A year later, at Classen High School, the choir director suggested she take some organ lessons to become the school organist. Although this required little more than pop tunes and the school song, she started serious lessons with Dubert Dennis who insisted she play Bach correctly. At 16 she was offered a weekly radio show at Station KTOW playing pop tunes on the Hammond and reporting High School News.

At 17, she entered The University of Oklahoma School of Music and became a protégé of the renowned Mildred Andrews whose exceptional teaching skills and discipline resulted in top honors in several State and Regional competitions including First Place in the American Guild of Organists National Competition in San Francisco 1952. She received a scholarship to study at l'École de Musique de Fontainebleau, France, composition with Nadia Boulanger and organ with Marcel Dupré who recommended her as “...an excellent and perfect musician with a brilliant technique.” In Paris, she was guest organist at the American Church, Ave George V, and later, organist at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Nice. A trip back to the states resulted in a position as organist at First Methodist Church, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1954-55, and while there she received an invitation to return to Europe as Organist-Choirmaster of the American Church, St Paul's Within the Walls, Rome, Italy, 1956-58.

A visiting Yale Professor heard her perform and offered a scholarship to Yale University Graduate Music School where she studied composition with Mel Powell, organ with Frank Bozyan, and played her Master's Recital Program including the seldom performed Schoenberg “Variations on a Recitative” at Woolsey Hall in 1959.

A series of life-changing events including the death of her beloved father from complications of diabetes a few months later, led her into the healing arts. She completed pre-med studies at Columbia University, New York City, gained admission to the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine at age 33, and received her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1969. After completing four years of post-graduate training she practiced Internal Medicine in Pasadena, California, until her retirement in 2000.

After relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada, she resumed serious organ playing once again performing the Liszt “Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H” for the AGO Spring concert in 2004. In 2006 she performed on “Pipe Dreams Live from Las Vegas” as part of Region IX AGO Mid-Winter Conclave. Two months later, she played her 75th Birthday Celebration Recital at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for a near-capacity audience receiving a standing ovation for her rendition of Sokola “Passacaglia quasi Toccata on B-A-C-H.”

A 77th Birthday Celebration Recital at First Christian Church, Las Vegas, 2009, was dedicated to her father on the 50th anniversary of his death and included the world premiere of her transcription of the Second Movement of his First Symphony written when she was six years old. Dr. Riess is noted for her musicality and interpretation, a legacy from her father.

Dr. Riess serves as Associate Organist at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Las Vegas, and is a member of Southern Nevada Chapter AGO. She enjoys recording and has released four commercial CDs through a private label, RAECD, available at CDBaby and Amazon.

She is married to Dr. Louis C. Riess, B/G USAFR Ret., has two step sons and two grandchildren. She maintains performance edge with a vigorous program of weight training and long distance swimming. She is also an accomplished photographer whose images are sold worldwide by several international agencies, and enjoys languages, travel, dancing, swimming and hiking.

DOROTHY YOUNG RIESS, M.D.

Sunday, October 23, 2011. 4:00 PM

A grand celebration to re-dedicate the refurbished Reuter Pipe Organ III/33/1963,'79,2011). I will play the same program I played at the original dedication in 1963! Program will include a world premiere of a commissioned piece for organ and violin by Oklahoma composer, Callen Clarke.

Nichols Hills United Methodist Church
Rededication of the Reuter Organ - 4:00 PM
1212 Bedford Drive
Oklahoma City OK 73116
405-842-1486
Price: FREE

Jeremiah Clarke - "Prince of Denmark March" (c.1700)
(1674-1707)
Louis Claude Daquin - "Noël" (c.1735)
(1694-1772)
Johann Sebastian Bach - "Prelude and Fugue in D Major" BWV 532 (c.1710)
(1685-1750)
Franz Josef Haydn - "The Musical Clocks" (1792)
(1732-1809) I. Minuet (Song of the Quail)
II. March
III. Andantino
IV. Minuet (Allegretto)
V. Minuet (Presto)
VI. Vivace
Cesar Franck - "Chorale in A Minor" (1890)
(1822-1890)
Callen Clarke - "Meditation" for Organ and Violin (2011) *World Premiere
(1961- ) Kyle Dillingham, Violinist
Olivier Messiaen - "The Ascension" (1933)
(1908-1992) II. "Serene Alleluias"
III. "Outburst of Joy"

PAST CONCERTS

DOROTHY YOUNG RIESS, M.D.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011. 1:00 PM

First Congregational Church Berkeley CA
2345 Channing Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 848-3696
Price: AGO Convention Registration

Concert sponsored by San Francisco American Guild of Organists as part of the Region IX Convention.
AGO Region IX Convention
San Francisco July 6, 2011
MUSIC OF JOY

Jean Langlais - "Fête" (Festival)
(1907-1991)
J.S. Bach - Clavierübung III, “Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist” BWV 671
(1685-1750) Kyrie, God Holy Spirit
Sigfrid Karg-Elert - Symphonic Chorale “Jesu Meine Freude” Op.87 #2
(1877-1933)
I. Introduzione (Inferno)
II.Canzone
III. Fuga con Corale
Dimitri Shostakovich - "Suite for Variety Orchestra, Waltz 2"
(1906-1975) arranged for organ by DY Riess MD
Olivier Messiaen - "L'Ascension, III. “Transports de Joie”
(1908-1992)
On a very hot afternoon, three hundred fifty organists and guests attended my concert at First Congregational Church Berkeley CA on Wed. July 6, 2011. I've never played for such an enthusiastic group! I felt they were with me all the way despite the heat. (And I wore heavier clothing for 65 degree weather!). Although my hands were sticky from the heat, the program went very well and the marvelous Petty-Madden Pipe Organ spoke out in full glory.

It was a wonderful experience and especially so as I saw so many old friends there.

The most poignant event, however, was my return to the same place where I played my AGO National Competition Winner's recital in 1952 - almost 60 years ago! The organ is new and the chancel has been revised, but it was the same space. Now I finally understand T.S. Eliot's poem, "and the result of all our exploration will be to return to where we started and know the place for the first time."

DOROTHY YOUNG RIESS, M.D.

Southern Nevada Chapter American Guild of Organists will present Dr. Dorothy Riess in concert Friday evening, May 6, 2011 at 7:30 PM, on the Von Beckerath pipe organ at Doc Rando Recital Hall, UNLV, 4505 So. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas NV 89154. “Music of Joy” is the theme for this, her 80^th birthday celebration event, and features music by Bach, Langlais, Karg-Elert, Shostakovich, Joplin and Messiaen. The concert is open to the public. Admission and parking are Free.

DOROTHY YOUNG RIESS: ORGAN RECITAL 2009

Classical organ music performed by Dorothy Young Riess on the Allen Renaissance Organ at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Las Vegas Nevada. Released 2009 on RAECD label. Music by Buxtehude, JS Bach, R. Wagner, Roy Young-Riess, and others. Available at:

DOROTHY YOUNG RIESS: ORGAN MUSIC FROM OU 2007

---

Classical organ music played on the Mildred Andrews Boggess Memorial Fisk Organ at the University of Oklahoma by Dorothy Young Riess, Organist. Released 2007 on RAECD label. Music by Gabrieli, Buxtehude, Sain Saens, and others. Available at:

---

DOROTHY YOUNG RIESS: ORGAN MASTERS SERIES, VOL 1. 2006

Great pipe organ music with a flair - Reger at Yale and "Bach with a Beat" played by Dorothy Young Riess and jazz drummer. Released 2006 on JDOTPRO label. Available at