Stan Kann Scholarship Fund Announces First Recipient Foster

The St. Louis MO-based Stan Kann Scholarship Fund, in conjunction with the American Theater Organ Society, is pleased to announce its first scholarship recipient, Rachel Foster, a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Ms. Foster is studying organ performance at the American Organ Institute on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, with a special interest in silent film accompaniment. Her training has included organ performance and composition, and she has also had "hands on" experience in helping install what is known as the "Mini-Mo," the Moller theatre pipe organ on campus.

Ms. Foster was born in Mainz, Germany and grew up in Akron, OH. She began piano studies at age 7, and started organ lessons at age 16. The scholarship award will help finance her second year in the Master’s program at the University of Oklahoma, where she studies with the head of the organ department, Dr. John Schwandt.

The Stan Kann Scholarship Fund was named in memory of well-known theatre organist and television personality Stan Kann. Stan became a favorite on all the major talk shows in the 70's, 80's & 90's generating hysteria with his frenetic antics. Stan played the Mighty Wurlitzer at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis for more than 35 years and for more than six decades Stan was known throughout the country as the "little king of the console".

The Stan Kann Scholarship Fund was established to provide grants to college students interested in learning to play the distinctive theatre organ style. Working in partnership with ATOS, the American Theatre Organ Society, a 55-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of the theatre pipe organ, the Stan Kann Scholarship Fund will continue to seek qualified, outstanding students whose focus is in theatre organ studies.

For more information on the Stan Kann Scholarship Fund, contact Ken Double, President and CEO of the American Theatre Organ Society at k.double@atos.org.

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