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Composers

We publish musical works by a broad range of composers, academics and church musicians. Scroll through the list of people shown on this page, and then click on their names to take you to a complete list of their compositions.

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Anthologies & Collections

Anthologies and collections of musical compositions issued in one album.

Malcolm Archer

(born 1952) was previously Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College in the heart of England, where he trained and conducted the Quiristers and Chapel Choir and taught organ in the College. He has enjoyed a distinguished career in cathedral music, which has taken him to posts at Norwich, Bristol, and Wells Cathedrals, as well as Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. He has been an adjudicator for the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the year competition and for four years was a judge for the BBC Songs of Praise School Choirs competition. Malcolm has served as council member of the Royal College of Organists, and he is a member of the council of the Guild of Church Musicians, from whom he was awarded the Fellowship for his services to church music. In 2009, he was awarded the FRSCM (Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music) for his work in three cathedrals, and as a composer.

William Armiger

(born 1939) is a retired grammar school Headmaster and former senior lay clerk and chorister tutor at Gloucester Cathedral, where he sang for over 40 years, having previously spent several years at Southwark Cathedral under Harold Dexter. He received his vocal training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Arthur Reckless and has performed as a baritone soloist in concerts, recitals, BBC broadcasts, as well as on several recordings. In 2001, as Festival Secretary at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, he famously stepped forward with just 10 minutes preparation during a performance of Handel’s Messiah, as a replacement for Michael George, who had lost his voice early in the performance. William is Vice-Chairman of the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival, Honorary Secretary of the Friends of Gloucester Cathedral and of the Sanders Society, and he sings with the St Cecilia Singers of Gloucester.

Robert Ashfield

(1911-2006) was educated at Tonbridge School and the Royal College of Music, studying with Ernest Bullock. He was Organ Scholar at Westminster Abbey in the 1930’s. In 1934 he became the Organist at St John’s Smith Square before returning to Tonbridge School as Assistant Music Master. After five years in the Army, he was appointed Organist and Rector Chori at Southwell Minster from 1946-56 before moving to Rochester Cathedral as Organist from 1956-77. In 1957, he also became a Professor of Theory and Composition at the Royal College of Music.

Peter Aston

(1938-2013) was a composer, academic and conductor. His compositions include chamber music, choral and orchestral works and a children’s opera, but he was best known as a composer of choral music, much of which is performed regularly throughout the English-speaking world. He studied at the Birmingham School of Music and at York University. In 1964, he became a lecturer in music at the York University and, in 1974, he was appointed professor of music at the University of East Anglia, where he was later the Emeritus Professor of composition. He founded the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Music. For 14 years he was the conductor of the Aldeburgh Festival Singers.

Ben Atkins

is a bassist, vocalist, arranger and music educator based in Bedford.

Peter Backhouse

(born 1954) was a chorister at York Minster under Francis Jackson. His teachers at Edinburgh University, where he graduated in 1977, included Kenneth Leighton and Peter Williams. He currently teaches Harmony there, as well as at St Mary’s Music School. Many of his arrangements were composed for The Edinburgh Academy Chamber Choir where he taught for 24 years and also for St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral where he was Assistant Organist for 20 years. He was Assistant Organist at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, from 2000 to 2017. His other interests include railways (he is a qualified signalman on the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway), photography, hill walking and cricket.

Peter Barley

was born in 1969. He took a music degree at Cambridge where he was an organ scholar at King’s College, accompanying the renowned choir in many concerts, broadcasts and recordings. He then studied at the Royal Academy of Music, concurrently obtaining his MMus with distinction from London University. He was Organist and Director of Music at St Marylebone Church, London, from 1991-2001. He combined this with the role of Director of the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy. He has worked in Dublin as Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Patrick Cathedral, and is currently Organist at St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.

Richard Barnes

(1947-2012) was educated at Whitgift School, Croydon and at Cardiff University, where he read music, graduating in 1968 with a first-class degree. In 1971, he became Assistant Director of Music at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. In 1974, he joined Lady Manners School in Bakewell, Derbyshire; he remained there until he retired in 2011, serving as Director of Music, a Head of Year and then Head of the Upper School. He directed the Baslow Village Choir for a few years before, in 1977, offering an evening class in Bakewell for those wishing to learn choral singing. From this initiative, the Bakewell Choral Society developed, Richard being its first conductor from 1978-99. After a break of four years, he returned to direct the Society in 2003, until forced by ill-health to retire early in 2012. In 1996 he was awarded the ARSCM by the Royal School of Church Music in recognition of his work directing residential courses for young choristers. Richard was also appointed MBE for services to education and to music in the 2007 Birthday Honours List.

Christopher Barton

was born in London and was, from 1975-78, Organ Scholar of Worcester College, Oxford. He also studied organ with Richard Popplewell and James Dalton, and composition with Edmund Rubbra. From 1979-2014 he was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Newport Cathedral, one of the six cathedrals of the Church-in-Wales. In 1996 he was also appointed Assistant Regional Director with responsibility for South Wales for the Royal School of Church Music; in 2000 he received the honorary award of Associate of the Royal School of Church Music, in 2001 the Archbishop of Wales’ Award in Church Music, and in 2006 an honorary Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians, all in recognition of his outstanding contributions to church and cathedral music in and beyond Wales. From 1985-98 he was also Music Director of the Dyfed Choir, one of the leading mixed voice choirs of the country. Christopher’s current freelance activities include choir training, teaching, examining, exam accompaniment, giving organ recitals and providing music, choirs and soloists for weddings and other occasions.

Charlotte Baskerville

(born 1994) was educated at The Godolphin School, Salisbury, where she held a music scholarship. She read music at Christ’s College, Cambridge, taking a BA in 2015, and wrote a master’s thesis on the cognition of music under the supervision of Prof Ian Cross. Charlotte was a soprano choral scholar at Christ’s under the direction of Prof. David Rowland and developed a flare for choral composition under Christopher Brown (Clare College). She won the prestigious Christ’s College Charles Blackham Memorial Recital Competition in 2016 (clarinet) and was co-leader of the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain. Charlotte currently teaches academic music and is Head of Choral music at Warwick School. She sings with a number of choirs in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury and the surrounding areas and plays the clarinet with several ensembles in Cheltenham.

Amy Beach

(1867-1944) was an American composer and pianist. She made her Boston debut in 1883, and two years later gave her first performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Wilhelm Gericke, playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F Minor. Success as a composer came in 1892, when Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society gave a performance of her Mass in E flat. Later she composed large-scale works, including Symphony Op.32, Violin Sonata Op.34 and Piano Concerto Op.45. In 1926, she co-founded the Association of American Women Composers and was its first president.

Simon Beattie

(born 1975) studied modern languages at the University of Exeter, during which time he sang as a tenor choral scholar in Exeter Cathedral Choir. An antiquarian bookseller by profession, he began writing music in 2005, and is entirely self-taught. His highly-regarded setting of Rowan Williams’ poem, Advent Calendar, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2008 as part of the Advent carol service from St John’s College, Cambridge, and has since been performed on both sides of the Atlantic. When, in 2019, the Choir of Magdalene College, Cambridge performed it, the poet himself called it ‘a wonderful setting’ and of all the various musical settings out there, the closest in feeling to his original poem. Simon also works as a literary translator and often translates texts expressly for his compositions. One of his recent inspirations has been the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke; the texts for At Cana and The Angel and the Unicorn come from Das Marien-Leben, the cycle on the life of the Virgin Mary which Rilke wrote just before he began work on what was to become the monumental Duineser Elegien.

Kerry Beaumont

(born 1957) holds a BMus from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelpha and an MA from Durham University. During the Associate and Fellowship examinations of the Royal College of Music he was awarded seven prizes for his playing. After an appointment as Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral, Wales, he was Organist and Master of the Choristers / Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral from 1994-2002. He was later appointed as Director of Music at Coventry Cathedral from 2006-2020.

Alexander Berry

began his musical training as a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral, before winning scholarships to Bloxham School and King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon. During his gap year he held the post of Organ Scholar at Guildford Cathedral. Alexander read for a degree in music at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. During his final year at Cambridge he held the posts of Organ Scholar to King’s Voices (the mixed voice undergraduate choir at King’s College) and Accompanist to CUMS Chorus. After finishing his studies in Cambridge, Alexander moved to Ely Cathedral, where he spent two years as Assistant Organist to the Girls’ Choir, followed by a further two years as Assistant Organist at Magdalen College, Oxford. He took up the position of Organist and Director of Music at Bradford Cathedral in January 2017.

Esther Bersweden

(born 1996) is a Bristol-based musician, currently working in the Music Department at Redmaids’ High School, and as a freelance composer. In 2021 she received a Distinction for her MA in Music specialising in Composition from the University of Bristol. Since she moved to Bristol, Esther has been involved in the musical life of St Paul’s Church Clifton, where she held the organ scholarship as an undergraduate, and during which time she discovered a love of conducting. She is co-founder and co-conductor of the Avon Chamber Choir, and she loves singing with Nova, a chamber choir specialising in early music.

John Bertalot

(born 1931) won organ scholarships to the Royal College of Music, London, and to Oxford and Cambridge. His first post was at St.Matthew’s Church, Northampton, he then became Senior Lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and Director of Music of Blackburn Cathedral. For 16 years he held similar posts in Princeton, NJ. He has led choral workshops on four continents and he has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music and honorary Fellowships of the RSCM and GCM in recognition of his contributions to church music around the world. His books and compositions are published on both sides of the Atlantic.

Jonathan Bielby

was born in Oxford and while at Magdalen College School studied under Bernard Rose at Magdalen College. From 1963-7 he assisted George Guest as organ scholar at St John's College, Cambridge, where he read music. He has held appointments as Assistant Organist at Manchester Cathedral and Borough Organist at Huddersfield Town Hall. He was Organist and Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral for 40 years until his retirement in 2010. He was appointed MBE for services to music in 2011.

David Blackwell

(born 1961) studied Music at Edinburgh University, after which he pursued a career in music publishing, first at ABRSM and then at Oxford University Press. He has published a number of choral compositions and arrangements and was co-editor of In the Mood: 17 Jazz Classics for Choirs (OUP, 1995) and Carols for Choirs 5 (OUP, 2011). He is also co-editor of OUP’s series of new hymn settings for organ. He is co-writer with his wife Kathy of OUP’s award-winning books for young string players, Fiddle Time, and the companion books for viola, cello and junior string ensemble, which have twice won the Music Industries Association Award for Best Educational Publication. He has also edited educational piano music for ABRSM. He now works as a freelance music editor, composer and arranger.

Anthony Bolton

(born 1950) is one of the UK’s most best known investment fund managers. He was educated at Stowe School and Trinity College, Cambridge. For 28 years to 2007 he ran the Fidelity Special Situations fund, which became the UK’s largest unit trust. Through a city contact he met the composer Colin Matthews, who took an interest in Anthony’s music and encouraged him to develop his skills. Colin introduced him to another of the UK’s best-respected composers, Julian Anderson, with whom Anthony has studied since 2008. He cites Britten as his biggest influence. His compositions have been performed at St Paul’s Cathedral and recorded by Oxford Voices, conducted by Mark Shepherd. Anthony has also set up the Boltini Trust with his wife and children to help aspiring young musicians.

Kerry Boyle

(born 1964) is a singing teacher, choral director and music examiner currently pursuing doctoral studies at Canterbury Christ Church University. She studied Music and English at the University of Keele and Voice at Trinity College of Music. As a teacher and choral director Kerry has worked with singers of every age and ability and she co-ordinates and manages various international music projects and partnerships. She was also a teaching consultant on the MusicTeacher.co.uk Art of Teaching project. In addition to research and examining commitments, Kerry currently works as a lecturer, choral director and singing teacher at Canterbury Christ Church University, The Junior Kings School and Simon Langton Girls Grammar School and directs Canterbury Girls’ Choir, Canterbury Ladies Choir and The Canterbury Voices as part of her role as director of Canterbury Vocals.

Harry Bramma

(born 1936) read theology and music at Oxford University, studying as organ scholar of Pembroke College. He initially started a career in teaching, and held the post of Director of Music at the King Edward VI School, Retford 1961-63. In 1963 he took the job as assistant organist at Worcester Cathedral, under Christopher Robinson, also becoming Director of Music at the King’s School, Worcester in 1965. He spent 12 years in Worcester before his appointment as Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral in 1976. Later, he served as Director of the Royal School of Church Music from 1989-98, and as Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street, 1989-2004.

Giles Brightwell

(born 1970) is a composer, organist and choral director. Educated at the University of Durham, where he was organ scholar and a choral scholar at Durham Cathedral, he completed three degrees in musicology, including a PhD on the history of London’s Royal College of Music. Having held posts as an organist and choral director at the universities of Durham, Cambridge and Glasgow, he has, since 2013, been organist and choir master at St Thomas Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas.

Alan Brown

(1941-2024) From the age of 11 he was a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal Academy of Music, focusing on piano and composition. He went on to study music at Cambridge, where among his mentors were Sir David Willcocks and Philip Radcliffe. From 1966 he was a University Assistant Lecturer at Cambridge. In 1973 he joined the Music Department at Sheffield University, where he taught a wide range of courses and conducted the University Chamber Choir. Initially encouraged in his research work by Thurston Dart, he edited four keyboard volumes in the series Musica Britannica, the first two devoted to the complete keyboard music of William Byrd; also two volumes of Latin motets for The Byrd Edition (the Cantiones Sacrae of 1589 and 1591). As a member of the Editorial Committee of Musica Britannica from 1984, he co-edited, revised or gave advice on twelve other volumes in the series. He was also active as a piano accompanist, harpsichordist, and organist (at St Mark’s Church, Broomhill, Sheffield). His compositions have been published by Oxford University Press and Peacock Press, as well as Encore Publications.

