The Allegheny Chapter of the American Musicological Society is pleased to announce that the 2026 Deane L. Root Student Paper Award for the best graduate student paper goes to Davis Badaszewski for his paper “This is the Record of John by Orlando Gibbons: A Guide to Performance and Registration Practices.”

Davis Badaszewski serves as the Organist & Choirmaster at St. James Episcopal Church in Painesville, OH, where he is the curator of their tonally unaltered 1926 E. M. Skinner pipe organ, Op. 608. He is an active scholar and performer of organ and sacred music from Great Britain and the United States, with a particular emphasis on the music of the Anglican Communion. Davis has presented papers at regional conferences of the American Musicological Society and is scheduled to be a featured presenter at the 2026 biennial conference of the North American British Music Studies Association. His doctoral thesis, “The Practical Organist: An Analysis of Harold Friedell’s Compositions for Solo Organ,” advised by Dr. Jack Hughes, places Friedell’s works within the greater context of twentieth-century Anglo-American organ literature by examining his tonal language, structure, form, and use of the instrument. As part of this project, Davis performed and recorded Friedell’s complete works for organ over two recitals, both of which are available on YouTube.

Davis recently graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), studying with Professor Todd Wilson. At CIM, he was the Organ Department Teaching Assistant as well as the recipient of the Institute’s 2024 Heinrich Scholarship and 2026 Henry Fusner Prize in organ. Davis’ past degrees include a Master of Music in Organ Performance, also from CIM, a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Mercer University, and a Certificate in Injury Preventive Keyboard Technique from Salem College. At Mercer, he received the award for General Excellence in Music. Beyond his academic accolades, he is a member of The Diapason’s 20 Under 30, Class of 2025, and was the recipient of the 2026 Deane L. Root Student Paper Award from the Allegheny Chapter of the American Musicological Society. Davis has also studied organ with Dr. Jack Mitchener, Dr. John Cummins, and Mr. William K. Trafka, as well as choral conducting with Dr. William Weinert.

Davis is a member of several professional societies and organizations. These include the American Musicological Society, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Organ Historical Society, the Society of King Charles the Martyr, the Charles Villiers Stanford Society, and the Herbert Howells Society. He has also served in several leadership positions in the American Guild of Organists and is the current Dean of the Northeast Ohio Chapter.