Bergen County Organist Wins Ridgewood Choral Scholarship

The Ridgewood Choral has announced that organist Davis C. Badaszewski of Park Ridge is the winner of the 2015 Florence Reinauer Memorial Music Award of $2,500 for excellence in vocal or instrumental performance. The award is given to a high school senior who intends to continue their musical education at an institute of higher learning.

Badaszewski, a senior at Saddle River Day School in Saddle River, currently serves as the Associate/Apprentice Organist at Ridgewood’s Christ Church Episcopal and is also a music intern at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City, according to the Ridgewood Choral. He plans to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Organ Performance and Sacred Music and his ultimate goal is to become a full time professional church musician at a large metropolitan parish.

Badaszewski studies pipe organ with William K. Trafka and is a member of the North New Jersey Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He is also the recipient of Saddle River Day School’s Mark G. Eckstein Music Scholarship.

Instituted in 1967, the fund was later endowed by Franklin Reinauer as a memorial to his wife Florence, according to the Ridgewood Choral. To date, the Choral has awarded more than $30,000 to encourage talented young musicians.

Honorable mention was given to tenor Marcus Jefferson of Wayne, a senior at Hawthorne Christian Academy, and harpist Katy Wong of Ridgewood, a senior at Ridgewood High School.

Badaszewski will perform at the Ridgewood Choral’s 87th Anniversary Spring Concert on Friday, April 17, at 8 p.m. at West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood. Tickets are available in advance from Choral members or at the door on the day of the performance.

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