The Schalk Scholar Program seeks to identify and support up and coming scholars in the area of church music. It program provides recognition, publication (in print and online), stipends for research, as well as opportunities for them to present their work.

The Center for Church Music wishes to honor the legacy of Concordia University Chicago distinguished professor of music Dr. Carl Schalk. This legacy includes not only his music but also his exceptional research, writing and lecturing in the area of Lutheran church music.

Scholars

Emily Solomon (2024)

Organist Emily Solomon serves as cantor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Detroit. She is also the Executive Director for the Academy of Early Music in Ann Arbor, MI. In 2020 she received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Sacred Music from the University of Michigan. Her dissertation explored the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book of 1912. Emily also completed a Master of Arts in Music Research at Western Michigan University with a thesis on Johann Walther’s Geistliches Gesangbüchlein. She has performed in Finland, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. In 2019 she was named by Diapason magazine a member of the “20 under 30” class.  Her paintings and photography are also frequently displayed. She is the webmaster for Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy.

Lisa Clark (2022)

Lisa Clark is senior editor for curriculum resources at Concordia Publishing House (CPH). She enjoys a flourishing reputation as a Lutheran hymn writer and is deep into her doctoral program at the University of Bristol (UK). Her topic is “eschatology in Christian hymnody.” Lisa has also been named by The Hymn Society of North America a Lovelace Scholar and an “emerging scholar.”  She and her family reside in St. Louis, MO.

Daniel George Baker (2020)

Daniel is a graduate of the DPM program at Concordia University Wisconsin. He recently completed his masters at the University of Florida and has been accepted into the PhD program in musicology at the University of Birmingham. His topic—“The influence of Anglican Church music on Saxon-American Lutheranism and its musical tradition in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.”

Benjamin Alan Kolodziej, Plano, TX (2018)

Benjamin is an outstanding church musician, composer, researcher and writer. He holds several degrees from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. An active member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, Benjamin has won many awards and competitions. He has published on a wide range of topics in several scholarly publications.

Sam Eatherton, Sheboygan WI (2016)

Sam, an outstanding church musician and composer at Trinity Lutheran Church & School in Sheboygan, WI, is a former student of Charles Ore. He has completed his DMA program at Baylor University. Sam has done considerable research and writing in the area of church music, especially regarding children’s song in the Lutheran church. He recently spearheaded the festschrift for David Music--The Gift of Music (MorningStar 2022).