Theatre Organist: Tom Hoehn

Tom Hoehn grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri where he took up playing the organ at an early age. By the time he was 12, he was playing in church. He continued to study classical and popular organ throughout high school and college and could not walk by an organ of any kind without sitting down to play it.

He moved to Florida in 1974, and has been an active theatre and church organist since that time. He has appeared as the organist for the Florida State Fair, the Tampa Bay Rowdies Soccer Club, and the Boston Red Sox Spring Training Camp. Tom was one of the original four organists at J. Burns' Pizza & Pipes in Tampa along with former New York Paramount organist Don Baker, with whom he studied. In 1981, he moved to the new J. Burns' Pizza & Pipes in Winter Haven, and remained there for four years. He has also played for pre-shows at the Tampa Theatre on their 3/14 Wurlitzer.

Tom performs for area and regional organ clubs throughout the state of Florida, and has recently expanded his concertizing to other areas of the country. His concerts consist of a mix of show tunes, standards, and semi-classical music. He enjoys playing medleys of Broadway and movie musicals, novelty numbers, classical selections and hymns. Many times during a performance he will turn around to the audience and ask for requests. After getting three or four of them, he will proceed to weave them into a five to ten minute medley. The audiences very seldom "Stump the Organist".

Outside of Florida, Tom has performed on the 2/7 Grande Barton at the York Theatre in Elmhurst, Illinois, the 3/10 Mighty Wurlitzer at the Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove, Illinois, and the 4/19 Howell Wurlitzer at the University of St. Mary-on-the-Lake in Mundelein, Illinois. He has also played the world's largest privately owned Theatre Pipe Organ, the magnificent 5/80 Mighty Wurlitzer installed at Jasper Sanfilippo's Place de la Musique in Barrington Heights, Illinois.

Tom was the founding secretary for the Central Florida Chapter of ATOS in 1978. He currently holds memberships in 5 different chapters of ATOS (Central Florida, Manasota, Orlando Area, Hilo Bay, and most recently, Garden State)

Currently, he makes his living working for End User Support at the IBM Helpdesk Services in Tampa. He is also the organist at First United Methodist Church in Clearwater, Florida where he plays the 4/93 Rodgers/Ruffatti/Wicks Church Pipe Organ for three services every Sunday, and rings bells in the handbell choir at the church.

Sources:
Tom Hoehn Website
Walnut Hill Organ Club Website