Thomas Brown

is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and is a recipient of the University’s Alumni Achievement Award. He also holds the Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School in New York City and, while a student there, was named an Outstanding Young Artist of America by the Editors of Musical America magazine. For over 50 years, he has been associated with church music and has served congregations in the Southern Baptist, Methodist, United Church of Christ, Episcopal, Disciples of Christ, Community of Christ and Presbyterian faith traditions. He currently serves University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as Minister of Music.

Timothy Brown

(born 1946) received his initial musical training as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and later as a choral scholar of the King’s College Choir, Cambridge, under the direction of Sir David Willcocks. He went on to become a ley clerk at New College, Oxford. In 1979, he succeeded John Rutter as Director of Music at Clare College, Cambridge, and Director of the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. In 2010, he retired from these posts and became Visiting Director of the Choir of Robinson College, Cambridge. For many years, Timothy conducted the Cambridge University Chamber Choir and he is now the director of the London-based professional chamber choir, English Voices. In 2011, he founded the Zurich Singing Academy.

Martin Bruce

was a chorister at London’s All Saints, Margaret Street, and at Winchester Cathedral, where he started composing, sending an early piece to Benjamin Britten and receiving in return a charming letter of encouragement. At Durham University, where he was a choral scholar, he studied harmony and counterpoint with Richard Lloyd and has been writing music ever since, the bulk of his output being choral, liturgical works. As an adult, he went on to become a professional singer, before turning to teaching. After a long career in education, Martin retired as Headmaster of Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford at the end of 2013. His choral music has been recorded by Voces Urbanae, a young choir drawing on professional singers from both London and Oxford.

Andrew Bryden

was Organist and Director of Music of Ripon Cathedral from 2003-2020. He studied music as an organ scholar at Aberdeen University, and specialised in performance and editorial techniques. His organ teachers included Roger Bevan Williams, George McPhee, and Timothy Byram-Wigfield. In 1994 Andrew became Organ Scholar of Canterbury Cathedral. He held this post for an unprecedented three years, including a brief spell as Acting Assistant Organist, and combined this work with the post of Head of Academic Music at St. Edmund’s School, Canterbury. In addition to his Cathedral duties and organ playing commitments, Andrew undertakes a modest amount of private teaching and is an ABRSM examiner.

Alan Bullard

was born in London in 1947 and studied with Herbert Howells at the RCM and Arnold Whittall at Nottingham University. For over 30 years he has lived in or near Colchester, Essex and for many years he was Head of Composition at Colchester Institute. He is now working as a full-time composer and he is also an examiner for the ABRSM. In 2008 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Essex, and in 2010 two of his publications, Joining the Dots (ABRSM) and The Oxford Book of Flexible Carols received awards from the Music Industries Association.

Alison Cadden

studied music and French at the University of St Andrews. She works as a music teacher in Portadown and is actively involved in the music of her parish. The Liturgical Advisory Committee of the Church of Ireland asked her and Revd. Peter Thompson to devise a way of setting the psalms to music that can be sung by anyone. This resulted in the publication of Singing Psalms (Columba Press).

Christopher Chivers

is an Anglican priest, composer and author. He was born in 1967 and studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. Following graduation, he held musical teaching posts at New College School, Oxford, Cheltenham Ladies’ College and King’s College School, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1997 and named one of the top ten preachers of the year in The Times 1999 Preacher of the Year competition. In 1999 he went to Cape Town as Canon Precentor of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town. In November 2001 he was appointed Precentor of Westminster Abbey in London and Chaplain of Westminster Abbey Choir School. He participated in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. In 2005 he became Canon Chancellor of Blackburn Cathedral. From 2010-15, he was Vicar of John Keble Church, Mill Hill in the Diocese of London. He is currently Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, an Anglican theological college in the Liberal Catholic tradition.

Dominic Chivers

was born in 1999 and is the oldest son of Canon Chris Chivers. He is currently a sixth form student at the Wren Academy in London. An under 17 rugby player for Saracens, and a member of the Chamber Choir of the Finchley Children’s Music Group, he composed Born in a stable when an eight year old chorister at Blackburn Cathedral.

Jeremy Clack

graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2001, and has had a varied career as a professional trumpet players. He made his solo debut with a BBC radio broadcast of Copland’s Quiet City with the Royal Academy Soloists and, since then, he has continued working as a soloist including Trumpet Organ recitals at King’s College, Cambridge, and Westminster Cathedral, with organist Oliver Brett, as well as concerto performances. He has performed in orchestras and ensembles including the English National Ballet, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra. As a session musician, he has recorded music for bands including Incantation and Keane. He has also worked as the Music Director of the RAFA Band. As principal trumpet in Jubilate Brass, he has given live broadcasts worldwide on BBC television and radio and performed at major venues in the UK including the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Canterbury Cathedral. In 2009, he was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship, enabling him to travel the USA and Venezuela to study the revolutionary national music education system.

P.T.Clarence

is a pen name used by Richard Marlow (1939-2013), who was Director of Music at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Sir Stephen Cleobury

(1948-2019) was born in Bromley, Kent, and had a highly distinguished career international as a conductor and organist. He was Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, for 37 years, where he sought to enhance the reputation of the world-famous choir, broadening its repertoire, commissioning new music and developing its activities in board casting, recording and touring. He was Conductor Laureate of the BBC Singers, following a period of 12 years as their Chief Conductor. From 1983-2009 he was Conductor of the Cambridge University Musical Society. He received his early musical education as a chorister at Worcester Cathedral, and was later Organ Scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge. Sir Stephen was then successively Organist of St Matthew’s, Northampton, Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey and Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral. He taught at King’s College and at the Royal College of Music, where he was a Fellow and Visiting Professor. He served as President of the Royal College of Organists, and on the Council of the Royal School of Church Music. He was appointed CBE in 2009 and knighted in 2019. He also received honorary doctorate in music from Anglia Ruskin University and the University of York.

William Cole

was born in London in 1990, and read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 2013 with double First Class Honours. In 2015, he began studying for the MMus in Composition and Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. Winner of the 2015 Lord Major’s Composition Prize, 2014 Philip Bates Prize and 2013 John Sanders Memorial Competition for Young Composers, his works have been heard at venues across the UK and in America and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. William holds conducting positions with young opera company Opera Lyrica and multi-genre club night Filthy Lucre, and is Trainee Conductor of the Goldsmiths Choral Union. He is also active as a pianist, with recital partners including Stephen Varcoe, and was a Choral Scholar at Clare College. He currently holds the positions of Choral Director at London’s Youth Music Centre and is Graduate Musician in Residence at North London Collegiate School.

Daniel Cook

(born 1979) is Master of the Choristers and Organist of Durham Cathedral, where he takes responsibility for the cathedral’s musical ministry. He maintains a busy schedule of recitals, concerts and recordings, both as performer and producer, as well as being in demand as a conductor, teacher and singer. In addition, he is Diocesan Organ Advisor for Newcastle, and Assistant Diocesan Organ Advisor for Durham. Previously Daniel spent four years as Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey where he was the principal organist to the Abbey Choir and Assistant Director of Music to James O’Donnell. He accompanied the Abbey Choir for all major services, performed with them in concerts and on tours in Europe and the USA, as well as appearing in their famous series of recordings for Hyperion Records. He also performed with the Abbey Choir in several concerts in London, notably in Buckingham Palace and at the Royal Albert Hall, and was the organist for all of the broadcast services and concerts between 2013 and 2017. Before moving to the Abbey, Daniel was Organist and Master of the Choristers of St Davids Cathedral and Artistic Director of the St Davids Cathedral Festival.

Thomas Corns

was educated at Wells Cathedral School and has held organ scholarships at Jesus College, Cambridge, and St Paul’s Cathedral, London, where he worked daily with the world-famous choir. Whilst at St Paul’s, Thomas was a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music and a recipient of the UMP Ensemble Prize. An established career as a director and organist has seen Thomas perform in the USA and in international festivals across Europe. He is well known for performing a wide range of music and has won praise for his interpretations of contemporary repertoire. Thomas moved to Sheffield Cathedral in 2017 as the Director of Music having previously held the post of Director of Music at the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick.

Ronald Corp

was born in Wells, Somerset, in 1951. He is Artistic Director of the New London Orchestra and the New London Children’s Choir both of which he founded, respectively, in 1988 and 1991. He is also Musical Director of the London Chorus and the Highgate Choral Society. He has worked with the BBC Singers, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Leipzig Philharmonic Orchestra. Among an extensive discography are his award-winning Hyperion discs of British Light Music Classics. His compositions include a Symphony, a Piano Concerto, a Concerto Grosso and an orchestral triptych, Guernsey Postcards, which are played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, plus chamber works and many choral pieces and songs. His textbook The Choral Singer’s Companion is now in its third edition. He was ordained into the Anglican Church in 1998. Ronald was awarded an OBE in 2012.

Mervyn Cousins

was a pupil and Cathedral Chorister at the Minster School, Southwell, and then read music (BMus and MMus) at the Royal Holloway College, University of London, where he was Organ Scholar. After teaching posts in London, and organ-playing appointments at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street and St James’, Sussex Gardens, he was appointed as Assistant Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in 1987. He became Director of Music there in 1993 and was also Chorus Master of the Bury St Edmunds Festival Chorus. Mervyn was Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral from 1997-2003, and was also Organist to the University of Liverpool during this time. He began working at the world-renowned Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in 2003, as its Music Director, and he was then its Chief Executive from 2009-11. Mervyn now combines several freelance-based projects, including music examining and choral direction, as well as educational workshops.

Neil Cox

was born in Llanelli in 1955. He was Organ Scholar at Downing College, Cambridge, and has been Director of Music (Chapel) at Lancing College, West Sussex, since 1978. In 1974, he was awarded a scholarship by the British Council and Belgian government to study with the organist and composer Flor Peeters. As an organist, he has played recitals on BBC Radio 3 and in many churches and cathedrals in the UK and in Europe, including St Paul’s Cathedral. As a composer, his choral music has been sung by the BBC Singers and in many churches and cathedrals with distinguished musical foundations.

David Creese

was born in 1972 in Ontario, Canada, where he studied piano and theory and subsequently studied guitar, before reading Classics and French at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Canada. Upon graduation he undertook an MA in Classics at Dalhousie University, Halifax. In 1997, he moved to the United Kingdom to begin a PhD in Ancient Greek Musical Theory at the University of Birmingham. He was also a choral scholar at Birmingham Cathedral. He is currently Lecturer in Classics at Newcastle University.

Eleanor Daley

(b. 1955) is a Canadian composer, church choir director, choral clinician, and accompanist. She studied at the Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and holds diplomas in piano and organ from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto and Trinity College, England. Since 1982, she has been the Director of Music at Fairlawn Heights United Church in Toronto, Ontario, where she has established a flourishing choral programme for which many of her pieces have been composed. She has a natural gift for melody and her choral works display sensitivity blending words and music. She has more than 150 published works and on two occasions received the National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition of the Year, given by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors.

Emma Davies

(born 1996) studied at Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School and was a chorister at Lancaster Priory. She read Music and was awarded a choral scholarship at the University of Durham, where she studied harmony and counterpoint with Jeremy Dibble, specialising in composition in her final year. After leaving Durham, Emma spent several years in Newark-on-Trent and was associated with the Church of St Mary Magdalene, where she was appointed Composer in Residence. In 2018 she was commissioned to write a piece for a massed performance given by schools in Leicester, commemorating the centenary of the 1918 Armistice. Emma’s choral music has been recorded with the Priory Label and she now lives in the Channel Islands, teaching at Victoria College and the Jersey Academy of Music.

James Davy

(born 1980) has led the music department at Chelmsford Cathedral since 2012 and is responsible for overseeing a varied and engaging musical programme involving boy and girl choristers, school-age and adult singers, who sing the Opus Dei on most days of the week. Aside from Cathedral and diocesan services, the choirs take part in an annual concert programme in the Cathedral, as well as making visits around the diocese from time to time. James is also involved with school visits and other visiting groups, making the Cathedral organs accessible to people often for the first time. As Cathedral Organist, James is also musical director of the Chelmsford Singers, a mixed-voice choir that performs frequently in the Cathedral, often in collaboration with the Cathedral choirs.

Jeremy Dibble

studied music at Trinity College, Cambridge, with Philip Radcliffe, Richard Marlow, Peter le Huray and Robin Holloway, and at Southampton University with Peter Evans. Before he was appointed as a lecturer at Durham University in 1993, he was a lecturer in music at University College, Cork. In Durham, Jeremy teaches courses in harmony and counterpoint, musicianship, nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, and includes special topics in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English song, Brahms, Britten’s Chamber Operas and (at MA level) English church music. In 2010 the Royal School of Church Music awarded him a Fellowship for services to church music and, in 2013, he was awarded a Fellowship by the Guild of Church Musicians.

Graham Dinnage

graduated from Trinity College with first class honours and the Grace Wylie prize in 1992. He now combines solo performing as a singer and organist, academic research and writing for music journals with his post as a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, specialising in academic and technical training for singers. He has extensive experience as a bass-baritone soloist in both oratorio and concert performances. He has made solo recordings for ISIS records, Mosaic Music and Past Times, and choral and ensemble recordings for Hyperion. Graham is the Choral Director of the Commonwealth Festival Choir, Capriol Chamber Choir, Apollo Youth Choir and Chart Singers. He is also Organist and Director of Music at Holy Trinity Church, Crockham Hill, Kent.

