He is an organist, choral director and composer who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania and began piano lessons while still young.
This led to him taking organ studies and being the assistant organist at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. While in St. Louis he studied at Webster University and earned his Bachelor of Music.
In 1974, when he was just 21, he became the assistant organist at Washington National Cathedral and became choirmaster and organist in 1988 when he succeeded Richard Wayne Dirksen. This led to him touring nationally and internationally and making appearances with Empire Brass. He also led the Men and Boys Cathedral Choir for 14 years and the Girls Choir began in 1997, which he had helped establish. He left Washington Cathedral in 2002 to concentrate on performance and composition and became the Music Director at St. Michael’s Episcopal Chuch, retiring in 2019 after 16 years.
In the recording studio he has played Washington Cathedral’s pipe organ on 8 CDs that include Concertino, Mary’s Lullaby, Sing to the Lord a New Song and Cape Ann Portraits and released Hope in 2009 which is a further CD of organ and trumpet music.
As a composer he has written many compositions which include Reqiem Mass in C Minor, Concertino, Festival Te Deaum and Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G.
Sources:
- http://www.atlascom.us/dmajor.htm
- https://cathedral.org/staff/douglas-major/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Major
- http://www.sacredclassics.com/dmajor.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080709070655/http://stmichaels1714.org/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070206222826/http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/music/organdisc.shtml