The Lankford Arts Series

The Lankford Arts Series: The Art of Faith was founded in 2017, thanks to an endowment bequest made by David and Susan Lankford to First Lutheran Church. David and Susan were dedicated stewards of the music program at First Lutheran, singing in the choir and giving of their time and talent to the congregation they loved.

Each year, First Lutheran Church hosts events for the Sioux Falls community which seek to connect great art and faith. We hope to inspire coming generations through the music David and Susan loved and to enrich and enliven the community with the faith they shared.

Refreshment for the Soul

Music of J.S. Bach’s Clavierübung III and the Christian Faith

Sunday, October 26, 2025, 3 p.m. • First Lutheran Church, Sanctuary

Join German virtuoso organist Felix Hell as we both enjoy and sing music of Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Clavierübung III. With music J.S. Bach described as “refreshment for the soul,” this collection based on hymns of the mass and Small Catechism will be complemented by congregational singing of new hymn arrangements for organ, brass, and timpani by composer Chad Fothergill of Duke University, led by Dr. Tim Campbell and Transept, together with the First Lutheran Parish Choir. Reflections by pastor and professor Dr. Steven Paulson will help put the music of Bach and hymns of Martin Luther in the context of the faith we share.

Felix Hell

A native of Germany, Felix Hell is one of the most sought-after concert organists in the world. He has been featured as a recitalist and concerto soloist in more than 1,000 concerts throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The American Organist raved that he “sets standards that older and honored players would struggle to equal."

Felix Hell is known for his diverse and innovative programming, drawing upon a repertoire encompassing five centuries. Furthermore, he has received global recognition for his marathon performances of the entire organ works of J.S. Bach, which encompass about 250 compositions and close to 20 hours of performance time. He has since performed the complete Bach cycle four times, most recently in 2013 in Seoul, Korea.

Felix Hell studied at the Juilliard School in New York, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (BM), and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore (AD, MM, DMA). In 2007, he received Johns Hopkins University’s prestigious Outstanding Graduate Award.

For more than 20 years, Mr. Hell was Organ Artist Associate at Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan. He is currently Artist in Residence at the United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg. In 2011, Felix Hell was appointed Distinguished Visiting Artist at Kosin University in Busan, South Korea.

Chad Fothergill

Chad Fothergill serves as Chapel organist as well as the primary organist for Duke Divinity School. In conjunction with the university organist, Fothergill leads and supports congregational singing at Chapel services and university ceremonies in the Chapel. In addition to accompanying the Chapel Choir, he mentors the Chapel’s organ scholar and performs at weekly organ demonstrations as well as in Chapel concerts. At the Divinity School, he assists with the planning and leadership of weekday liturgies.

Prior to his appointment at Duke, he was interim co-director of the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University, editor of CrossAccent: Journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and held visiting faculty appointments at Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Delaware. He continues to serve as cantor at the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, a four-week summer program in church music for high school students.

Fothergill completed degrees in organ performance at Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Iowa. He is a doctoral candidate in musicology at Temple University, Philadelphia, and researches the social and vocational histories of Lutheran cantors from the Reformation through the time of J. S. Bach. As a scholar-performer, he is frequently engaged as a worship leader, speaker, writer, consultant, and composer. He is author of Sing with All the People of God: A Handbook for Church Musicians and has fulfilled commissions for articles, blogs, compositions, editorials, reviews, and reference entries for several worship resources and professional journals.

Fothergill has presented solo recitals, lecture-recitals, hymn festivals, workshops, and papers at gatherings of, among others: the American Guild of Organists, Society of North America, National Worship Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran and Anglican Churches of Canada, North American Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music, Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, and congregations throughout the United States.

Dr. Steven Paulson

Dr. Steven Paulson serves as Senior Fellow at 1517.org, where he is featured in two weekly podcasts: “Outlaw God” and “Preaching the Text.” Dr. Paulson is the former Chair of Lutheran Theology at Luther House of Study and former Professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, and he is one of the leading Reformation scholars in the world today. He is a Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, and earned the master of divinity degree from Luther Seminary in 1984. He holds both the master of theology and doctor of theology degrees from Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.

Transept

Transept is a vocal ensemble uniting some of the finest consort singers in the nation with select musicians based in Sioux Falls, SD.  

A transept’s span intersects the nave to give a structure its cruciform shape. The transept carries the weight of the structure’s meaning, in other words. It changes a physical space into a sign of transcendence. 

Transept is inspired by the architecture of beauty. They interweave music for vocal consort, soloists, and choir to draw audiences into an intimate, meaningful journey. They fill spaces with the sounds of transcendence.

Dr. Timothy Campbell

Timothy J. Campbell is the Founder and Artistic Director of the vocal ensemble Transept, which is a winner of The American Prize in Choral Performance (2021) and has been praised by critics for its “elegant, profound beauty.” He also serves as Associate Professor of Music at the University of South Dakota and is the Chorus Director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, hailed by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross as “one of America’s boldest orchestras.” As a tenor, he has performed with Grammy-winning ensembles and toured across the United States and Europe. As a conductor, teacher, and vocalist, Dr. Campbell brings a wealth of experience to his work with Transept.

A Sioux Falls native, Dr. Campbell is a passionate advocate for the development of vocal arts in South Dakota. This led him to found Transept in 2016. Transept’s innovative and imaginatively crafted programs interweave works for vocal consort, soloists, and chamber choir spanning ten centuries of music—from plainchant and Renaissance masterworks to contemporary choral repertoire. Transept has also developed education and outreach initiatives that have led to collaborations in concert and masterclass settings with numerous high school, church, and collegiate ensembles in the state. Live at the Cathedral, Transept’s first album, was mastered by the Grammy®-winning studio Soundmirror, Inc. and is available on all platforms. 

Since the fall of 2014, Dr. Campbell has taught at the University of South Dakota. In addition to conducting the Symphonic Choir and Collegium Musicum, he teaches courses in choral literature, applied voice, and sight-singing. He also leads conducting practicums for undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Campbell previously served on the faculty of West Virginia University, where he worked alongside the 2019 Grammy®-Award Music Educator of the Year, Dr. Jeffery Redding. He has also served as Associate Director for Men's Consort Houston and the CORO Vocal Artists, and as Director of the St. Luke's Early Music Ensemble (TX).

Dr. Campbell holds degrees from Bemidji State University (BS), the University of Minnesota (MM), and the University of Arizona (DMA).

watch previous events