Dr Carol Williams at the Spreckels Organ, San Diego

December 31st this year will mark the 100th Anniversary of the outdoor organ in San Diego where Carol Williams is Civic Organist.  A festive programme has been planned, including a composition by Carol to show off the newly-installed Centennial Tuba stop.  The programme will be streamed live on the internet – visit the Spreckels Organ website for more information.

The Centennial Tuba isn’t the only new rank to be dedicated on New Year’s Eve – the Organ Society recently raised $135,000 to add a Gamba and a Gamba Celeste as well as the Tuba, along with a battery of percussion effects to make the organ more versatile in accompanying silent movies.  And they’re not stopping there.   The organ’s curator, Lyle Blackinton, has plans for four more ranks – a Geigen Celeste, and a Violina Celeste (134 more pipes) and a Vox Humana and Crumhorn (146 more pipes).   This will take the Spreckels up to a grand total of 5,005 pipes making it, finally, the largest outdoor organ in the world (beating the Heroes Organ in Kufstein, Austria, with 4,948).   Size isn’t everything of course – but the Spreckels Organ is a source of great civic pride, and bravo the Spreckels Organ Society, who seem to take this kind of impressive fund raising completely in their stride.

The December 31st dedication concert will be an extravaganza including bagpipers, brass ensemble, and contributions from Gina Seashore, official Carillonist for Balboa Park’s California Tower, and Civic Organists emeriti Jared Jacobsen and Robert Plimpton.   Parts of the programme will replicate the original 1915 dedication.

More on Carol and the Spreckels Organ here.

Carol Williams has just released Freedom Op12 for organ, which she wrote for Frank Gehry and the 10th Anniversary of the Disney Hall organ, and performed on 23rd November this year at Disney Hall, Los Angeles.  All her works are published by Melcot Music Publishing, and you can see and hear more at www.melcot.com.

Five questions for…Carol Williams

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Theophania Cecil (1782-1879) – opening page of Voluntary 1

Great importance is attached to the fact that both Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams played regularly on the Thaxted Lincoln organ, and this was one of the selling points for its recent restoration.   All very worthy of course, but the organ’s significance for me is that it was originally the instrument of Theophania Cecil, in the early 19th century, when it was installed at St John’s Chapel, Bedford Row, in London.

It was Christopher Kent who first drew my attention to Theophania Cecil – he thought I would be interested in another Lady Organist, and he mentioned a set of voluntaries by her that he once found in a pile of music heading for the bin.   Enquiries revealed these existed in the Royal College of Organists library – not only that, but the RCO were planning to digitise her Twelve Voluntaries for Organ, from 1810, and make them available on their website, as part of a new project to make the library’s contents more available.

The voluntaries are classical in style, and Cecil makes full use of pedals and the available stops.  Very appropriately, Anne Page played Cecil’s Voluntary 12 as part of the dedication recital on the restored Thaxted organ a few days ago.  Some of the chromatic complexities of this piece certainly tested the Sixth Comma Meantone tuning* – interesting, as this was suggested by restorers Goetze & Gwynn as the original temperament of the organ in Cecil’s day.

RCO members can download the full set of Cecil Voluntaries here, free of charge.  (Non-RCO members can download Voluntary 1.)  Both non-members and members can also download an excellent preface to Theophania Cecil and the Voluntaries, summarising her life, in as much as we know it.   Cecil is revealed as being not pleased with the Lincoln organ, or its maker – but this seems to be because she didn’t get a backhander out of the purchase money.  For shame, Theophania! – but perhaps this little custom was fairly standard practice at the time.

*also known as Silberman

Anne Page plays the Thaxted Lincoln organ for the dedication recital on 25 September 2014, after its restoration

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Daniel Moult

I’ve attended some memorable workshops given by Dan Moult.  He is excellent on practice and performance psychology, and I now try and stick to his insistence on total discipline right from the start of learning a piece – because his own playing is so wonderfully virtuosic and convincing.   Born in Manchester, he studied at Oxford (gaining his Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists with three of the top playing prizes, plus the joint award of the University’s John Betts Organ Scholarship ,while he was there).  Among his subsequent posts he spend seven years as Organist and Assistant Director of Coventry Cathedral, and five years as the Artistic Director of the London Organ Day.   He is much sought after as an educator: publishing several music editions for students, and writing frequently in the music press.  As a concert artist he performs around the world, and has many recordings to his credit – visit his website for lots more details and clips of Daniel in performance.

