The Remarkable Don Roy

Don Roy is an extraordinary musician, a composer, director, organist, singer, and promoter of the cause of sacred music and excellence generally. He works as director of music for the Sacred Heart Church in Smyrna Beach, Florida. He is also a delight to have as a friend.

It also so happens that he is seriously handicapped in ways that would make anyone who is fully abled wonder how he can get by without hands that work properly. His disabilities are profound and yet, strangely, he seems to take little notice of them, thereby enabling others to take little notice either. I've stood next to him in choir and somehow he manages just fine, using the abilities he has to their maximum extent.

As well as I know him, I did not realize what he is actually capable of as an organist. Here he is playing Fugue in C from the Organ Sonata in C minor of Mendelssohn. This is a man who works very hard for the music of the liturgy, which makes one wonder what the rest of us are doing with the gifts we are given.

So I'm very grateful for this performance.