2026 Cherry Blossom Organ Concert Series
The Cherry Blossom organ concerts are a long-standing tradition that Mulberry is pleased to offer to the community during our city Cherry Blossom Festival. These are thirty-minute concerts held in the sanctuary beginning at 12:00 noon each day March 23rd-27th. In these performances, there will be connections to the past and present of Mulberry’s 200 years represented by these talented individuals.
Sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, Macon Chapter and Mulberry Street United Methodist Church.
Schedule
Found Faithful at Mulberry & First
Celebrating 200 Years at Mulberry Street UMC
This event is a part of Mulberry's 20206 Bicentennial Celebrations. Learn more about our Bicentennial year and how we're honoring our past, celebrating our present, and envisioning our future together.
Monday: Charles Douthit
Chase Douthit is an organist, collaborative pianist, and choral musician from Mooresville, North Carolina. He holds both a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Church Music from the Baylor University School of Music in Waco, Texas, where he studied organ with Dr. Jens Korndörfer, Dr. Isabelle Demers, and Dr. Margaret Harper.
During his studies at Baylor, Mr. Douthit earned numerous distinctions, including First Prize and the Hymn Playing Award in the 50th annual William C. Hall Pipe Organ Competition (2021) and selection as the organ division winner in the Baylor School of Music’s Semper Pro Musica Competition (2022). As a collaborative artist, he has served the School of Music in a variety of roles as both pianist and organist, most notably completing a five-semester term as accompanist for Bella Voce, the select treble ensemble founded by Dr. Lynne Gackle. Chase has appeared as a soloist and collaborative artist across New York City, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, and Dublin.
In recognition of his musical accomplishments, Mr. Douthit was recently named among The Diapason magazine’s “20 Under 30,” an honor awarded to outstanding young organists, harpsichordists, and carillonneurs who show exceptional promise in their disciplines. He currently serves as Assistant Music Director and Organist at Trinity Baptist Church in his hometown of Mooresville, North Carolina, where he is passionate about the ongoing vitality of church music ministry.
Beyond his musical endeavors, Mr. Douthit enjoys studying theology, spending time with family, and bass fishing on the lake near his home.
Tuesday: Hudson Moss
Mr. Hudson Moss is a graduate fellow at Mercer University studying for his MM in Organ Performance with Prof. Jack Mitchener and his MSM with Prof. Nathan Myrick. He is also the organist/choirmaster at the Anglo-catholic Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Virginia-Highland, Atlanta. He previously studied organ with Prof. Caroline Robinson while he served as a staff singer (countertenor) at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. As a part of his post-baccalaureate program at the Cathedral, he sang in the Cathedral Singers, Cathedral Choir, and Schola ensembles, and he also taught in the Cathedral’s Royal School of Church Music program. He has performed in masterclasses for Christa Rakich, David Higgs, Nathan Laube, Nicole Keller, and James Bobb. He presented at the Society for Ethnomusicology’s annual conference this past fall on the unique social formation present at Church of Our Saviour and its connection to music.
Mr. Moss’s undergraduate degree is from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he studied climate science, economics, and was an accompanist with the Georgia Tech choirs. Seeing the passion of the climate scientists and policymakers he was surrounded by led him to an interest in community development and music performance.
Wednesday: Steven Wooddell
A native of Roanoke, Virginia, Steven Wooddell graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts then earned his Bachelor of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Todd Wilson, and his Master of Organ Performance at Southern Methodist University with Larry Palmer. He also studied with Louis Robilliard on the historic Cavaille Coll organ at St Francois De Sales in Lyon, France. Winner of the 1994 Regional AGO Young Organists Competition in Cincinnati, he was awarded recital appearances throughout Indiana and Ohio. He has also played concerts in England as well as Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and at Spivey Hall in Atlanta, Georgia. Steven teaches organ, music technology, and piano at Berry College in Rome, GA while also serving as an accompanist for the choral program. He is the organist at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta and lives in Rome, Georgia with his wife Joy and their three children.
Thursday: Ibiyefiebo Harry
Ibiyefiebo Harry is an international graduate fellow at Mercer University Townsend School of Music and Organist & Choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Macon. He is currently having his master’s degree studies in organ music performance at Mercer University with Dr. Jack Mitchener. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Organ Muisic Performance, Harpsichord and Composition with distinction from the Conservatory “Gioachino Rossini” in Pesaro, Italy, where he studied with Professor Luca Scandali—who himself studied under Ton Koopman, Andrea Marcon and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini.
Also, he holds the Grade 8, Diploma and Licentiate certificates in organ music performance from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music with distinction. He is the MD & CEO of IBMANS Global Ventures and has had successful performances in Holland, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Dubai, France, Malta and the United States. He hails from Rivers State, Nigeria.
Friday: Dr. Laura Ellis
Laura Ellis is Associate Director and Professor in the School of Music at the University of Florida where she teaches organ, harpsichord, and carillon. She is often found atop UF’s iconic Century Tower performing on the institution’s 61-bell carillon. Throughout 2025 Ellis lead the centennial celebration of the majestic Andrew Anderson Memorial Pipe Organ housed in the University Auditorium. Accolades for her organ recording Music from the Testaments Old and New, recorded on the Anderson organ, include “plays brilliantly” and performs “with insight and expressive control.” Her performance “sparkles” in her most recent recording: Jubilant Bells: Carillon Music of Alice Gomez.
Ellis holds the DMA degree in organ performance and the MM in church music from the University of Kansas, where she studied carillon with Bert Gerken. Originally from southern Minnesota, Ellis received a BA in music from Luther College in Decorah, IA. Ellis has been active in the American Guild of Organists (AGO) where she was elected southeast region councillor for three terms. A carillonneur member of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA), Ellis currently sits on the board of directors, is chair of the Music Publications committee, and served as the organization’s president from 2021-2023. For more information about the organ and carillon programs at the University of Florida, please visit: www.arts.ufl.edu/organ & www.arts.ufl.edu/carillon.
719 Mulberry St., Macon, GA
(478) 745-8601
M-Th 8:30am-5:00pm
Su 9:00am-12:00pm
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For information or comments on accessibility, contact Hunter Godsey at hgodsey@mulberrymethodist.org.