Kweku Hammond-Donkoh

Kweku Hammond-Donkoh
Director of Music/Organist

I was born in Winneba, a small coastal town in Ghana, West Africa, and discovered my musical talent playing the flute in the school band.  I taught myself the piano when I joined the local Anglican Church choir.  My interest and perseverance blossomed into a full-fledged music career when I became a professor of music at Mount Mary College Somanya and a violinist with the Ghana National Symphony Orchestra.  A move to Nigeria afforded me more teaching and performance opportunities, and I also served as the Cathedral Organist for St. Saviour’s Cathedral Ijebu Ode in Ogun State for four years.

In 1984, I traveled to the United States to accept a full graduate scholarship from Livingstone College/ Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, North Carolina. In 1987, I graduated first in my class summa cum laude with a Master of Divinity degree and continued my studies with another scholarship, this time, from Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and completed a postgraduate interdisciplinary studies in music and theology resulting in an advanced graduate degree in Sacred Theology with a concentration in Church Music.

I have served on the Executive Board of the American Guild of Organist, New Haven Chapter, and as the Choirmaster/Organist for a variety of churches internationally and in the United States, including St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in New Haven Connecticut.  In 1997, I joined First Church of Christ Congregational and have continued to serve ever since in my capacity as the Music Director/Organist.

In addition to my church music commitment, I teach private piano and violin lessons, and until my recent appointment as the Occupational Counselor, was the Assistant Director for Help Incorporated Travisano Network in Danbury, Connecticut; a non-residential program that provides holistic treatment experience to serve the individual needs of mental health, substance abuse and criminal justice clients.

I have two daughters, Hannah and Rose, and three beautiful grandchildren: Papa, Nathan and Maame Efua.