Music Ministers
Melissa Brassard
Wilson Family Sacred Music Intern
Beginning her studies at the age of 5, Melissa is an accomplished soloist, accompanist, and chamber musician from the Los Angeles area. She graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music degree, studying piano and organ performance. Melissa was the recipient of the Music Teachers' Association of California’s Memorial Music Scholarship, a finalist in the 2021 Rudolf Serkin Piano Competition, and a recipient of the Colburn Merit Scholarship. She has served as organist and accompanist at the Church of Saint Clarence, North Olmsted and First United Methodist Church, Pasadena. Melissa’s previous teachers include Jonathan Moyer and Alvin Chow.
Dr. Raymond Nagem
Minister of Music
Raymond Nagem is Minister of Music at The Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City, and a member of the organ faculty at Manhattan School of Music, where he teaches organ literature, service playing, and improvisation. He completed his D.M.A. at The Juilliard School in 2016, where he was a student of Paul Jacobs.
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A native of Medford, Massachusetts, Ray attended the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School and began organ lessons there with John Dunn. He earned his B.A. from Yale University in 2009, studying the organ with Thomas Murray, and his M.A. in 2011 from Juilliard. Prior to his appointment at Brick, he served for eleven years at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where he was Associate Director of Music and Organist. His album Divine Splendor, recorded on the Great Organ of St. John the Divine, is available on the Pro Organo label.
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At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020, Ray started a weekly online recital series, “Tuesdays at 6,” featuring a diverse range of music spanning the entire organ repertoire. In his spare time, he enjoys running, cycling, and crossword puzzles.
Liz Richter
Director of Children’s Music Ministries
Liz Richter is a musician and music educator who graduated with a Bachelor or Music from Westminster Choir College. She is the music teacher at the Brick Church School. She previously worked as the music teacher at multiple preschools on the Upper East Side. She is also the owner and director of Eastside Westside Music Together which is an early childhood music program on the Upper West Side.
Liz grew up singing in church choir from an early age where her mother was the Music Director in Garrison, NY. She has sung professionally in choirs at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Kimmel Center with Orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and The Berlin Philharmonic. Once moving to NYC in 2016, she joined the professional choir at Christ Church NYC where she sang under Steve Pilkington for several years. She also was the assistant director of the children's choir at Christ Church under Amanda Smith.
Wilson Family Sacred Music Internship
Thanks to the generosity of Don and Lynn Wilson and their steadfast devotion to music at Brick, Brick Church and the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music established the Wilson Family Sacred Music Internship in 2013. This internship provides an opportunity for a graduate student at the ISM to participate in our music ministry during the academic year. As part of an intensive, on-site learning experience, the intern shares in organ playing and choral conducting duties. The program also supports an undergraduate intern from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio during their winter break in January.