Stephen Doughty

is Musical Director of the Garleton Singers, Edinburgh Bach Choir and Chorus Master of Belfast Philharmonic Choir. In addition Stephen is Organist and Director of Music of St John’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, for which Man's First Disobedience was written. The Choir has a wide repertoire and has given a number of premieres, including the first performance of the Missa Paschalis, a mass for Eastertide and scored for choir, congregation and organ. At the keyboard he is a regular accompanist of choirs and instrumentalists, also playing harpsichord/organ continuo and orchestral piano. He has given frequent organ recitals including several four-star recitals on the grand Mulholland Organ in the Ulster Hall, Belfast. He is in demand as an arranger and orchestrator with a large catalogue of pieces including works for organ, choir, brass ensemble and full orchestra. He has received commissions from Children’s Classic Concerts, Ulster Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and, in addition, the BBC have commissioned a number of arrangements which have been performed at Proms in the Park and broadcast on television and his pieces feature on several recordings. Finally he is an Examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. For more information, visit www.stephendoughty.co.uk.

Peter Dyke

was born in Harpenden in 1965 and was organ scholar of Robinson College, Cambridge. He won second prize in the Interpretation Competition in the St Albans International Organ Festival, has held posts at St Woolos, Newport and St Albans cathedrals and has been Assistant Director of Music of Hereford Cathedral since 1998. As well as accompanying the daily services, he plays regularly for the choir on recordings, radio and television broadcasts and overseas tours. He founded and directs the Hereford Cathedral Voluntary Choir, which has made its own European tours. Peter has a keen interest in teaching and was made an Associate of the Royal School of Church Music in 2010 for his work founding two successful organists’ training schemes.

Paul Edwards

(born 1955) went to St Paul’s Cathedral as a chorister, and was later a lay clerk in the Choir of Peterborough Cathedral. He has been organist and choirmaster at several churches in Bedfordshire, including All Saints’, Turvey, St Paul’s, Bedford, All Saints, Kempston, and finally at St Andrew's, Bedford. He also worked as a part-time coach and bus driver for 34 years. He gained the ARCO diploma with the Sowerbutts and Durrant prizes for paperwork, and also holds the LRSM in music theory and LTCL for composition. More recently he received an honorary ARSCM. In retirement he plays the organ for many North Bedfordshire village churches.

Richard Elfyn Jones

(born 1944) began his professional career as an organist, orchestral conductor and choral director after studying at the University of Wales, Bangor, and King’s College, Cambridge. He studied composition with William Mathias. He was a Limpus Prizewinner at the Royal College of Organists, and a semi-finalist in the Cantelli International Conducting Competition in Milan, Italy. In 1971, he was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Wales, Cardiff, before becoming a Senior Lecturer in Music in 1994. He also served as conductor of the Cardiff Polyphonic Choir in Wales (1977-91). He is a prolific composer and active in all genres, including music for film and television. His main research interests lie in 20th century music, notably the operas of Michael Tippett. He is also an examiner for the London College of Music at the University of West London.

Sir Edward Elgar

(1857-1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs.

Graham Elliott

spent 18 years as Organist and Master of the Music at Chelmsford Cathedral before his appointment to the post of Director of Music at St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish in Washington DC in 1999.

Barry Ferguson

(born 1942) studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar. After an appointment as Assistant at Peterborough Cathedral, he became Organist at Wimbourne Minster and Rochester Cathedral. He is now a freelance composer, lecturer and recitalist. He lectures on Thomas Hardy and Music for the University of Bristol and on other musical subjects.

Adam Field

(born 2002) is in his final year at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he is reading for a degree in Music. He holds the Percy Young Senior Organ Scholarship, accompanying the choir and assisting the Director of Music, Sarah MacDonald. He has been engaged in concerts and services across the country and internationally, including live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. He has also played the organ and piano for commercially recorded CDs of music by individual living composers. In 2024, he has combined his duties at Selwyn College with the organ scholarship for King’s Voices, the mixed-voice choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Previously, Adam has been organ scholar at Croydon Minster and Portsmouth Cathedral. More recently, he passed the examination for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists and has been appointed Organ Scholar at Exeter Cathedral, starting in September 2024.

Jeremy Filsell

(born 1964) is one of only a few virtuoso performers as both pianist and organist. He is on the international roster of Steinway Piano Artists and has recorded for BBC Radio 3, USA, and Scandinavian radio networks in solo and concerto roles. As a teenager, Jeremy was a Limpus, Shinn & Durrant prizewinner for FRCO and was awarded the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. As a student of Nicolas Kynaston and Daniel Roth, he studied as an Organ Scholar at Keble College, Oxford, before completing graduate studies in piano performance with David Parkhouse and Hilary McNamara at the Royal College of Music in London. His PhD in Musicology from Birmingham City University/Conservatoire was awarded for research involving aesthetic and interpretative issues in the music of Marcel Dupré. Before moving to the USA in 2008, he held Academic and Performance lectureships at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and was a lay clerk in the Queen’s choir at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. He combined an international recital and teaching career with being director of music at the Church of the Epiphany and then of St Alban’s in Washington DC, Artist-in-residence at Washington National Cathedral, and Professor of Organ at the Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore), before moving to New York in April 2019 to become Organist & Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue.

Antony le Fleming

(born 1941, Wiltshire) is a former student of Raymond Leppard, Herbert Howells and Malcolm Arnold. The bulk of his composition is choral. He served as a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral and later was Organ Scholar at Queen’s College, Cambridge, where he read music. He was appointed Director of Music at Abingdon School, Berkshire, and started composing his most significant works in the 1980s.

Philip Godfrey

is a freelance musician living in London. He concentrates mainly on composing, but is also a pianist, organist and teacher. His compositions - instrumental, choral, and theatre music - are tonal and accessible in style, and widely performed and published. Philip studied music at Cambridge University, where he was an organ scholar and musical director/composer for the Footlights. He is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists. As a pianist, Philip regularly accompanies choirs, singers and instrumentalists; he also performs as a soloist, with recent engagements at the Mansion House, London, St James’ Palace, and Windsor Castle.

David Goode

is Organist at Eton College and combines this post with a concert career that takes him around the world. He was a music scholar at Eton College, and then Organ Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, from 1991-94, graduating with a first and the MPhil degree. While there he studied the organ with David Sanger and in Holland with Jacques van Oortmerssen. From 1996-2001 he was Sub-Organist at Christ Church, Oxford. Having won the top prizes awarded at the 1997 St Alban’s Interpretation Competition, and the Recital Gold Medal at the 1998 Calgary Competition, he concentrated on a freelance career between 2001 and 2003. From 2003-2005, he combined a busy international career with the post of Organist-in-Residence at First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, home to the world’s largest church organ.

Christopher Gower

succeeded Dudley Moore as Organ Scholar of Magdalen College, Oxford, studying there with Bernard Rose and Egon Wellesz. In 1961 he was appointed Assistant Organist of Exeter Cathedral and Director of Music at the Cathedral School. His next cathedral appointment was to Portsmouth in 1969 as Organist and Master of the Choristers moving to Peterborough Cathedral as Master of the Music in 1977. He retired from that post in 2004. His retirement from cathedral music has given him more time to develop his work as a composer. He also continues to examine for the Associated Board in the UK and abroad; is a visiting lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University and serves as a magistrate on the Peterborough bench.

Harry Grindle

(1935-2013) was born in Bangor, Co Down. He read French Language and Literature at Queen’s University, Belfast, and the University of Strasbourg. He studied organ-playing with Flor Peeters in Belgium and orchestral conducting with Sir Adrian Boult in Kent. From 1964-75 he held the post of Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, before his appointment to a senior lectureship in music at Stranmillis College of Education. In 1986 he established the renowned Priory Singers. He became the first Irish musician to be elected to an Associateship of the RSCM and, in 2005, was awarded a Lambeth DMus by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed MBE in 2009 for services to music.

Ashley Grote

(born 1982) was a chorister at King’s 1990-95 and Organ Scholar 2001-04. Having subsequently held posts as Assistant Organist of Westminster Abbey and Assistant Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral, he is now Master of Music at Norwich Cathedral, where he directs the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, the Cathedral Girls’ Choir and Cathedral Consort. Ashley has performed extensively as an organ soloist and accompanist across the UK and abroad, including Italy and Germany. His first solo recording, of Organ Symphonies by Louis Vierne, was released in 2012 on the Acclaim label.

Jamie W. Hall

(born 1983) is a British baritone, composer, conductor and vocal coach, a true all-rounder with a passion for all things choral. He is a member of the world-famous BBC Singers. His compositions have been performed by Ora, Genesis Sixteen, Sonoro, Home Choir and the BBC Singers. His compositional career began when he found himself so inspired by the works of one particular contemporary composer that he was determined to try his own hand. More than a decade on, Jamie’s choral music draws deeply on his experience as a professional singer with evident craftsmanship and a flair for setting text. He shows an intense understanding of the workings of the human voice and its potential for tonal colour and emotional expression, and his often complex harmonic language (stemming from years steeped in the most complex of contemporary choral scores) is tempered by his singer’s instinct for the linear, and an even more pressing need for there always to be beauty in vocal music. The diversity of his writing encompasses pieces written for professionals and well as for children, and for church choirs with limited numbers, demonstrates his commitment to community music making.

David Halls

(born 1963). Whilst a pupil at Harrogate Grammar School, he was Assistant Organist at St Wilfrid’s, Harrogate, and studied the organ with Adrian Selway at St Peter’s Church, Harrogate, Ronald Perrin at Ripon Cathedral and later with Thomas Trotter in London. David won an Organ Scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford, and graduated in 1984 with an Honours Degree in Music. He passed both the Associate and Fellowship examinations of the Royal College of Organists in the same year, being awarded five prizes and the Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He studied in Winchester for a post-graduate Certificate in Education and was Organ Scholar of Winchester Cathedral under the guidance of Martin Neary and James Lancelot. He was appointed Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral in 2005.

Louis Halsey

(born 1929) studied at Cambridge University and sang in the choir of King’s College. For many years, he worked as a Music Producer for BBC Radio in London, and his name became widely known after he founded two choirs, the Elizabethan Singers and the Louis Halsey Singers. From 1982-1985 he was Professor of Music and Head of the Choral Department at the University of Illinois, USA. He was also Director of Music at Regent’s College, London, and has been active as a freelance lecturer, conductor, adjudicator, composer and arranger.

Colin Hand

(1929-2015). After a career in biochemistry, he turned to music, studied organ with Melville Cook and a MusB at Trinity College, Dublin. He spent 15 years as a lecturer in further education and also worked as an examiner for Trinity College of Music, London. His compositions include choral, orchestral and chamber music, plus music for military or concert band. In the late 1970s, he researched on Taverner and Renaissance music for a PhD.

Will Harmer

is a London-based composer and pianist. Will was a winner of the BBC Proms Inspire Competition and was subsequently commissioned by the BBC Singers to compose ‘Voyage of the Soul’, a piece commemorating the Apollo 11 Moon Landings which was broadcast on Radio 3. Will’s piece for French Horn ‘Cetus’ was performed on BBC radio and television by Annemarie Federle as part of the BBC Young Musician 2020. Will also participated in the 2021 Cheltenham Composers Festival Academy and was recently commissioned to compose a new song for Oxford Lieder festival. Aside from composition, he has worked as a singer with Genesis Sixteen and St Martin-in-the-Fields Choral Scholars, and as a conductor and accompanist for Oxford Youth Choirs. He is currently studying composition with Morgan Hayes at the Royal Academy of Music.

Norman Harper

won an organ scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. While reading for a music degree, he studied organ with Peter Le Huray and Gillian Weir, and composition with Peter Tranchell. Since then, Norman’s career has encompassed school director of music posts in the north-west and in London, organ playing as soloist and accompanist in the UK and abroad, church music appointments and examining for the ABRSM. He has broadcast solo recitals on BBC Radio 3 and recorded CDs of organ music by J.S. Bach, Bruhns, Brahms, Peeters, D’Agincour, Raison, Nivers and contemporary British composers. Most recently Norman was organist and director of music at St George’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Southwark, where the music is sung by professional lay clerks together with girls’ and boys’ chorister groups. Under his direction St George’s choirs sang live services on BBC radio and television, and made two CDs: Music for the Mass (Priory) and Christmas at St George’s (Regent).

Roger Hemingway

(born 1951). He studied composition with Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music. Previous commissions include King’s College, Cambridge, the King’s Singers, West Midlands Arts and The Three Choirs Festival, and he has also written for St John’s College, Cambridge, and Worcester Cathedral Choir, amongst others. He lives in North Yorkshire.

Thomas Hewitt Jones

is an award-winning composer of contemporary classical and commercial music. Winner of the 2003 BBC Young Composer Competition, his music is frequently heard on radio and TV in the UK and abroad. He has written three ballets, which toured the UK in 2008-11 with Ballet Cymru, most notably a dance setting of Dylan Thomas’ masterpiece Under Milk Wood. His choral and orchestral music is performed and broadcast worldwide. Commercial commissions have included scores for films in America and the UK, as well as music for the London 2012 Olympics Mascots animated films, with stories by Michael Morpurgo and narration by Stephen Fry. He has also composed the music for a new musical version of Rumpelstiltskin, which premiered at The Egg, Bath in December 2014.

Edward Higginbottom

gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists before leaving school, winning the Harding and Read prizes for the most outstanding candidate of the year. A long association with Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, followed, beginning with an organ scholarship, continuing with graduate work and a doctoral thesis on French baroque music, and ending with a research fellowship (1973-76). Edward was appointed Director of Music at New College in 1976, at the unusually young age of 29, and continued in the post for 38 years. His work at Oxford is divided between New College Choir and the Faculty of Music where he teaches performance practice alongside other specialisms. He also publishes within the areas of his expertise, and has contributed chapters to the Cambridge Companion on the Organ, and entries on French music to The New Grove Dictionary of Music.

