Michael Stairs, a native of Maine, received his B.M. from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where he served as accompanist for the famed touring choir. While there he had the rare opportunity to play piano rehearsals for Stokowski, Sargent, von Karajan, and Bernstein. Michael Stairs then went on to The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied organ with Alexander McCurdy and piano with Vladimir Sokoloff. Mr. Stairs is Chairman of the Music Department at The Haverford School (PA) and is organist-choirmaster at The Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr. In 1986 Michael Stairs became the official organist of The Philadelphia Orchestra with which he often appears. In 1993 in Japan he recorded the Strauss Festival Prelude for Organ and Orchestra with the Philadelphians while there on tour. A member of the Delius Society also, Michael Stairs plays frequently for it and often with Davyd Booth. They collaborated on the May 1, 1994, Philadelphia concert for The Delius Society which noted the centenaries of the births of E. J. Moeran and Peter Warlock.