Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Organist Kyle Babin is an internationally renowned organist who plays at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda.

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Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Organist Kyle Babin is an internationally renowned organist who plays at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda.
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Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Organist Kyle Babin is an internationally renowned organist who plays at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda.

Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Organist Kyle Babin is an internationally renowned organist who plays at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda.

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Throughout his life, Kyle Babin always has been a regular church goer and an enjoyer of liturgical music. But not always at the same time.

“When I was young, the music at church was...not very good,” he said. “But I was learning piano and hearing good music, so had enjoyed both.”

Today, Babin is the organist and director of music at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda. He hopes to keep the two together with a resurgent concert series at the church.

“This has long been a kind of coveted space for recordings and concerts and we started raising some money to start the series,” he said, referring to the size and acoustic quality of the church.

Babin himself played a recital of organ music at Bradley Hills on Nov. 19 to benefit Bethesda Cares, a homeless outreach program. In February, the church will host Donald Sutherland, coordinator of the organ department at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, who will play with his students to raise money for the church.

This year’s concert for Bethesda Cares raised more than $1,000 for the non-profit, on par with what it raised the previous two years it was held.

Future concerts — where the church generally asked for donations of $10 or $15 — go to benefit the church’s mission and outreach work as well as local charities.

David Gray, a reverend at Bradley Hills and head of the staff, said both Babin’s hard work for and participation in the concert series has helped it flourish. This year the concert will feature such artists as Fred Hersch, a two-time Grammy nominee for his performances as a solo jazz pianist.

“Kyle brings incredible gifts...unique gifts to the church,” Gray said.

Babin, 31, of Washington, D.C., recently earned recognition at the International Organ Festival at St. Albans in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom this summer, where he earned the Douglas May Award, given to the best single performance. Babin, a Texas-native, is a graduate of Yale University’s School of Music and earned a doctorate of musical arts from the Manhattan School of Music.

Babin said his music education began with playing the piano, but his involvement in the church led him to explore the organ, an instrument similar to the piano that requires more use of foot pedals. He said the organ, which is featured in many churches, gave him more opportunities to play professionally than the piano, which is more commonly played.

Although he said he’s not concerned about accolades, Babin has made a name for himself among organists. He has played at some of the oldest churches in the area — Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Washington National Cathedral, both in Washington, D.C., said Chris Miller, dean of the D.C. chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Both are well known for the organ concerts they hold, Miller said.

The area has a long tradition of organ music, Miller said, because some of its earliest tenants were large cathedrals which needed a loud instrument, like an organ with its massive pipes, to pay for big audiences.

“The pipe organ has been in [Washington,] D.C. for hundreds of years,” he said. “Literally since the city was founded.”

aruoff@gazette.net