Dan’s next London recital is on 29th November 2014 at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church.   Full details below – in the meantime here are his answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?

I’m learning two new, lighter pieces as “fillers” for some 2015/16 concerts – Harold Britton’s variations on I’ve got rhythm and Ad Wammes’ Toccata chromatica.  I’ll soon start to learn the formidable toccata by Patrick Gowers, as well as resurrect some of my core concert pieces for upcoming events.

What has been your best experience as an organist?

That’s very difficult indeed! A recent very enjoyable experience – and perhaps the strangest, too – was to get an invite to play in the town of Moult! After checking that the email invitation was not a friend’s practical joke, I went to give a concert on a beautifully restored small eighteenth century French organ. They even laid on a reception in the town hall afterwards, with some delicious local calvados!

What has been your worst experience as an organist?

Again, there’s a lot of competition for this one! I think it was probably a lightning strike during the organ voluntary of a live Radio 3 choral evensong a few years’ back. The blowers were not affected, but the sequencer reset itself (going back to zero). I had a few minutes of extreme stress trying to work out how to get back to my carefully laid plans, whilst being conscious of the red light in the console mirror… Horrific!

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher? (and who was it?)

I’m so grateful to all my organ teachers, all of whom offered wonderful advice and insights at different stages of my progress. Perhaps the best was offered both by Jacques van Oortmerssen and Gordon Stewart – speeding something up really is the easy bit (for the most part): truly perfecting something at very slow practice speeds is where success lies.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?

Further to Jacques and Gordon’s advice, I might add that when you practice slowly, it’s not just about achieving right notes: you must be constantly reviewing your physical and mental relaxation, too. I would also urge student organists to keep an open mind musically, at all times!

Daniel’s next London recital:

BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH,  235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 8EP
SATURDAY, 29th NOVEMBER at 4:00pm

Programme:

J.S. BACH (1685-1750)
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C (BWV 564)

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS (1835-1921)
Benediction Nuptionale

JULIUS REUBKE (1834-1858)
Sonata on the 94th Psalm

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS (arr. Guilmant)
Le Cygne

AD WAMMES (b.1953)
Toccata Chromatica

IAN FARRINGTON (b. 1977)
Live Wire

Admission free – retiring collection.   Organ concerts at Bloomsbury are always followed by an excellent buffet afterwards.

You might also like:

A Big Name at Bloomsbury Central

The art of concentration with Daniel Moult

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Organist Jon Nisperos with mentor Mrs Diana Grace

Up till now my interviews have almost exclusively been with organists living and working in the UK – so I though you might enjoy an interview with a young South African organist.   Jon Nisperos and I have been exchanging emails about new organs in the UK amongst other things:  ‘I have always dreamed of travelling and exploring the many organs of the world’ says Jon.  He is 20, and was born in King Williams Town, South Africa and in 2000, moved to a small town called Berlin in the Eastern Cape Province, then moved back to King Williams Town in 2005.  He studied piano under John Thompson, and has been involved with the Choir at church since he was 8 years old.  It was when he joined the Senior Choir that he was inspired by the sound of the organ, and the many voices of the instrument.   In 2010 he took his oath as an official organist in the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), an international religious organization.  After the senior organist had her first child and decided to take a break from playing ‘I am now the senior organist, and I am pretty much the youngest to be, because our congregation is small’  he says. He now plays for both Junior and Senior Choir, and teaches child beginner piano students at Church voluntarily and enjoys it very much. If need be, he travels to other groups of the Church of Christ in other parts of South Africa, mainly in the Free State Province.  He has a full time job as a Personal Assistant and has to fit his Church work around it.  Thanks, Jon, for taking the time to answer my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
JS Bach’s Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude, a wonderful composition especially for a heavy mood – it takes you to that calm place inside. It was my favorite piece while studying piano, and then I was introduced to the organ and decided to find the organ notation for it. Shivers struck down my spine when I played it. It wasn’t much of a difference except that the bass pedals added much more value to the piece. The piece has a special meaning to me, though I don’t know if there are any words to it, but every note and phrase I play has a different role that is familiar to my past.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
Being organist has allowed me to explore more about the world of classical music. After having been assigned as full-pledged organist with my love for music, I volunteered to assist my piano tutor, Ms Petro Van Biljoen, with teaching piano basics at a local all-boys school. My best experience isn’t much of a “once-off” type, but rather “all the time”. When I play the very first note of Church hymns, there is a special connection within my body, the organ, the sounds, the hymns, and most especially, the Holy Spirit.

