Frank E. Perko III, Director of Music
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Colorado native Frank E. Perko III has been Director of Music at First Plymouth since 2006. Before returning to Colorado in 2002, Frank served as consultant for the new, $785,000 Noack tracker pipe organ, installed in Lakeside Presbyterian Church, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Perko holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Organ Performance from Colorado State University, and a Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance, with cognates in both choral conducting and music theory, from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. He has served as organist and music director in various churches and has taught classes and private organ instruction. He also owned and maintained his own large and active piano teaching studio while living in Ohio. Frank began his studies of the organ at age nine and was performing professionally by age eleven. He was a regular performer at the Mighty Wurlitzer organs in the Paramount Theater, and the Organ Grinder Pizza Restaurant in Denver. He continues to perform in concerts around the country in churches and concert halls, both at the classic organ, and at the Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ. He has won numerous organ competitions throughout the United States, and placed first in the Strader International Organ Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1996.
Gwen Blumenschein, Associate Director of Music
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Gwen Blumenschein, M.M., A.A.G.O., serves as Assistant Director of Music at First Plymouth Church. Her duties include assisting the Director, Frank Perko in accompanying and directing the chancel choir, playing organ or piano music, directing the Handbell Choir and the First Plymouth Young Childrens Voices. Her love of organ developed at a young age while watching the church organist's feet playing the pedals. She studied organ and choral music at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Michigan, as well as attending the Royal School of Church Music Summer Course in England, and the Stattliche Hochshule fur Musik in Frankfurt, Germany. Gwen has directed children, adult and bell choir programs; directed church musicals and Madrigal dinners; and organized recital series and concerts. She has been actively involved in Choristers Guild, a national organization which supports children's choirs, the Royal School of Church Music Choir program, the American Guild of Organists, and National Pastoral Musicians. Gwen began a children's choir program at St. Jude Catholic Church in Lakewood, Colorado which grew to a comprehensive Kingergarten through 12th grade music program. She was instrumental in spearheading the St. Jude Children and Youth choirs trip to Rome to sing at the International Congress of Pueri Conatores, presenting a concert at a church in Rome and singing for a Papal Mass on New Year's Day, 2006 at the Vatican.
Heidi Thomas, Youth Choir Director
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Colorado native Heidi Thomas graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor in Music Education. Heidi worked for several years as a "barnstormer," a singing/acting waitress at the The Country Dinner Playhouse, and taught music to children in kindergarten through 6th grades at DCS Montessori Charter School for eight years. She has worn many hats during her over twenty years at First Plymouth, including directing numerous choirs, playing organ, and serving on the ministries of Worship and Arts, and Christian Education. She lives in Castle Rock with her husband Dave and three daughters, Morgan (17), Kacie (16), and Trinity (13).
