Dr. Walter W. Schurr served as choir director and organist for nearly 70 years, mostly in Presbyterian churches, before he retired from active church music in 2022. Most recently he served as the Director of Music at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona, where he played the organ and directed the 60-voice Sanctuary Choir and three handbell choirs.

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Born in Annapolis, Maryland, Billy, as he is called, accepted his first job as a church organist (at Baldwin Memorial United Methodist Church in Millersvile, Maryland) at age 11, and also began studying piano and voice at The Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. By 15, he was teaching piano and performing as a concert pianist. He then began studying composition and orchestration and completed his first major work, a Christmas cantata for choir, orchestra, and organ. The cantata was first performed at Harundale Presbyterian Church, Glen Burnie, Maryland, in 1956. Since that time, he has composed and arranged a vast amount of literature for choir and instrumental ensembles, keyboard, and handbells.

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Billy earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance with a minor in organ performance from The Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and was awarded his Ph.D. in musicology by The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He has served on the faculty at both institutions, teaching piano and musicology. Additionally, for many years he was a leading musicologist specializing in Italian music theory of the late Baroque, and is the author of several articles in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

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Prior to his 20 years at Immanuel Presbyterian in Tucson, Dr. Schurr served as Director of Music Ministries at the 2400-member Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church in San Diego, California. He also served as the Director of Music and Organist at Dumfries United Methodist Church, in Dumfries, Virginia, and Minister of Music/Artist in Residence at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, New Jersey, where he directed the Crescent Concert Series. His background also includes positions at the U.S. Army Chapel Center at Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland; Harundale Presbyterian Church in Glen Burnie, Maryland; and North Severn Naval Chapel in Annapolis.

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Billy and his wife, Carol, also a musician, have two grown daughters and a son-in-law, all three of whom are professional classical musicians—one violin, one French horn, and one viola—and two grandchildren and three grand-dogs.