Catherine Rodland ’87, whose playing has been described as “transcendent” (The American Organist), is artist in residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She graduated cum laude with departmental distinction in organ performance from St. Olaf in 1987 and received both the MM and DMA from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where she was a student of Russell Saunders. At Eastman, Catherine received the prestigious Performer's Certificate and the Ann Anway Award for excellence in organ performance. She is a prizewinner in several competitions, including the 1994 and 1998 American Guild of Organists Young Artists Competition, the 1994 Calgary International Organ Competition, and the 1988 International Organ Competition at the University of Michigan for which she received first prize. Catherine has concertized extensively throughout the United States and Canada, and has been featured often on the syndicated radio program Pipedreams on National Public Radio. At St. Olaf College, Catherine teaches a full studio of organ students as well as music theory and ear training classes. She performs regularly at St. Olaf, dedicating the Holtkamp organ in Boe Memorial Chapel in 2007. Catherine presented a series of recitals in Boe Chapel featuring the complete organ symphonies of Louis Vierne, after spending a sabbatical leave researching organs in Paris. Recently, Catherine has been developing a program of works by female and under-represented composers, publishing an article in The American Organist magazine about the research project “Discovering New Voices” done by St. Olaf organ students in the spring of 2022.  

Dr. Rodland has recorded two CDs: Dedication on the Nichols and Simpson Organ at West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey and American Weavings with violist and duo partner Carol Rodland. The Rodland Duo is currently part of the Concert Artists Cooperative, and was featured at both the American Guild of Organists national convention in Houston, Texas, and the American Viola Congress in Oberlin, Ohio.