and dramatic expression while expanding the instrument’s repertoire for contemporary audiences.

His artistic work has been recognized by major institutions in both Canada and the United States. The Diapason named Straus-Fausto to its prestigious “20 Under 30” Class of 2023, recognizing outstanding young artists making significant contributions to organ performance, harpsichord, and church music. In 2025, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation selected him for its “30 Under 30,” celebrating Canada’s most accomplished young musicians. He has also received the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Prize, the John Goss Memorial Scholarship, and the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Scholarship. Supported by a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, he completed a recital tour of Great Britain in 2019, appearing in major churches and cathedrals throughout England. In 2023, he was a participant in the Longwood International Organ Competition, competing for the largest cash prize of any major organ competition and in 2024, he was selected as a semifinalist in the Toulouse International Organ Competition, where he was the only North American chosen to participate that year.

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At the age of nineteen, Straus-Fausto was appointed titular organist of L’église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus in Montréal, home to one of Canada’s largest pipe organs. The appointment fostered a lasting affinity for the French symphonic tradition and, in particular, for the art of transcription. His work as an educator has included guest lectures, recitals, and masterclasses at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he has served as a guest teacher and masterclass clinician on multiple occasions.

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A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, Straus-Fausto studied with many of the world’s foremost organ pedagogues. His principal teachers have included David Higgs, Martin Jean, Hans-Ola Ericsson, Rachel Laurin, Christian Lane, James David Christie, Thomas Bara, and Jonathan Oldengarm. He also studied improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart and harpsichord with Hank Knox. In addition to his work as an organist and church musician, he maintains a particular interest in continuo playing, improvisation, conducting, and ensemble collaboration.

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Straus-Fausto’s career is grounded in a conviction that the organ is not simply a historical instrument, but one of extraordinary contemporary expressive potential. Whether performing the great works of the established repertoire, creating new transcriptions, developing choral programs, or presenting artists from around the world, he remains committed to expanding the instrument’s reach and demonstrating its remarkable capacity for color, orchestral expression, and imagination.

 

Straus-Fausto is represented by Seven Eight Artists.