Jamie Hitel

is a widely-respected performer, composer, conductor and teacher. Formerly Director of Music at Waltham Abbey, he moved to the USA in 2000. Jamie became Director of Music at Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut, in 2008. His interest in contemporary church music inspired him to establish a visiting artist program at Christ Church, which has resulted in several new commissions, most notably by Philip Moore. When not directing choirs, Jamie maintains a busy solo organ recital career. Recital venues include St Paul’s and Westminster Cathedrals, London, as well as Trinity Church, Wall Street, Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York, and Saint Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle.

Gustav Holst

(1874-1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. He composed part-songs, song cycles, operas and orchestral pieces. His best known work is the orchestral suite, The Planets.

Timothy Hone

was born in 1957. A former Organ Scholar of Peterhouse, Cambridge, he has held appointments as Sub-Organist at Leeds Parish Church and a similar position at Coventry Cathedral. He became Organist and Master of the Music at Newcastle Cathedral in 1987. In 1995, he was the first English player to take part in the distinguished recital series in Hamborn, Germany, and in 1996 he gave the RCO recital in Glasgow. In 2002, he was appointed as Head of Liturgy and Music at Salisbury, while also working as Secretary to the Liturgical Commission and National Worship Development Officer at Church House in Westminster. He moved to York Minster in 2015 as the Music and Liturgy Manager.

Benjamin Hutto

(1947-2015) served as Director of Music Ministry and Organist at St. John’s Church, Washington, DC, from 2009. He was also Director of Performing Arts at St Albans School for boys and the National Cathedral School for girls. Ben served as Organist Choirmaster at Christ Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, and served as President of national professional organisations, including the Association of Anglican Musicians (1988-89) and the Royal School of Church Music in America. He led many workshops around the USA. In 2013, The Virginia Theological Seminary awarded Ben an honorary doctorate.

Marcus Huxley

(born 1949) read modern languages at Oxford University and studied the organ in Paris with Marie-Claire Alain. On his return, he was elected Organ Scholar of Worcester College, Oxford, where he directed the Chapel Choir and read for a degree in music. He went directly from Oxford to be Assistant Organist of Ripon Cathedral, where he also lectured at the University College of Ripon and York St John. While in Yorkshire he founded the York Early Music Choir and was Conductor of both the Ilkley and Otley Choral Societies. He is a joint 2nd prize winner for Interpretation in the 1977 St Albans International Organ Competition, where he also won the Audience Prize. In 1986 he was appointed to his present position as Director of Music at Birmingham Cathedral. Marcus has appeared as Guest Conductor with Kidderminster Choral Society and as organist with the CBSO, Ex Cathedra, the Tallis Scholars, the Dresden Kreuzchor and the Swingle Singers. He is also an Organ Tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and an examiner for the ABRSM.

Grayston Ives

has spent his life in choral music, as a singer, conductor, teacher and composer. He was a chorister at Ely Cathedral and then studied music at Cambridge, taking composition lessons with Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. After Cambridge he sang in Guildford Cathedral Choir before joining The King’s Singers, with whom he recorded and performed worldwide. For 18 years Bill directed Magdalen College Choir, Oxford. During his tenure the choir earned a Grammy nomination for a disc of music by Orlando Gibbons, gave the premiere of Paul McCartney’s Ecce Cor Meum, and recorded backing tracks for Josh Groban’s platinum Christmas album, Noel. In 2008 he was awarded a Lambeth DMus and a Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music.

Jeremy Jackman

was chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral and continued his musical education at the Royal College of Music and Hull University. He began his career as a freelance countertenor and choral director. He sang with ensembles such as the BBC Singers, the BBC Northern Singers, the Alfred Deller Choir, the Tallis Scholars and The Sixteen. He was appointed countertenor Lay Clerk at Westminster Cathedral in 1978, under the direction of Stephen Cleobury. Two years later he was invited to join The King’s Singers. For the next decade he shared their demanding international schedule, performing in the world’s most celebrated concert halls and making countless broadcasts and recordings. In 1990 Jeremy resumed work as a choral conductor, directing choirs, courses and workshops all over the world. As Chorus Master to the Belfast Philharmonic Choir (1991-97) and the London Philharmonic Choir (1992-94) he worked with the world’s most renowned conductors in the preparation of a wide variety of music. In 2021 he stepped down from his post as conductor of The Cecilian Singers, a Leicester-based chamber choir, with whom he had enjoyed a fruitful partnership lasting 30 years. He was also Musical Director of the English Baroque Choir from 2000-2021.

Carl Jackson

has been Director of Music of the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace, since 1996. He has over 30 years’ teaching experience having trained at Goldsmiths’ College, and now teaches at King’s College School, Wimbledon. Carl studied at the Royal Academy of Music and held organ scholarships at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace, and at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a pupil of Peter Hurford. He has broadcast with the chapel choir on radio and television, and conducted them in performances with Sir Cliff Richard, José Carreras and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Simon Jackson

(born 1983) is Director of Music at Peterhouse and a Bye-Fellow of the College. Alongside his position at Peterhouse, he is also Organist and Director of Music of Little St Mary’s Church, which served as Peterhouse’s chapel until the current building was consecrated in the 1630s. Simon is a former member of the choirs of York Minster, Peterborough Cathedral and Jesus College, Cambridge, and in addition to his musical activities, he leads an active academic career. He has recently completed a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Warwick, and his research examines the relationship between poetry and music in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His doctoral thesis, exploring the literary and musical activities of the poet-priest George Herbert, won the George Herbert Society Chauncey Wood Prize, and an article won the English Literary Renaissance award in 2015.

Gordon Jacob

(1895-1984) was born in London and educated at Dulwich College. He studied at the Royal College of Music, London, with Stanford, Parry, Howells, Boult and Vaughan Williams. He taught briefly at Birkbeck and Morley Colleges in London, before returning to the RCM in 1926, where he was a lecturer for 40 years. He gained a DMus in 1935 and was later awarded the FRCM and FRAM. In the 1950s he provided music for the Festival of Britain and also arranged the National Anthem with Fanfare for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. He married Margaret Gray in 1959 and retired from his professorship at the RCM in 1966. Two years later he was awarded the CBE. He composed over 700 pieces of music and wrote several books, including Orchestral Technique (1931) and The Elements of Orchestration (1962).

Emma Johnson

(born 1966) is one of the few clarinettists to have established a career as a solo performer, which has taken her to major European, American and Asian venues, as well as to Africa and Australasia. She is one of the UK’s biggest selling classical artists, having sold over half a million albums worldwide. Emma has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras in repertoire that includes all the major clarinet works, as well as pieces written for her by Sir John Dankworth, Will Todd, Patrick Hawes and Paul Reade. She has also collaborated with artists such as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Dame Cleo Laine, Julian Lloyd Webber, Lesley Garrett, the Takacs Quartet, Pascal Roge and John Lill. She is director too of Emma Johnson and Friends, a versatile string and wind group. An exciting collaboration with composer Jonathan Dove has seen Emma working with children in workshops and performances to recreate the story of The Pied Piper. She has also given masterclasses in many countries and was a professor at the Royal College of Music, London. Emma grew up in London and her career was launched when in 1984 at the age of 17 she won BBC Young Musician of the Year followed by the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York. She studied music and English at Cambridge University before embarking fulltime on a musical path. She was the first woman to be made an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was honoured by the Queen with an MBE in 1996.

Simon Johnson

(born 1975) has a remarkable and multifaceted international career as a virtuoso organist, conductor and composer. He has been involved in all of the national occasions that have taken place at St Paul’s Cathedral since his appointment as Organist and Assistant Director of Music in 2008, including the funeral service of Baroness Thatcher and the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen. Recitals have taken him all over Europe and the USA, as well as to many of the premier venues in the UK. He has performed with groups such as the LSO, RPO, and The Sixteen and worked with Wes Anderson on the Oscar, Bafta and Grammy award-winning soundtrack for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Sasha Johnson Manning

(b. 1963) studied singing, cello and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London and has travelled extensively throughout Europe, the United States, and Israel singing with many groups, notably the Deller Consort, BBC Daily Service Singers and with the Early Music Group, Partita. She began composing at the age of seven when her mother showed her how to notate the tunes in her head and since that time, she has written countless anthems, carols and songs and held the post of composer-in-residence for the St Louis Chamber Chorus in Missouri for eight years. She has composed for Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, Holly Marland, Lynne Dawson, John Turner, and the London Baroque. She lives in Bowdon, Cheshire, where she sings in the Parish Church choir.

Tamsin Jones

studied music at Newcastle University and then the University of Birmingham, earning a PhD there for her research into 16th- and 17th-century German Passion music. She now teaches music theory and composition both privately and as an Associate Lecturer at ICMuS, Newcastle University. Tamsin’s style shows influences from Medieval and Renaissance music but achieves 21st-century harmonic colours through the subtle interaction of line and modality. She has composed numerous commissioned pieces for choirs in the UK, USA and Canada, and her work has been heard on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.

Bryan Kelly

was born in Oxford in 1934. He studied at the Royal College of Music, London, with Gordon Jacob and Herbert Howells, and later in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. After some years on the staff of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, he was appointed to a post at the Royal College of Music in 1963, and where he taught harmony, counterpoint and orchestration for 22 years. One year he spent in Washington DC, USA, teaching at the American University. He writes both serious and light music. He is an accomplished pianist and conductor.

Stephen King

studied at Trinity College of Music, under Gladys Puttick, and then at Sussex University, where he was Organ Scholar under John Birch. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of 18, and holds the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He was appointed Organist of Brentwood Cathedral in 1992 and has taken a full part in the Cathedral’s musical programme, as organist, pianist and conductor, and accompanied the Cathedral Choir on its visits to Notre Dame, Paris, and to St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Stephen is also a trustee of the RCO.

Andrew Kirk

(born 1970) was appointed as Director of Music and Organist at St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, in 2003 and holds a full time position at the church. He regularly gives recitals on the famous four-manual Harrison & Harrison 1912 organ, and around the UK. From 1994-2003 he was Director of Music at St John’s Church, Ranmoor, in Sheffield where he directed two choirs. Andrew has also taught class music at three secondary schools in the past 10 years, including Lady Manners School, Bakewell. He has accompanied many choirs and is actively involved in the work of the RSCM as Chairman of the Bristol and Swindon area. Born and educated in Leicester, he won an organ scholarship to Pembroke College, Oxford, where he studied organ with David Sanger. He spent two years in Western Australia as assistant organist at St George’s Cathedral in Perth. He holds the FRCO diploma, for which he was awarded the Turpin and Durrant prizes for organ playing.

Richard Lambert

combines a career as composer, examiner, organist and conductor. His earlier compositions were influenced by twentieth-century mainstream styles, with traces of jazz and popular music. His more recent music uses a freely atonal idiom or strict twelve-note techniques, combined with closely worked structures. He worked with composers Elizabeth Poston and Malcolm Williamson over many years, and with Sebastian Forbes at the University of Surrey. Richard’s teaching career spanned 34 years in four schools, culminating at St Helen’s School in Northwood, London. He is a Senior Examiner, Trainer and Moderator for the London College of Music, travelling, since 1989, to many centres in Europe, North and South America, Africa and the Far East. As a conductor he has given performances of many large-scale choral works, orchestral works, operas and musicals. He has directed three chamber choirs, including Chanticleer and Hitchin Orpheus Choir. Richard has written a highly successful GCSE music guide, published by Longman. In 2011 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and in 2015 he was awarded a Fellowship of the London College of Music in composition.

David Lawson

is an organist and singer. He read Music at the University of Liverpool, studying with Michael Talbot and Robert Orledge, and was Organ Scholar of the Metropolitan Cathedral. After a post-graduate year at Liverpool he was appointed to his first teaching post at Downside School in 1990, subsequently becoming Director of Music there, and, in 1992, was installed as a Gentleman of Her Majesty's Chapels Royal. He was appointed to Monmouth School for Boys as Director of Music in 2002, joining from Bury Grammar School, where he had been Director of Music and also sung as a Lay Clerk at Manchester Cathedral. David has worked in the music and entertainment industry and has been the recipient of two BPI Silver Discs for CDs he has directed. He is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists and outside of School he sings regularly with the choirs of Worcester and Gloucester Cathedrals..

Philip Lawson

read music at York University. After a period of freelance singing with choirs including The Sixteen and The BBC Singers, he moved to Salisbury where he was Director of Music at a local school and a baritone Lay Clerk in the choir of Salisbury Cathedral. He also arranged music and played piano for a local jazz band. For 18 years he was a baritone with The King’s Singers, as well as being the group’s principal arranger for the last 15 years of that period. In 2012, he left to concentrate on his writing career. For more information, visit www.philiplawson.net.

Sir Philip Ledger

(1937-2012) was educated at King’s College, Cambridge. When appointed Master of the Music at Chelmsford Cathedral, he became the youngest cathedral organist in the country. Subsequently, he took up the post of Director of Music at the University of East Anglia where he was also Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Music. He was Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, from 1974-82 and he became Principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1982-2001.

Caroline Leighton

(born 1985) studied piano with her mother, a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire, and won the Classical Pianist of the year award twice whilst at Music College in Leeds. She specialised in performance and accompanying Lieder, working with acclaimed sopranos Barbara Bonney and Lynne Dawson, as well as repetiteur work with Opera North. Caroline moved to Lincolnshire after graduation in 2006 where she gave many solo recitals across the county and worked with young musicians at youth festivals. She has accompanied choral workshops for Nigel Perrin, Alexander L’estrange and David Lawrence. Caroline spent four months last year living with Carmelite nuns in Norfolk, discerning religious life, and now she lives in Tealby, teaching piano and writing for the mind, body, and spirit magazine, More to Life.

