Naki Kripfgans

Dr. Naki Sung Kripfgans is a distinguished musician whose versatile career spans roles as a collaborative pianist, concert organist, recording artist, improviser, music educator, and choral conductor. Naki has performed internationally in North America, Europe, and Asia. Recent and upcoming performing highlights include a chamber music concert that was chosen and granted by the Arts Initiative Program at the University of Michigan in November 2023, a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony at Hill Auditorium in May 2024, and serving as a clinician and conference organist for The Fellowship of Worship Artists Conference in North Carolina in June 2024. Naki received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ (Sacred Music) and a master’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Michigan, along with a bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Northern Iowa. She won the 2015 UM Life Science Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing Poulenc’s Organ Concerto at Hill Auditorium in 2016. As a virtuoso improviser, she also won the Robert Glasgow Award for Organ Improvisation at the University of Michigan in 2012 and served as one of the judges for the competition in 2019. She was featured in an article series, “Women in Improvisation,” in the December 2020 issue of the American Guild of Organists magazine.