Biography
Dillon J. Swanson is among the most-notable, up-and-coming liturgical musicians and scholars, awarded for his practice and innovation in the art of sacred music, liturgical theology, and worship practices.
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Dillon studied music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota in the areas of organ performance and church music with Dr. Peggy Johnson, Dr. Jay Hershberger, and Professor Andrew Steinberg; and vocal performance and pedagogy with Dr. Holly Janz and Peter Halverson. Dillon also studied both instrumental and choral conducting with Dr. Kevin F. E. Sütterlin, Dr. Kira Haler Knutson, and Dr. Michael Culloton.
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Dillon has worked in music ministry in a variety of roles and congregations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Virginia for over a decade. He currently serves as Director of Music Ministries at Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church, in Roanoke, Virginia. Dillon recently finished his 4-year tenure as Cantor for the campus ministry of Concordia College and 2-year tenure as Cantor for the community of Bethesda Lutheran Church, both of Moorhead. He has also served on the worship staff of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival (LSM) facilitated by the Lutheran Music Program at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana as organ fellow under the mentorship of Chad Fothergill during the 2020-21 seasons.
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Dillon has also held a number of professional titles and appointments and currently works with Opera Roanoke as Chorus Master and vocal music accompanist at Roanoke College. Prior to moving to Roanoke, Dillon held the offices of Dean of the Red River Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (RRVAGO) and President of the Red River Theatre Organ Society (RRTOS). Other appointments included serving as House Organist of the Fargo Theatre and Producer of the annual RRTOS Silent Movie Night and the Holiday Pipes Concert Series at the Fargo Theatre.
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As an author and composer, Dillon has contributed to the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) journal CrossAccent. Other recent commissions and premieres include choral and orchestral hymn setting pieces for the RRVAGO (2020) and the Concordia College Symphonic Band (2021).
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Dillon is also an avid researcher with current interests in the history of the role of cantor, liturgical theology, and the organ and choral music of J. S. Bach. He completed a historical survey of the liturgical use of the organ with musicologist Dr. Annett Richter in the summer of 2020. His most recent research writing project explores the theological confessions represented within Bach’s musical rhetoric found in the Clavier-Übung III. In the writing, he argues that the Clavier-Übung III was Bach’s translation of Martin Luther’s Catechisms into the musical vernacular.