Michael Leighton Jones

has been involved with music all his life. Postgraduate studies took him from his native New Zealand to England, where he sang in the Choirs of King’s College, Cambridge (under Sir David Willcocks) and Westminster Abbey. For 10 years he was a member of the vocal quintet, The Scholars, singing more than 1,000 concerts in over 40 countries, before joining the music staff at the University of Queensland. In Brisbane, he formed the vocal sextet Jones & Co, with whom he toured both nationally and internationally. He has always maintained an active solo career, performing operatic roles and singing in broadcasts, oratorios and recitals, including many first performances and appearances in leading festivals. Michael has performed regularly with Australia’s symphony orchestras and chamber music groups, including Arcadia, Australia Ensemble and Perihelion and has many recordings to his credit. He retired as Director of Music at Trinity College, the University of Melbourne in 2014, but continues a busy freelance career as composer, arranger, singer and conductor.

Raymond Lewis

has followed a triple career as a pianist, conductor and organist. He has made several appearances at the Purcell Room and on the BBC. A former recipient of the Ricordi conducting prize, he is an experienced orchestral and choral conductor. He was, for several years, Director of Music of St Stephen’s Rochester Row in Westminster, and has been organist at various London churches. He has played at most of the major cathedrals in the UK, and has given recitals at Southwark Cathedral, The Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, and Chichester Cathedral. As a pianist, duo partners have included the violinist, Ralph Holmes, Alexander Boyarsky and Rohan da Saram. He made his London debuts variously as solo pianist, accompanist, in chamber music, as continuo player, and as a conductor on the South Bank.

Simon Lindley

(b. 1948) is an English organist, choirmaster, conductor and composer. He was Organist and Master of the Music at Leeds Minster from 1975 to 2016, when he retired and became Organist Emeritus. He was also Leeds City Organist from 1976 to 2017 (and named City Organist Emeritus in Summer 2017). His output of compositions and arrangements includes evocative settings of traditional carol melodies. His early experience was in London and as Peter Hurford’s first full-time assistant at St Albans and, during this period, he was also Director of Music to St Albans School.

William Llewellyn

(1925-2023) was born in Widnes, Lancashire. He read natural sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Choral Exhibition. While in the army (1944-48), he ran the choir. He later studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music under William Alwyn and Eric Thiman. During the 1950s, Bill founded the Linden Singers and was active as conductor of this highly accomplished, versatile group, which broadcast on BBC TV’s Music at Ten programmes and recorded a wide range of repertoire, including the best of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was Director of Music at Chaterhouse School from 1965-87. In addition, he was Festival Conductor at the Leith Hill Musical Festival from 1981-95. Bill was also music adviser for the National Federation of Women’s Institutes for six year. He was President of the Incorporated Society of Musicians in 1978, and appointed MBE in the same year.

Richard Lloyd

(1933-2021) was born in Cheshire. He became a chorister in Lichfield Cathedral and was involved in church music in one way or another for most of his life. He gained a music scholarship to Rugby School and Organ Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he studied with Peter le Huray, Philip Radcliffe and Patrick Hadley. After National Service, he spent some years as Sub-Organist at Salisbury Cathedral. He was Organist at Hereford Cathedral and then at Durham Cathedral, before returning to Salisbury to teach in the Cathedral School. He was an examiner for the ABRSM for 44 years. His career was curtailed by illness and after retirement he spent much of his time composing church music. He composed more than 600 musical works. His interests included cricket, theatre and cinema, unspoilt pubs and listening to music. He was awarded a Fellowship of the RSCM in 2010.

Simon Lole

(born 1957) received his musical training at the Guildhall School of Music and at King’s College, London University. He spent many years as a professional church musician, culminating in positions as Director of music at Sheffield and Salisbury Cathedrals and teaching at Jesus College, Cambridge. Since 2015, he has worked freelance and a music director, composer, arranger, conductor and organist, as well as a record producer and workshop leader. He has worked as music director for All Angels, Hayley Westenra, Aled Jones and Celeste. He is one of the main music directors for Radio 4’s The Daily Service. He is also a regular contributor and presenter on BBC Radio for programmes such as The Early Music Show and The Choir.

Andrew Lumsden

was born in 1962 and educated at Winchester College and The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before going up to St John’s College, Cambridge as organ scholar. After three years as Assistant Organist at Southwark Cathedral, he was appointed Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey. In 1992 he became Organist and Master of the Choristers at Lichfield Cathedral. He held the position of Organist and Director of Music at Winchester Cathedral from 2002-2024, combining the role with regular recital work at home and abroad.

Sarah MacDonald

(born 1968) came to the UK from her native Canada in 1992 as Organ Scholar of Robinson College, Cambridge, after studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. At Cambridge she studied the organ with David Sanger. She currently holds the positions of Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and is also Director of Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir. She has been at Selwyn College since 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel. Sarah has played numerous recitals and made over 25 recordings, variously in the guises of pianist, organist, conductor, and producer; she is a winner of the Royal College of Organists (RCO) Limpus Prize. Sarah has taught organ and conducting for Eton Choral Courses, Oundle for Organists, the Jennifer Bate Organ Academy, and courses run by the RCO, and she is a regular Director of the annual Girls’ Chorister Course at St Thomas’ Church Fifth Avenue, in New York City. Sarah is a Fellow, Examiner, and Trustee of the RCO, and is a member of the Academic Board.

Richard Marlow

(1939-2013) was organ scholar and later a research fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge. He studied with Thurston Dart. After teaching at Southampton University, he returned to Cambridge in 1968, succeeding Raymond Leppard as Fellow and Director of Music at Trinity College and taking up a lectureship in the University Music Faculty. He founded the college’s mixed voice choir in 1982 and directed them in more than 40 recordings. Dr Marlow was a Visiting Professor at universities in Tokyo, Texas, New England and New Zealand. From 1998 he made an annual visit to Portland, Oregon, where he was co-founder of the William Byrd Festival. After he retired in 2006, Dr Marlow remained a Fellow of Trinity and continued to teach there.

Stephanie Martin

(b. 1962) is a Canadian musician, creative collaborator, and guardian of musical heritage, known for imaginative artistic programming and for creating sustainable musical communities. Her choral and instrumental compositions are currently performed both locally and internationally. She is associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design, where she teaches music history, composition, harpsichord and organ, and coaches historical ensembles. She directs Schola Magdalena, a women’s ensemble for chant, medieval and modern music. She is conductor emeritus of Pax Christi Chorale, and past director of music at the historic church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto. Martin holds degrees from the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, and is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

Douglas Mason

was born in Cheltenham in 1973. He read music at Durham University and was a member of the University’s Chamber Choir and Schola Cantorum. After graduating, he continued his studies at Leeds University, where he trained as a teacher. During his time in Leeds he was also a lay clerk in the choir of Leeds Parish Church. Since 1995 he has worked as a full time academic music teacher at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. He also sings with the William Byrd Singers.

Colin Mawby

(1936-2019) was widely known as a choral conductor and composer. As a conductor, he worked with the London Mozart Players, the Wren Orchestra, Pro Cantione Antiqua, the Belgian Radio Choir and the BBC Singers. From 1961, he was Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, London, before becoming Choral Director at Radio Telefis Eireann in 1981, and artistic director of Chamber Choir Ireland (formerly the National Chamber Choir). As a composer, his extensive output includes over 50 masses, five song cycles, a large number of settings for choir and two children’s operas. In 2004, he was awarded the Knighthood of St Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI for his services to church music.

Robert McCormick

is Director of Music at St Paul’s Parish, K Street, Washington, D.C. and conducts the various choirs of adults, boys, and girls in approximately 175 choral services each year. From 2001-08, he served as Organist and Music Director at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, New York City. He holds the BMus degree in organ performance from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. Concurrently, he was Assistant Organist at Trinity Church, Princeton. His teachers have included McNeil Robinson and Robert Carwithen. Known for his ability in organ improvisation, Robert was a semi-finalist in the 2005 St Albans International Organ Festival Improvisation Competition.

Andrew Millington

was born in 1952 and studied the organ at Worcester Cathedral under Harry Bramma and Christopher Robinson. From the King’s School Worcester he gained an organ scholarship to Downing College, Cambridge, and in 1975 he became Assistant Organist at Gloucester Cathedral. After being appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral in 1983, he took up the post of Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral from 1999-2015.

Simon Mold

(born 1957) was born in Derbyshire. He was a chorister in Peterborough Cathedral Choir, directed by the legendary Dr Stanley Vann, and had a choral composition performed in the cathedral while he was still a boy chorister. After reading English Language and Medieval Literature at Durham University, where he was also a Durham Cathedral choral scholar, he combined a teaching career with membership of several cathedral choirs as alto and then bass. Upon retirement from teaching he joined the choir of Leicester Cathedral, where he took a full part in the Richard III re-interment events in March 2015. He has been writing music, mainly vocal and choral, for over 40 years. He has also contributed many articles to magazines on subjects relating to language, literature and music.

Philip Moore

(born 1943) was Organist and Master of Music at York Minster from 1983 to 2008, and has an international reputation as a composer. He began his musical education at the Royal College of Music, where he studied organ, composition and conducting. He also holds a BMus degree from Durham University, as well as the diplomas of the RCO. In 1965 he was appointed to the music staff at Eton College, and three years later became Assistant Organist at Canterbury Cathedral. In 1974, he became Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral, moving to York Minster in 1983. To mark 50 years service to Church music, and to celebrate his retirement, the Archbishop of York bestowed the Order of St William on him. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of York. He is active as a composer and recitalist, and was conductor of the York Musical Society for 27 years. In July 2015, he became President of the Royal College of Organists. In 2016, he received The Cranmer Award for Worship from the Archbishop of Canterbury, recognising his outstanding service.

John Morehen

(1941-2021) was born in Gloucester. He was Organ Scholar at New College, Oxford, graduating with the highest First Class Honours degree of his year. He then undertook doctoral research at King’s College, Cambridge, pursuing organ studies with Ralph Downes, and assisting at the RAF Church of St Clement Danes and at Hampstead Parish Church. He was also organist to the Martindale Sidwell Choir, the Hampstead Choral Society, and the London Bach Orchestra. He interrupted his research to spend a semester as Ralph H. Lane Memorial Scholar at The College of Church Musicians at the National Episcopal Cathedral, Washington DC. On graduating from Cambridge in 1967 he returned to Washington as joint-Lecturer at the College of Church Musicians and at American University, serving also as Washington critic for The Musical Times. He returned to the UK in 1968 on appointment as Sub-Organist at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. In 1973 he was appointed Lecturer in Music at Nottingham University. In 1979, while on research leave, he was Adjunct Lecturer at The State University of New York (Binghamton). He became Professor of Music at Nottingham in 1989, serving also as inaugural Head of the School of Humanities (1998-2001). He relinquished his University appointments in 2002 to devote more time to freelance pursuits, and at that stage he became Emeritus Professor of Music. In the Guild of Church Musicians, John was Fellowship Director from 2002-9, and he has sat on the Academic Board (2002-14) and Council (2004-14). He has served as Examiner at numerous UK universities, and was an External Examiner to the University of Malta from 2001-12. His interests included antiques, genealogy, enjoying country life, and indulging in nostalgia.

Andrew Morris

is an orchestral and choral conductor, music educator, examiner and consultant. He is also a keyboard continuo player with 40 years’ experience as an organist and harpsichordist. He was Director of Music at St Bartholomew-the-Great from 1972-79 where he broadcast with the choir, made recordings and re-founded the New English Singers. During his time as Director of Music at Bedford School from 1979-2011, he developed the work achieved in the Music School into a cradle for young musicians including a number of composers. Andrew was a chorister at Westminster Abbey under Sir William McKie. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London before postgraduate research at Pembroke College, Cambridge, were was also Schoolmaster Fellow Commoner.

Philip Munch

is Warden of the Emmaus House of Prayer, which is attached to St Michael’s Church in Northampton.

Martin Neary

was born in 1940 and is half French. From 1972-87 he was Organist and Master of Music at Winchester Cathedral. As Organist and Master of the Chorister at Westminster Abbey from 1988-98, he was responsible for music at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. He continues his career as an organist, and was the first conductor of the Royal School of Church Music’s Millennium Youth Choir. He has also served two terms as President of the Royal College of Organists.

Michael Nicholas

(born 1938) is an organist, composer and conductor who was Organist and Master of Choristers at Norwich Cathedral from 1971-94. He was an Organ Scholar at Jesus College, Oxford, and has been Organist and Choir Master at St James Church, Louth, and St Matthew’s Church, Northampton, as well as teaching at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth and Northampton Grammar School. In 1994 he was appointed Chief Executive of the Royal College of Organists and from 1999-2013 was the Director of Music at St Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich, where he conducted three choirs and promoted the lunchtime concert series. In addition to church choirs, he has conducted the Northampton Bach Choir and Orchestra, the Norwich Philharmonic Chorus and the Allegri Singers.

June Nixon

(born 1942) is one of Australia’s best-known organists, choir trainers and composers. She initially studied at Melbourne University before gaining post graduate scholarships that enabled further study in London. She held the position of Organist and Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne for 40 years from 1973-2013. She was made a Member (AM) in the General Division in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 1998 for services to church music. In 1999 she became the first woman to have the Lambeth DMus conferred by The Archbishop of Canterbury.

Timothy Noon

(born 1974) received his early musical education as a chorister at Hereford Cathedral. Following organ scholarships at Canterbury Cathedral and Christ Church, Oxford, he was appointed Sub-Organist of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He returned to Canterbury as Assistant Organist in 1997, where, in addition to his work at the Cathedral, he was organist of the King’s School. In 2001 he became Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral in Wales, and Artistic Director of the St Davids Cathedral Festival. He was appointed Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool in 2007, moving then to New Zealand in 2011 to be Director of Music at Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. In 2016, he was appointed Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral.

