Organist and Pianist

The pipe organ was Paul’s favorite solo instrument. He believed it could muster more power and subtlety than an entire orchestra while having a responsiveness impossible from a large group of people. He spent much of his life challenging people — often to the point of annoyance — to shed their preconceived notions of the organ as merely an instrument of religion.

Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church

Paul was the musician at historic Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church in Philadelphia for close to forty years, from 1987 until his death. Much of the choral music on the composer page was written for that building and those singers.

Wayne Presbyterian and other Philadelphia area churches

While he was still a student at Curtis, Paul was assistant organist at Wayne Presbyterian Church on Lancaster Pike, working under the church’s Director of Music, David Spicer, who had been his teacher from a young age.

A service bulletin from October 11, 1981 lists the closing voluntary as Marcel Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in B major, played by “Paul Fayko, Organist” — still under David Spicer, and still using the spelling of his family name that he later changed to Fejko.

Earlier still, at thirteen, he played the final recital in a series of eight at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Phoenixville — a programme of Bach and Brahms. One notice from the time reported that he had “been playing the organ since his legs were long enough to” reach the pedals.

Paul was substitute organist at many churches around the Philadelphia area throughout his life. Here he is, age 14, at First Presbyterian in 1971.

Organs around the world

Paul’s love of the pipe organ led him to seek out opportunities to perform on organs around the world. Here are a few of the more memorable organs he played:

• Auditorium Maurice Ravel de Lyon, France
• St. Martin’s Church in Dudelange, Luxembourg
• St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, United Kingdom
• Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California
• Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Prizes

Paul won first prizes for improvisation at Lyon in 1981 and at San Anselmo, California in 1990. At their Atlanta convention in 1992 the American Guild of Organists awarded him a second prize. He was an active member of the Guild and played concerts throughout the Philadelphia region under its auspices.

Dance and ballet

In 1980 he became a musician with Maurice Béjart’s Ballet of the Twentieth Century in Brussels, and in the 1990s played with Convergence dance studio. He also collaborated with Gilles Brinas’ dance company Che Malambo, named for the malambo, the Argentine gaucho dance it is built on.

Muhlenberg College

From 2008 until 2025 Paul was composer and performer for the Dance and Theatre departments at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, improvising daily for classes and writing for productions.

University of the Arts

From 2014 until 2024 he was also composer and performer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, the musician for dance classes there the same way he was at Muhlenberg.

Carnegie Hall

Paul was organist for SchubertFest at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1977.

On film

Two performances from Paul’s YouTube channel.

• Karg-Elert and Dupré — organ at Christ Church, Philadelphia
• César Franck — piano at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco

More at youtube.com/user/paulfejko.

Recordings

15 studio albums and 7 sets of live concert recordings — 24.1 hours in all, free to listen to in full.

Browse the recordings →