Gerre Hancock

Who was Gerre Hancock?

Gerre Edward Hancock was an American organist, improviser, and composer. Hancock was Professor of Organ and Sacred Music at the University of Texas at Austin. He died of cardiac arrest in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, January 21, 2012.

Hancock was born in Lubbock, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his Master of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York, from which he later received the Unitas Distinguished Alumnus Award. A recipient of a Rotary Foundation Fellowship, he also studied in Paris at the Sorbonne and during this time was a finalist at the Munich International Music Competitions.

Hancock served as Organist at Second Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas; Assistant Organist at Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York; Organist and Choirmaster at Christ Church in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Organist and Master of the Choristers at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City from 1971 to 2004.

Hancock's compositions are published by Oxford University Press. His textbook, Improvising: How to Master the Art, also published by OUP, is studied by organists throughout the United States.