James O’Donnell

(born 1961) is a Professor in the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Previously, he was Organist and Master of the Choristers of Westminster Abbey for 23 years, until December 2022. During his time at the Abbey, he was responsible for the music at royal, state and national occasions, including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on 29 April 2011, and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on 9 April 2002. In September 2022, he oversaw the music and conducted the choirs at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. He is internationally recognised as a conductor and organ recitalist. He studied the organ with Peter Hurford, Nicolas Kynaston and David Sanger. He also studied as a junior exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music and then at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was organ scholar, before being appointed Assistant Master of Music, and then, at the age of 26, Master of Music, at Westminster Cathedral. He is also Visiting Professor of Organ and Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London, having served that institution as Professor of Organ from 1997 to 2004. He served as President of the Royal College of Organists for two years from 2011. He has been awarded Fellowships from the Royal College of Music and the Royal School of Church Music, and Honorary Membership in the Royal Academy of Music. In 1999 he was awarded the papal honour of Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory in recognition of his work at Westminster Cathedral. He was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in The King’s first New Year’s Honours list in 2023.

Joshua Pacey

(born 1995) is studying music at Clare College, Cambridge. Having begun composing at an early age, he has been successful in several competitions including the Homerton College Composition Competition 2016, the Clare College Christmas Carol Composition Competition 2016 and as the recipient of the John Sanders Memorial Competition for Young Composers award in 2016. His work has been performed in the UK and the USA, and been broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Choral Evensong. He was a Boy Chorister at Winchester Cathedral, and by way of Charterhouse School is now Senior Choral Scholar of The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, with whom he has performed both as a chorus member and soloist across the UK, Europe, and USA, notably in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, and Westminster Abbey, with ensembles such as the LPO, the European Union Baroque Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In September 2016, Joshua will be studying at the Royal College of Music for a Masters in Composition for Screen.

Andrew Parnell

(born 1954) has conducted choirs and orchestras since his student days at Christ’s College, Cambridge. For 25 years, he lived and worked in St Albans, as Assistant Master of the Music at the Cathedral (where he also founded the Abbey Girls’ Choir), as Choral Director at St Albans School and Conductor of the city’s Symphony Orchestra. He turned freelance in 2001 and now has a three-fold career as a conductor, organist and composer. This often involves working with amateur music-makers, encouraging them to enjoy their singing, while they develop their skills to the highest standard of performance. He conducts the Ely Choral Society, Ely Youth Choir, Cambridgeshire Choral Society, Wymondham Symphony Orchestra and the St Albans-based chamber choir, Carillon. He also plays the organ either in recitals, or deputising at cathedrals around the country. These have included Ely, Canterbury, Wakefield and Southwell. Andrew’s compositions, sacred and secular, choral, instrumental and orchestral, have been performed in the UK and abroad.

C. Hubert H. Parry

(1848-1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian on music. He studied at Oxford with Sterndale Bennett and Macfarren. His choral music, especially Blest Pair of Sirens (1887) established him at the forefront of British composers at a time when Brahms and Bach were the admired models. He wrote prolifically in several genres, including opera, incidental music, orchestral pieces, oratorios and sacred music, secular choral works, chamber music, piano pieces and songs.

Timothy Parsons

was appointed as Director of Music at Wells Cathedral in 2024 having previously worked as Assistant Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral and Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Prior to these roles, he held organ scholarships at the cathedral of Hereford and Winchester. He was a chorister at Guildford Cathedral and was educated at Charterhouse, where he studied the organ with Mark Blatchly. He subsequently held the organ scholarship at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He graduated with a starred first in Music in 2014, being awarded the Tony Bland and George Roe prizes for outstanding academic and instrumental performance. Whilst at Selwyn, he accompanied the chapel choir in various tours, concerts and recordings under the direction of Sarah MacDonald. During his time at Cambridge, Timothy also held the organ scholarship for King’s Voices, the mixed voice choir of King’s College chapel. He currently studies the organ with Stephen Farr and obtained his FRCO in 2013. He has given organ recitals across the UK in venues including the cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, Ely and St Davids, Ludlow Parish Church, and St John’s College, Cambridge. In 2013 he was awarded Second Prize in the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition.

Katharine Parton

(born 1982) is a composer, researcher and conductor, who has held music positions in the UK and Australia. Most notably, she was Director of Music and Bye-Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (2014-17) where she was instrumental in establishing several new College music awards for students and creating opportunities for underrepresented groups to experience music through both College and University programmes. Katharine completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees in music at the University of Melbourne and also holds a PhD from the same institution for her award-winning research on gesture in orchestral rehearsal. Her choral works have been performed by ensembles in the UK, Germany and Australia including BBC National Orchestra of Wales Chorus, the Gesualdo Six, Fitzwilliam College Chapel Choir and Leuphana Ensembles.

Richard Peat

studied with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Nico Muhly, Rhian Samuel and Paul Max Edlin, completing his composition doctorate in 2007. His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and performed by leading artists including the London Sinfonietta, the Kreutzer Quartet, Onyx Brass, Icebreaker, Martyn Brabbins, Nicholas Cleobury and Stephen Layton. The Choir of Selwyn College Cambridge and Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir, conducted by Sarah MacDonald, have recorded a full-length CD of Peat’s choral music, released in 2021.

John Penny

(born 1943) grew up in a musical family. His father and uncle were both organists, the latter as Assistant Organist at Lincoln Cathedral, and his sister is a professional viola player.John’s father wrote operettas for schools, which enabled staff and pupils to take the stage together. John gave up piano lessons in favour of learning the ’cello and was taught by the late Leslie Sutton. He started Ministry as a Curate and later a Vicar in the Diocese of Birmingham, before working in Norfolk. He has also worked as the Communications Office for the Diocese of Gloucester in the 1990s. The melody of his piece, Andrew’s Song, emerged from the grief that followed his second son’s death after five hours.

Yshani Perinpanayagam

(b. 1983) As a multi-genre pianist and music director, Yshani has performed at venues from Wigmore Hall to the London Palladium, at events from Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival to the Barbican Mime Festival, and with artists from the Philharmonia to Nina Conti. She is pianist of the Del Mar Piano Trio and Carismatico Tango Band, and a regular guest broadcaster on BBC Radio 3.

Electra Perivolaris

(b. 1996) is a composer and pianist from Scotland of mixed British and Greek heritage. Following success in the BBC Young Composers Competition 2014, Electra is Ambassador for the BBC Young Composer Scheme. Electra was chosen to represent her generation of young female composers in a new commission for BBC Radio 3, as part of the Seven Ages of Woman BBC Singers commission for International Women’s Day 2020. In 2021 Electra graduated with Distinction from a Masters degree in Composition at London's Royal Academy of Music on the MMus Composition course, with further studies in piano, after being awarded an RAM Trust Scholarship, a grant from the Scottish International Education Trust and a Vaughan Williams Bursary Award from the RVW Trust. She was awarded the Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music Award in Composition for an Outstanding Final Portfolio, as well as the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music Award.

Neil Porter-Thaw

(born 1970) was a chorister at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, under the direction of Christopher Robinson and his father, John Porter (Assistant Organist). After 5 years as a scholar at Malvern College, Neil studied strings and choral music at Trinity College of Music, London. He is currently Director of Music and Housemaster at The King’s School, Ely, and actively involved with the music in Ely Cathedral.

Simon Preston

(1938-2022) made his debut at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1962 and was shortly afterwards appointed Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey. In 1970 he became Organist of the Cathedral and Tutor in Music at Christ Church, Oxford, where his work with the choir won high praise. In 1981, he was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey, where again his work with the choir received great acclaim. After leaving the Abbey in 1987, he continued to pursue an active career as a highly sought-after and acclaimed concert organist and award-winning recording artist. In 2009, Simon was made a CBE, and in 2011 he was made an honorary Student at Christ Church, Oxford University, and awarded an honorary doctorate by Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada.

David Price

is Organist and Master of the Choristers at Portsmouth Cathedral. Before that appointment he was Assistant Organist of Ely Cathedral, having previously held Organ Scholarships at Rochester Cathedral and Croydon Minster. In addition to his duties at the Cathedral, David serves on the committee of RSCM Portsmouth, and is a member of the Council of the Royal School of Church Music. He has recently served two terms on the Association of English Cathedral’s Music and Liturgy Committee. In 2007, Portsmouth University conferred David with an Honorary Doctorate of Music in recognition of the significant contribution he has made to the development of music at the Cathedral and for his contribution to the cultural life of the city. In the same year, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of St Cecilia. In 2013, he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians.

David Pritchard

(b. 1947) retired from Ely Cathedral in 2014. His ministry began in 1982, when he was appointed assistant curate at Kidlington in the Diocese of Oxford. In 1984, he became vicar of Marcham with Garford and was also rural dean of Abingdon from 1990-96. In 1996 David was appointed rector of Henley-on-Thames with Remenham and, in 2004, he moved to Ely Cathedral, where he was Precentor, Vice-Dean, and later Acting Dean of Ely. For more than 40 years, he has been closely involved in the work of the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust, and he continues to serve the charity as Vice-Chair of the Trust and Chair of its Executive Committee. Before ordination, David was Director of Music at St Edward's, Oxford.

Arnold Pugh

(1935-2019) was born in Canada. He received no professional music training until arriving in England in 1951. After completing a six-year apprenticeship in the printing trade, he changed direction at the age of 28 to study music. He was appointed Organist/Choirmaster of Rugby Parish Church in 1966 having previously served in a similar post at Dunchurch and Brownsoever.

Henry Purcell

(1658-1695) was a pupil of John Blow (1648-1708), whom he succeeded as organist of Westminster Abbey. He wrote much church music, but it is in his operas that he made significant contributions to English musical history.

Iain Quinn

was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1973, and enjoys a distinguished career as an organist, musicologist, and composer. He began his study of the organ with Robert Court and Nicolas Kynaston, having already studied the piano and trumpet. In 1994, he moved to the USA to pursue advanced study at The Juilliard School and later The Hartt School, University of Hartford, and the Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University. In 2009, he returned to the UK as a Doctoral Fellow at the University of Durham during which time he was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. He completed his PhD (Historical Musicology) in 2012. He also holds the diplomas of Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music. In 2013 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Organ at Florida State University.

Robert Quinney

(born 1976) is Organist of New College, Oxford. In addition to the daily direction of New College’s world-famous choir, his work comprises teaching, lecturing, and examining, as a Tutorial Fellow of the college and an Associate Professor at the University Faculty of Music. He also maintains a parallel career as a solo organist, and he is a prolific recording artist. Robert read music at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. After four years as Assistant Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, he became Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey in 2004. He moved to Peterborough Cathedral in 2013, where he was Director of Music for 16 months. Between 2009 and 2014 he was Director of Oundle for Organists, whose residential courses continue to attract young organists from all over the world.

Philip Radcliffe

(1905-86) was educated at Charterhouse and later studied under Dent and Moule at King’s College, Cambridge. During his distinguished career, which encompassed teaching, writing on music, and composing, he was a Fellow of King’s College from 1931-37. Later, from 1947-72, he was a lecturer in music at Cambridge University and became a Fellow again from 1948.

Parker Ramsay

is known in the USA, Europe and Asia both as an accomplished soloist and accompanist. In 2014, Parker was awarded First Prize at the Sweelinck International Organ Competition in the Netherlands. He has performed in venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Washington National Cathedral, Princeton University Chapel, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. He was an Organ Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, while reading history. His tenure included two international tours, four recordings, as well as numerous TV and radio broadcasts, including the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 2012. In addition, Parker has played for the RSCM America summer programs and accompanied the Vienna Boys Choir and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. As an accompanist, he has also collaborated with conductors such as Simon Preston, David Hill, Timothy Brown, Bryan Kelly, Paul Trepte, Graham Ross and Sarah MacDonald. He is now studying for a Masters in historical performance at Oberlin Conservatory, USA.

Gail Randall

(b. 1955) studied flute, piano, and singing at Trinity College of Music, London and is a Fellow of the College. After a career in education and performing as a flautist, retirement provided more time to further interests of church work and composition. A self-taught composer, her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and sung by choirs in the UK, USA, and Canada. She is a Licensed Reader in the Church of England in the Diocese of Manchester. An accomplished campanologist, she has rung over two thousand peals in the UK, USA, and Europe.

Ghislaine Reece-Trapp

(born 1992) is a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, having won the Limpus, Shinn and Durrant prizes, and the Coventry Cathedral Recital Award. She teaches organ and academic music at Highgate School. Ghislaine studied the organ with Matthew Owens at Wells Cathedral School. She spent her gap year as organ scholar at Guildford Cathedral, where she won the South of England Organ Competition at the age of 19. She then became organ scholar and an academic scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, before being promoted to the position of assistant organist. Ghislaine has performed across the UK, in venues including Westminster Cathedral, St George’s, Hanover Square, St Albans Cathedral (as part of the International Organ Festival), Coventry Cathedral, St John’s, Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, and St Paul’s Cathedral. She has played for live radio broadcasts on BBC Radios 3 and 4, and on Chinese national television. She was presented to the Queen at St James’s Palace in 2014, and invited to the Queen’s Garden Party 2018 for her services to the organ. She is a member of the RCO Academic Board.

Miriam Reveley

(b. 2003) began her musical career as a Chorister at Ely Cathedral in 2016, and started learning the organ in 2017 with Sarah MacDonald. She was appointed Sixth Form Organ Scholar at Ely in 2019, and Assisting Organist in 2022. She has also regularly accompanied services at Tewkesbury Abbey and Peterborough Cathedral, and she has studied part time at Birmingham Conservatoire with Daniel Moult. Miriam passed her FRCO diploma in July 2022, winning the coveted Limpus prize for her playing exam. From 2022-23 Miriam was the Organ Scholar at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. In this role, she played for the Committal Service of Her Majesty, Queen ELizabeth II. From 2023, she will be the Organ Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, where she will read for a degree in Music.

