Southeast's Miller receives arts honor

Dr. Gary Miller, chairman of the Southeast music department and a busy organ recitalist, is the newest recipient of the Otto F. Dingeldein Award.

The award is given annually by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri for achievement of excellence in the arts. The presentation was made Friday night at Academic Auditorium during intermission of a Gershwin concert by British pianist Jack Gibbons.

Dingeldein, a silversmith, founded the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri in the 1960s and was the first recipient of the award in 1975.

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. nominated Miller for the award and presented it to him Friday night with Tom Howard, executive director of the arts council.

"The community has been favored with the nominee's hundreds of performances for nearly 20 years, and his students have been favored with countless hours of excellent instruction during that same time," Limbaugh wrote in his nomination.

Miller received his doctorate in organ performance from the University of Michigan in 1980. He was hired by Southeast the same year.

In 1998, he received the Southeast Faculty Merit Award in Teaching and was chosen to deliver the winter commencement address. He received the Governor's Award for Outstanding Teaching the same year. Southeast gave Miller Excellence in Teaching awards in 1983 and 1985.

He is the organist and musical director at First Presbyterian Church and frequently gives organ and harpsichord recitals. He also plays oboe with the Southeast Missouri State University Symphony Orchestra.

He served on the Board of Directors of the Community Concert Association. A number of area churches have consulted him when acquiring new organs.

He is the harpsichordist with the Southeast Baroque Trio and plays oboe and English horn with the Southeast Chamber Players. He is a member of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band.

Other recipients of the Dingeldein Award are: Marjorie Suedekum; Jake Wells; Dr. Dan B. Cotner; Jean Bell Mosley; Aileen Lorberg; Jack and Betty Palsgrove; Wendy Rust; Ruth Knote; Grant Lund; James V. Parker; Mary Ann Gudermuth; Dr. Frances Crowley; Judith Crow; Carol Berry Horst; Don and Beverly Strohmeyer; Bill and Jan Chamberlain; Nick Leist; John Wiseman; Bill Needle; Ann Abbott; Freck Shivelbine; and Dr. Edwin Smith.