Local organist will perform public recital at Salt Lake City Tabernacle
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IDAHO FALLS – Cory Whittier of Idaho Falls will perform his 25th recital at the historic tabernacle in Salt Lake City next week.
The half-hour organ performance is happening Saturday, Dec. 13 at noon.
Whittier’s love of playing the organ stems back to second grade when he started taking piano lessons. In a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com, Whittier says piano lessons were a staple for he and his seven siblings.
“In our family, everybody had to learn,” says Whittier. “You had to be able to play four-part hymns, and then you could decide if you wanted to keep going.”
Whittier kept going, eventually transitioning to the organ in the eighth grade. After graduating from high school, he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He attended Brigham Young University-Idaho several years later, and chose a degree in organ performance.
When Whittier graduated in December 2014, he was married and supporting a young family, but still had no clear idea what his career path would be.
Three months later, his father, City Councilman Dee Whittier, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 57.
“Losing my dad made me rethink everything,” Whittier said. “I thought, maybe I really do want to go all in on music.”
He applied and was accepted to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Two demanding years there pushed his skills and forced him to confront performance anxiety that had once left his hands shaking or locking up during recitals. The solution, he said, was to “practice performing” until the stage felt comfortable.
Now, he describes his public recitals as an adrenaline rush.
After Eastman, Whittier took a full-time job at First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, serving as the full time organist and music director. He planned music services for the liturgy, ran church choirs and played a 4,000-pipe instrument, an experience he said is “like playing a building.”
Whittier and his wife returned to eastern Idaho in July 2024, which meant a career change.
“There really aren’t many full-time choir director and organist jobs in eastern Idaho,” he said.
Whittier quickly settled into the real estate industry as an agent for Murdock, Manwaring, and Cardon.
“It’s been kind of a dream job I never expected,” he said. “It lets me be part of Idaho Falls and southeast Idaho again, which I really longed for.”
Whittier has officially been part of the guest organist pool on Temple Square in Salt Lake City since his college days in 2013, occasionally playing noon recitals on the historic Tabernacle organ. While living back east, he could come only once a year. Now that he lives closer, he aims for six or more appearances annually.
Whittier says the Tabernacle organ, with 11,623 pipes, is one of the most memorable instruments to play.
“It’s one of the most delicate, yet powerful instruments out there,” Whittier said. “The acoustics make it what it is. You let go of a chord and it just hangs in the air.”
He will present a 30-minute Advent-themed recital on Dec. 13. The program will include classic organ works and his own arrangements of “Come, Come, Ye Saints” and the folk tune “Shenandoah.” His final number will be his arrangement of “Antioch” – better known as “Joy to the World.”
For Whittier, that half-hour represents more than just a concert slot in Salt Lake City. It’s a way to honor the gift he’s spent years developing, while putting down new roots at home in eastern Idaho.
“I’m grateful to be close enough that I can play regularly down there,” he said. “And I’m just as grateful to be back here, raising my family and balancing work with the music I worked so hard for.”