Alan Ridout

(1934-96) began learning the piano at the age of nine. By the time he was 12, he had composed 100 works. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music under Gordon Jacob and Herbert Howells, and afterwards also with Peter Racine Fricker, Sir Michael Tippett and Henk Badings. His entire life was devoted to composition and to the teaching and encouragement of other musicians.

Jonathan Rippon

(born 1973) comes from a musical family with his mother a concert pianist from Australia, and his father a British opera singer. He was a music scholar at Eton College where he played the violin, piano and clarinet, as well as singing. From 1992-5, he was a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, under the direction of Sir Stephen Cleobury. While a bass in the choir, he sang internationally, performing at prestigious locations such as Sydney Opera House, St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, and The Royal Albert Hall, as well as The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols annually. Jonathan presently sings in two choirs in London, The Cantus Ensemble and London Contemporary Voices. He wrote his first secular choral composition, a setting of Walt Whitman’s ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ in 2018 and it was premiered by London Contemporary Voices at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London.

Christopher Robinson

(born 1936) was educated at Rugby and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was Organ Scholar. After a period as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Worcester Cathedral from 1963-75, he moved to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he was Organist and Choirmaster until 1991, when he succeeded George Guest as Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge. He was conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir from 1976-97 and of the City of Birmingham Choir from 1964-2002. He holds honorary degrees from Birmingham University and the University of Central England and is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music. He has been Chairman of the Elgar Society and President of the Royal College of Organists. In 1992 the Queen bestowed on him the honour of Commander of the Victorian Order for his services at Windsor Castle, and in the summer of 2002, the Archbishop of Canterbury made him a Lambeth DMus. He became an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians in Autumn 2003 and received a CBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours List. Since retirement in 2003 he has continued to be active as a conductor, composer, keyboard player and mentor to young musicians.

Timothy Rogers

(born 1961) won a major music scholarship to St Edward’s, Oxford, before reading music at Cardiff University and later studying at the Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Christian University, Miami, Florida, USA. He holds BMus and MA degrees and has also been awarded the Fellowship diplomas of Trinity College London and the London College of Music. After graduating, he has followed a career in publishing, working for Banks Music Publications, Novello & Co Ltd, Music Sales Ltd, The Royal School of Church Music, and Walker Books. In 1987, he became one of the youngest composers to be included in the best-selling Carols for Choirs series, selected and edited by Sir David Willcocks and John Rutter, published by Oxford University Press. His output includes choral and organ music, some of which is published by Stainer & Bell, the RSCM, and LCM Examinations. Distinguished organists including Kevin Bowyer and Francis Jackson have performed his works for solo organ, while the choirs of Chelmsford, Coventry, Ely, Gloucester, Llandaff, Norwich and Portsmouth Cathedrals, and overseas at Cathedrals in Canada and Hong Kong, have sung his Christmas carols. In 1992, he set up Encore Publications as his own music publishing business and now works as its Head of Publishing. Since 2013, he has also worked alongside Bob Chilcott, Adrian Partington and Christopher Robinson as a judge of the John Sanders Memorial Competition for Young Composers. He became an examiner for the London College of Music in 2015.

Graham Ross

(born 1985) is Director of Music and Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Principal Conductor of The Dmitri Ensemble. A composer and conductor of a very broad range of repertoire, he has had works performed throughout Europe and beyond. He studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, and conducting at the Royal College of Music, London. He has served as Chorus Master for Sir Colin Davis and Ivor Bolton, and held a Conducting Scholarship with the London Symphony Chorus.

Philip Rushforth

(born 1972) has had a life-long association with Chester Cathedral as chorister, Organ Scholar, Assistant Director of Music and, ultimately, Organist and Master of the Choristers. He began learning the organ with Cathedral Organist, Roger Fisher, and in 1991 went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, as Organ Scholar working under the direction of Dr Richard Marlow. At Trinity he broadcast and recorded frequently with the world-famous college choir, and toured with them extensively in Europe, Canada and the USA. His organ studies continued with David Sanger. Upon Graduation in 1994, he took up the post of Assistant Organist at Southwell Minster and co-founded the Southwell Minster Chorale. For eight years he directed the Chorale in Southwell and further afield. Active as a recitalist, he has performed throughout the United Kingdom, in many cathedrals and concert halls, including Westminster Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral, and King’s College, Cambridge. In September 2000 he was a finalist in the prestigious Royal College of Organists’ Performer of the Year award, performing with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Rumon Gamba. He won many recital awards, including performances at St John’s, Smith Square and at the Dublin International Organ and Choral Festival. He is in constant demand as an accompanist and soloist and in October 2013 he performed Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with the City of London Sinfonia conducted by Stephen Layton and had the privilege of conducting the orchestra when they returned to Chester Cathedral in October 2016. In 2020 he was awarded an honorary Associateship of the Royal School of Church Music (ARSCM) for achievements in church music of national significance and for important musical work within the RSCM.

Nicholas Sackman

(born 1950) studied music at Nottingham University and then at Leeds University with Alexander Goehr. He spent 15 years teaching music in London and Hertfordshire before returning to the Music Department of Nottingham University, in 1990, to teach composition. His compositions have been commissioned by, amongst others, the BBC, London Sinfonietta, Lontano, Arditti Quartet, Balanescu Quartet, Swiss Winds, the Bern Flute Quartet, Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra, Nottingham University, Southbank Summerscope Festival, Nottingham Youth Orchestra, Sarah Nicolls, Sinfonia ViVA, and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

John Sanders

(1933-2002) received his musical education at the Royal College of Music and at Cambridge University as organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College. From 1967-94 he was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Gloucester Cathedral having previously occupied a similar post at Chester Cathedral. For 29 years he was also Director of Music at Cheltenham Ladies’ College retiring from there in 1997. He was awarded various honours for services to music including the Lambeth DMus, an honorary Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music, and an OBE in 1994.

Adam Saunders

studied at the Royal Academy of Music and London University, winning several prizes for composition. Since leaving, he has established a career composing music primarily for the screen, as well as concert works. In addition to a period as composer-in-association with the East of England Orchestra/Sinfonia Viva, Adam has had his works performed and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, English Chamber Orchestra, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, RTE Concert Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Renaissance, Academy of Ancient Music, London Telefilmonic Orchestra, Bulgarian Film Orchestra and Choir and the Brighton Festival Chorus amongst others. Adam’s music has also been performed by classical artists including Lesley Garrett and the Delme String Quartet. Productions to use Adam’s music include Bride Wars (feature film), 17 Again (feature Film), the Sopranos, CSI:NY, Desperate Housewives, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Smallville (Superman the Early Years), Angel, Good Morning America, ITN News, Sky News, American Idol, Beverley Hills 90210, Top Gear, The Apprentice, Hawaii Five-0, True Blood and Mad Men, amongst hundreds of others. He has also written the music for numerous advertising campaigns for leading worldwide brands including Strongbow, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Hershey, Taco Bell and Stella Artois. Adam was appointed an associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2001.

John Scott

(1956-2015) was born in Wakefield where he became a Cathedral chorister. He continued his studies at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar, before being appointed Assistant Organist at London’s two Anglican Cathedrals, St Paul’s and Southwark. In 1985 he became Sub-Organist of St Paul’s and in 1990 Organist and Director of Music. His career as a recitalist has taken him to five continents and his many recordings include works by Elgar, Mendelssohn, Mathias, Duruflé, Dupré and Preston. In 2004 he took up the post of Organist and Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church, New York. He was awarded the LVO in the New Year’s Honours List in 2004, and in 2007 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Nashotah House Seminary in Wisconsin.

John Scott Whiteley

(born 1950) is Organist Emeritus of York Minster, having worked at that great cathedral from 1975-2010, when he retired from the Minster in order to pursue his freelance career. During the past 10 years he has become well-known for his performances on BBC2 and BBC4 television of the complete organ music of J.S. Bach. Having studied at the Royal College of Music with Ralph Downes and W.S. Lloyd Webber, and with Flor Peeters in Malines and Fernando Germani in Siena, John won first prize in the 1976 National Organ Competition of Great Britain. From 2000-08, John was Director of the Girl Choristers of York Minster. He has taught the organ at the Universities of Hull and Huddersfield, and, as a visiting tutor, at the Royal Northern College of Music. He is an examiner for the ABRSM and for the Royal College of Organists.

Robert Sharpe

was born in Lincoln in 1971. He has been Director of Music at York Minster since 2008 having previously held positions at Truro Cathedral, Lichfield Cathedral, St Albans Abbey and Exeter College, Oxford. At the Minster, his work centres around the daily choral tradition and the two treble lines, one of boys the other of girls, both of which he directs, and the famous Minster organ. In addition, he is a frequent and well-known organ recitalist. Robert has conducted many of the major choral works with Three Spires Singers and Orchestra in Truro, and was Musical Director of York Musical Society. In 2008, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal College of Organists.

Richard Shephard

(1949-2021) was the Director of Development for York Minster having previously been the Head Master of York Minster School and Chamberlain of York Minster. He was a Visiting Fellow of the Music Department and a member of the Court of the University of York. He was also Visiting Professor in the Music Department of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and after graduating worked in Salisbury in a variety of teaching jobs while remaining a lay-vicar in the cathedral choir. For his outstanding contribution to church music he was awarded a Lambeth degree in music, and, in 2009, was granted Freedom of the City of York. He was appointed MBE in 2012 for his services to music and education. Richard was also a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music.

Peter Skellern

(1947-2017) was born in Bury, Lancashire. He was a singer, songwriter and pianist. By the age of 16, he was organist and choirmaster at his local church in Bolton. After studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he went on to join a country-pop group, March Hare (later called Harlan Country). He had a number of musical hits to his name, notably the 1972 ballad You're a Lady, recorded with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and Hold on to Love in 1975. He made 15 albums including Holding My Own (1974) and Sentimentally Yours (1996). He also wrote and performed six autobiographical programmes for BBC Television, followed by Happy Ending (a series of musical plays), and hosted the Private Lives chat show in 1983. In 1984 he formed Oasis with Julian Lloyd Webber, Mary Hopkin and guitarist Bill Loveday in an attempt to fuse mutual classical and pop interests. He worked for many years with the witty composer and singer Sir Richard Stilgoe in their two-man review Who Plays Wins, which was presented in the West End and New York, as well as on tours together under the title of Rambling On. He was ordained as a priest in 2016.

Holly Smith

(born 1999) is currently finishing an MMus in Musicology and Ethnomusicology at King’s College London, specialising in the study of medieval music fragments. She graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022, where she read music and held a choral scholarship with the Choir of Trinity College, directed by Stephen Layton. She also plays the Tuba and continues to sing professionally. In October 2024, she will start studying for a DPhil in Music at the University of Oxford and will continue to compose and sing. From being a founder member of the girls’ choir at Canterbury Cathedral, the world of composing became one that felt increasingly like one she wanted to contribute to. In 2021, her setting of the Nunc Dimittis was premiered at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by the Magnificat in Canterbury in 2022. Her works have been performed across the UK, including Churchill College, Cambridge, Canterbury Cathedral and as part of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.

Olivia Sparkhall

(born 1976) is a composer, choral conductor, and Head of Academic Music at Godolphin School, Salisbury. She studied composition at school with Derek Bourgeois and at Durham University with Paul Archbold, and has since received critical acclaim for her vocal music. She was short-listed in the Cappella Nova competition in 2018 and has recently received several commissions for choral compositions including for International Women’s Day services in 2018 and 2019. Her choral music has been sung in the UK and abroad including on BBC One’s Songs of Praise programmes. She holds an MA in Voice Pedagogy and enjoys contributing to journals on the subjects of vocal warm-ups for children, voice health for teenagers, and composing for the community.

James Speakman

(born 1992) teaches music at the London Oratory School and having previously worked as Assistant Director of Music and Chapel Organist at Stowe School. He is also a prize-winning Associate of the Royal College of Organists. Initially a first-study pianist, he began organ lessons at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music with Simon Mercer, and was subsequently awarded an Organ Scholarship at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, and studied with Ian Tracey. He read music at Cambridge University, where he studied the organ with Stephen Farr, and was Organ Scholar at Corpus Christi College. He was the recipient of the John Sanders Memorial Competition for Young Composers award in 2019.

Douglas Steele

(1910-99) was educated at Carlisle Cathedral Choir School, the Royal Manchester College of Music and Manchester University. He also studied conducting in Salzburg under Bruno Walter and Nicolai Malko. On his return, he worked as secretary and librarian for Sir Thomas Beecham at Covent Garden. This was interrupted by the war, which had a marked effect on Steele who served in the RAF as a radio operator. Afterwards, he worked as music master at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Assistant Organist at Manchester Cathedral. From then on, he followed a career in education at both Chetham’s School of Music and Stockport Grammar School.

David Stevens

(born 1984) is a conductor and organist based in Brighton. David held positions in Guildford, Newcastle and Wells Cathedrals, and for seven years was the Organist and Master of the Choristers at Belfast Cathedral. His choirs broadcast on BBC TV (including a performance on Songs of Praise), UTV, BBC Radio and Radio Ulster, sang in concerts with the Ulster Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and performed on-stage with NI Opera. He currently directs the choral education programme at All Saints Church in Hove. As a keyboard player, David performs throughout the UK, and also works as an orchestral player; he has played organ, harpsichord and harmonium for concerts, broadcasts and recordings with the Ulster Orchestra. David was the Organ Scholar of Oriel College, Oxford, studying the organ with Kevin Bowyer and David Sanger, and then studied Choral Conducting with Patrick Russill at the Royal Academy of Music in London, from where he graduated with an MA with Distinction and the Irene Burcher Prize. In 2016 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for ‘a significant contribution to the music profession.'

