Staff
Our employees are all professionally trained musicians who understand the tradition of excellent performance and church service playing.
Chris Moore, Technician
Working in the organ trade is a second career for Maryland native Chris Moore. Before moving to Minnesota, Chris was a professional trombonist based in New England for more than a decade. His eclectic career took him across the country and internationally, performing chamber, orchestral, and experimental avant-garde music. As a performer, educator, and teaching artist, Chris was driven by the belief that all music is accessible if presented in the right context, and constantly sought to broaden the sonic horizons of his audiences, his classes, and himself.
Chris has had two interests in his life running on parallel tracks: music and working with his hands. He grew up woodworking with his father, Tim, and learned to love handwork. While in Boston, Chris worked at S.E. Shires Co. where he made bells for trumpets and trombones. Now, joining R.W. Draeger & Company, for the first time these dual interests of music and handwork are synthesized into one pursuit. He is gratified and fulfilled that he can work all day in an organ and leave it functioning and sounding better than when he arrived.
Chris holds degrees from the University of Maryland, New England Conservatory, and Longy School of Music, and was on the faculty of Longy School of Music in the Teaching Artist Program from 2014-2017. In his free time Chris enjoys restoring and working with antique hand tools and playing board games with his family and friends.
Russell Draeger, President
Russell Draeger is a native of Owatonna, MN, where he began playing organ for services at Trinity Lutheran Church by age 14. In 2007, he pursued a BM in Church Music at St. Olaf College with Dr. Catherine Rodland and Dr. John Ferguson. Upon the completion of his studies, Russell moved to Rochester, New York and completed an MM in Organ Performance with David Higgs at the Eastman School of Music in 2013.
Russell’s interest in organ building was piqued through his involvement in the restoration of the E.G.G. Hook organ (Op. 1573, 1893) that resides in Christ Church in Rochester, New York. Following graduate studies, he moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2013 and began his apprenticeship with Richards, Fowkes & Co. in the woodshop learning joinery and slider windchest construction. He later moved into flue voicing and built reed stops for the company before moving back to Minnesota in 2016.
In Fall 2018, R.W. Draeger & Company was founded and Russell began servicing clients throughout the greater Minnesota area. As a seasoned church musician, Russell understands the importance of a well-functioning organ to both the organist and congregation. He is committed to finding solutions to keep his clients’ organs in top-performing condition. During the few hours he’s not at the shop, you will find him on Minnesota’s north shore by a lake, baking bread at home, or exploring the beautiful examples of Prairie-School architecture here in the Midwest.