Christopher Stokes

was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers of Manchester Cathedral in 1996, having previously been appointed Organist of the Cathedral in 1992. Previously he held posts in London as Organist and Master of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Director of Music at St Margaret’s. Whilst in London, Christopher was professor of organ at Trinity College of Music from 1976-92, where he also studied from 1972-76. He was invited to become Head of Organ Studies at Chetham’s School of Music in 1994. Christopher is one of the regular directors/organists for Daily Service on BBC Radio 4 and has directed and played for many BBC TV Songs of Praise recordings.

Randall Svane

(born 1955) has been active for the past 30 years as an organist, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He holds a BM in organ performance from Manhattan School of Music and an MA in composition from New York University. Randall’s distinguished and expressive music has captured the hearts and minds of audiences across the USA and Europe. The New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina in Florence, the Munich Chamber Choir, the Vratsa Philharmonic in Bulgaria, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Leipzig Vocal Ensemble, the Colonial Symphony, the Minneapolis Artists Ensemble, and the Borromeo String Quartet are just a few of those who have performed his works to critical and public acclaim. Randall was awarded First Prize in the 2014 Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue Composition Competition for his St Thomas Service.

Mark Swinton

was educated at the King’s School Chester and studied for the Music degrees at the University of York. A Fellow of the Royal College of Organists since 2006, he has given numerous recitals at venues throughout the UK. He has also performed in France, Spain and Holland both as a soloist and an accompanist. In 2003 he was appointed Organist at Clifton College, Bristol, where he played for daily Chapel services, accompanied the Chapel choirs in their regular round of services, concerts and tours and masterminded a recital series featuring the College’s splendid 1911 Harrison organ. In 2005 he became Assistant Organist at Bath Abbey where he accompanied and helped to direct the acclaimed Choirs of Boys, Girls and Men under the direction of Dr Peter King. He was Organist at Kendal Parish Church from September 2008. He has also directed Kendal South Choir in their programme of concerts. Mark was appointed Assistant Director of Music at the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick in October 2011.

Hilary Tadman-Robins

(born 1947) has extensive experience as a musical director, especially with young people: she was founder director of the Cotswold Children’s Choir in 1997, and worked with the CCC on many exciting projects, including a full-scale production of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in Burford Parish Church for the millennium, and a CD of music by Bob Chilcott, with accompaniment by Sir Philip Ledger. She has lectured at Westminster College, Reading University and the Royal Northern College of Music, and was musical director of The Burford Benefice of Churches from 1999-07. She leads a busy professional life as an organist, pianist, teacher, composer and conductor.

Stephen Tanner

was an organ scholar at Bradford Cathedral. His first teaching post was at Copthorne Preparatory School, West Sussex, which he combined with the position of Director of Music at the historic Saxon church of St Nicholas, Worth. He was appointed Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral School in 1987 and now combines this post with that of Assistant Organist at Exeter Cathedral. He directs the Girl Choristers section of the Cathedral Choir, which he founded in 1994.

Stephen Tappe

is a composer, conductor, organist, liturgist, and choral clinician. He was appointed Organist and Director of Music at Saint John’s Cathedral, Denver, in 2004. Degrees in Composition, Organ Performance, and Liturgy were earned at the Hartt School of Music, the Yale School of Music, and the Yale Divinity School, respectively. He has served, in various official capacities, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Royal School of Church Music in America, the American Guild of Organists, the American Boychoir, and the General Board of Examining Chaplains of the Episcopal Church. He feels particularly honored to have managed three organ restoration projects: a 1929 IV/49 E. M. Skinner; an 1869 II/14 E. & G. G. Hook; and a 1938 IV/96 W. W. Kimball.

Michael Tavinor

(born 1953) was appointed Dean of Hereford in 2002. Previously he had been Vicar of Tewkesbury Abbey and Precentor of Ely Cathedral and served his title at St Peter Ealing. He read music at university before ordination, and has been a great enabler and defender of church music, and of high standards of music and liturgy in the Anglican Church. For 10 years he was Chair of the Cathedrals’ Liturgy and Music Group, a working group for the Association of English Cathedrals, which has produced many resources for cathedrals on aspects of music and liturgy. He is also a writer and composer and has worked with and encouraged many church musicians. Michael has promoted the importance of music and liturgy working hand-in-hand.

Robert Tear

(1939-2011) was born and education in Wales, and became a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. Throughout his career he show his versatility and great talent as one of the world’s leading tenors. He worked with eminent conductors such as Bernstein, Giulini and Karajan. He was a regular guest at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, following his debut in 1970. He made well over 250 recordings for every major label. From 1992-94, Robert was Artistic Director of the Vocal Faculty of the London Royal Schools of Music, and he was visiting Professor of Opera at the Royal Academy of Music. He was an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and in 1984 was awarded the CBE.

Julian Thomas

is Head of Academic Music and Choirmaster at Tonbridge School, where he has taught since 2007. He was Organ Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, reading Music, before moving to Norwich as Assistant Organist and Director of the Girls’ Choir at the Cathedral. He was also the director of the prestigious Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy from 2004-09. Julian still maintains an active career as an organ recitalist and accompanist, giving recitals in venues such as Westminster Abbey and recording for the Classical Recording Company.

Alan Thurlow

(born 1947) read music at Sheffield University before going to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for a period of research into pre-Reformation English Church music. In 1973 he was appointed Sub-Organist at Durham Cathedral and combined his duties with those of Director of Music at The Chorister School and part-time Lecturer in Music at Durham University. From 1980-2008 he was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Chichester Cathedral. He also served as Chairman of The Friends of Cathedral Music from 1990-2002.

Ian Tracey

(born 1955) studied at Trinity College, London, and at St Katharine’s College Liverpool, winning scholarships to study in Paris with Andre Isoir and Jean Langlais. He was appointed Organist of Liverpool Cathedral in 1980, since which time he has played most of the major venues in the UK, many of the prestigious organs in Europe and has made 23 extensive tours of the USA and two of Australia. 1985 saw his appointment as Liverpool City Organist and as Chorus Master to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society. In 1988 he was elected Professor, Fellow and Organist at Liverpool, John Moores’ University, and appointed as a Guest Director of Music for the BBC’s Daily Service. In addition to that from his Alma Mater, he holds Fellowships from many prestigious musical institutions, including the Royal College of Organists, Royal School of Church Music, Guild of Church Musicians and the Royal Society of Arts. In 2006 the University of Liverpool conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Music (Honoris Causa), in recognition of his long and distinguished service to music in Liverpool and of his national and international reputation as a musician. He was commissioned as a Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside in 2015.

Paul Trepte

was born in 1954 and studied organ with Donald Hunt and Nicholas Danby, and composition with Herbert Howells. He went up to Oxford in 1972 where he later became Organ Scholar at New College, Oxford. His professional career began in 1976, when he was appointed Assistant Organist at Worcester Cathedral. In 1981 he was appointed Director of Music at St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Warwick, before moving to at similar post at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in 1985. In September 1990 he succeeded Arthur Wills as Organist and Director of Music at Ely Cathedral. In 2012 he was made an Honorary Fellow of both the Royal School of Music and the Guild of Church Musicians. He is also an examiner for the ABRSM and the Royal College of Organists.

John Turner

was senior scholar in law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. For many years he pursued a legal career alongside his many musical activities. But he now devotes his time to writing, reviewing, publishing, composing and generally energising, as well as playing the recorder. He has played and broadcast as a recorder soloist with many leading orchestras, including the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Academy of Ancient Music, and the English Chamber Orchestra. His many recordings include no less than five sets of the Brandenburg Concertos.

James Vivian

(born 1974) is the Director of Music (Organist and Master of the Choristers) at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. He was born in Worcester and was acting-Assistant Organist of Lincoln Cathedral (1992-3) before taking up the Dr AH Mann Organ Scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge (1993-7), where he worked with the famous choir and read for a Music degree. He studied the organ with Dr John Bishop, David Sanger, Philip Marshall, Colin Walsh and was awarded a scholarship to study with Marie-Louise Langlais in Paris. He was a prizewinner in the FRCO diploma. From 2006 until 2013, he was Director of Music of the historic Temple Church in London.

Lucy Walker

(b. 1998) is an award-winning composer, pianist and music educator. Since completing her postgraduate studies at Gonville and Caius College in 2021, Lucy has received major commissions from the BBC Singers, Northern Chords Festival and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Lucy is passionate about making classical music, especially choral music, accessible and inclusive, and her compositions reflect this mission. Alongside her composing, Lucy continues to pursue piano performance. She is the Composer in Residence at St Martin-in-the-Fields for 2023-24.

James Whitbourn

(1963-2024) was a practitioner and researcher in the fields of composition, conducting and music production. He was an Academical Clerk at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read music, before going on to play the organ for services at the Chapel Royal, HM Tower of London. Later, he was a Director of Music for the BBC Daily Service Singers. In 1990, he succeeded Barry Rose as series producer of BBC Radio 3’s Choral Evensong and he was Planning Editor for BBC Radio Events from 1996 onwards. He has also worked for more than 20 years as producer of Carols from King’s. He composed theme music for several television programmes, most of them performed by the BBC Philharmonic, and his works were performed by the BBC Singers, the Choir of Westminster Abbey, as well as many cathedral and college choirs. James also worked as an executive producer for Opus Arte, producing scores of recordings for television, DVD and cinema, as well as audio discs. In 2017, he became a Senior Research Fellow of St Stephen’s House, Oxford, overseeing the summer music education programme for the college, and he was Director of Music at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, from 2020. He was awarded a DMus from the London College of Music. In 2021, he wrote, ‘Encore Publications published some of my earliest choral pieces and continues to look after them well. I appreciate the help Tim Rogers always lends to people who want to perform these works and the personal interest he always takes in guiding their journey into the choral world.’

William Whitehead

(born 1970) won First Prize at the Odense International Organ Competition in Denmark, 2004. Trained at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music, London, his teachers have included David Sanger, James O’Donnell and Dame Gillian Weir. Valuable inspiration was gained in his year as Organ Scholar of Westminster Abbey, which led on to William becoming Assistant Organist at Rochester Cathedral. After four years in this post, he moved on to an appointment as a Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, and took up a position as Director of Music at St Mary’s Bourne Street, London, from 2000-09. William now combines a career as a concert organist, teacher and writer. He has given recent solo concerts in Westminster Cathedral, the Toulouse les Orgues Festival, Heilbronn, and in the organ festival in Perm, Russia. As a teacher, he has held posts at both the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, and now teaches organ students from around the country, including at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

Nicholas Wibberley

(born 1992) is Organist and Director of Music at All Saints’ Church in Orpington and Musical Director of the South London Singers. A graduate of Goldsmiths University in London, he has held musical positions at a number of churches and musical groups around Greater London. As a composer he has written music for choirs, organ and instrumental ensembles and his works have been performed in concerts and services all over the country. As a performer Nicholas has given numerous recitals as both a singer and an organist, and has commissioned new music from numerous British composers, including composers published by Encore Publications.

Joy Williams

(born 1960) trained at the Royal College of Music, where she studied organ and piano. She has enjoyed a varied career in church music, concert work, teaching and accompanying. As a choral accompanist, she has undertaken tours to France, Germany, Denmark, Hungary and America. Her various church posts inspired her love of choral composition and arranging. She was one of six finalists in the BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition in 2016 and 2018. In 2016, Radio 3 challenged composers to create music for a modern version of a medieval English poem, Alleluia! A new work is come on hand. A team of judges included Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music, and David Hill, formerly Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers. In 2018, composers were asked to create new music for The Bee Carol, a poem by Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, and the panel of judges was headed by the composer, Bob Chilcott. Joy’s carols were performed, recorded and broadcast by the BBC Singers.

Alison Willis

(born 1971) is an award winning composer whose works have been performed and broadcast internationally. She studied composition with Alan Bullard (Colchester) and George Benjamin (RCM) and is completing a PhD with Paul Mealor and Phillip Cooke at the University of Aberdeen. She finds particular inspiration in historical sources and events, social issues and enjoys working collaboratively with both young people and adults. Alison is also an experienced pianist, organist, folk musician and Musical Director, enjoys composing music for theatre and is a Trustee of the Martin Read Foundation, supporting young composers.

Jack Wilson

(b. 1998) born in Londonderry, Jack is a graduate of The Queen’s University of Belfast where he read music. In 2020 he completed the MMus in Choral Studies at the University of Cambridge, in conjunction with holding the post of Graduate Organ Scholar at Sidney Sussex College, and Organ Scholar of the St John’s Voices. In 2021 he was made an Associate of the Royal College of Organists. From 2016, Jack has held the posts of Organ Scholar, Acting Assistant Organist, and Assistant Director of Music at Belfast Cathedral. He is currently the Graduate Organ Scholar of Ely Cathedral.

Ralph Woodward

(born 1971) grew up in Durham, and studied Music as Organ Scholar at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He is now Musical Director of the Fairhaven Singers, Full Score and Orchestral Score. He has played concertos on three instruments, worked in 20 Cambridge College Chapels, 20 UK cathedrals, six US states and 25 countries, and conducted the London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia, The Parley of Instruments, English Chamber Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia. He is much in demand as a leader of choral workshops. His choral arrangements are also successful, and have been performed all round Europe and on Radio 4’s PM programme. Past projects have included work with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christopher Hogwood, Emma Johnson, James Bowman and Cradle of Filth..

Peter Young

(born in 1948) read for a BMus degree at Edinburgh University, and thereafter was appointed jointly to the Music Department of Sevenoaks School and to the post of Organist and Choir Director at St Nicholas Parish Church, Sevenoaks. Retiring from the school after 36 years he continues in post at St Nicholas, for whose choir he frequently composes or arranges. Semi-retirement has provided scope for increased activity as a composer, with two works receiving first performances in the 2015 Sevenoaks Summer Festival. He is also a singer, and is currently accompanist for the Kemsing Singers.

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