 What has been your worst experience as an organist?
I had one funny incident where I was playing a rather fast piece and looked down quickly at my feet and pedal board, and my spectacles jumped from my eyes to my mouth as I looked back up to my notes.  The worst I would say is when I was playing one time, and I think my stomach tried to reject something I ate for breakfast.  I had to run out, interrupting the ambience. I can never forget that day.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
Being self –taught for from the young age of 8 until 12, I wasn’t into meeting tutors.  It started with piano, and then I moved onto organ, studying under Mrs Diana Grace. I also had guidance from our then District Mentor, Mrs Helen Tumbaga, all the way from Rome, Italy. She’s now based in Germany. But I’ll never forget what Mrs Diana Grace said during a rehearsal, “Pray and Play”. It’s just as simple as that; being Christian, nothing could be clearer than this, and I thank her.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
‘Breathe’, by that, I mean practice your pieces, familiarize yourself with them and make the organ ‘sing’. If you don’t breathe, the organ won’t sound well, Make the organ YOUR voice, feel it, and express your emotion through the voices.

Jon behind the organ at church – a Hammond Rhythm II

King Williams Town, South Africa / Morné van Rooyen

King Williams Town is in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Buffalo River, about 30 minutes by motorway from the coast.  The Eastern Cape has played a prominent role in South African history.  In the latter half of the 18th century it was where black and white met for the first time, and King Williams Town was was the birthplace of black consciousness activist Steve Biko. 

Five questions for…Liam Cartwright

Five questions for…..Jennifer Bate

Five questions for…Carol Williams

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“The Chipp variations are all quite hard,” says Anne, “and have a quite astonishing pedal part, for the time they were written.  They never let up – not a rest in three whole pages, and you have to be awfully mobile, going into chromatic double octaves at one point.  Chipp was obviously a fluent manual and pedal player, with quite a big stretch in both hands.  He uses the full range of the modern pedalboard, and the piece was obviously written for an instrument in something close to equal temperament.”

Anne has recorded 2 or 3 of Chipp’s Sketches for the Historic Organ Sound Archive, and first came across him via friend and colleague José Hopkins, currently organist at Haslingfield in Cambridgeshire.  José was involved in the rebuilding of the historic organ at Haslingfield, where Anne made recordings.  This organ is very closely associated with Chipp, who himself brought it to St Mary’s Ely, when he was appointed to Ely Cathedral.  There’s lots more on the organ’s history under its entry in the NPOR.

Though Chipp was obviously a disciple of Mendelssohn* both Anne and José are of the opinion that he wrote good music in his own right –  interesting enough for José to have written a short book about him, which will be on sale at Anne’s recital.  (I’ll definitely get the book, but I’ll leave the Variations to Anne for now.)  Full details of both below.

Anne Page’s website is here, and find recordings on her YouTube channel.

*and in return Mendelssohn appears to have been a fan of Dr Chipp – Mendelssohn gave him a glowing reference, probably after Chipp gave one of the first performances of his (Mendelssohn’s) Organ Sonatas.

Recital details:

BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH,  235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 8EP
Saturday, 26th July 2014 at 4:00pm
ANNE PAGE  (Cambridge)

Programme:

Jeanne Demessieux (1921-1968)   Repons pour le Temps de Paques

Jehan Alain (1911-1940)   Introduction et Variations – Scherzo – Choral

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)    Joie et clarté des Corps glorieux

JS Bach (1685-1750)    Prelude and Fugue in G major BWV541

ET Chipp (1823-1886)     Introduction and Variations on ‘God Preserve the Emperor’

Admission free – retiring collection – buffet afterwards

More on E T Chipp:

Musicologist David Byers writes about the life and times of E T Chipp here - scroll down the article to find the relevant section, where you will also find a facsimile of the reference given to Chipp by Mendelssohn.

Details of José’s book:

Edmund Thomas Chipp – a life that led melodious days
José Hopkins
ISBN 9780957635807
£10

Welcome to my readers in China! 欢迎来到我的中国读者。我很想听到你的声音！点击这里查看更多

You might like to read an earlier interview with Anne Page here:

Five questions for…Anne Page

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Liam Cartwright

Born in Worcestershire, Liam Cartwright won the Worcester Young Musician of the Year competition in 2000, and went on to study the organ with Margaret Phillips, David Graham and Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin at the Royal College of Music, London, and in Paris.   Whilst at the RCM Liam made a point of travelling extensively and playing instruments throughout Europe, and as a recitalist he has performed throughout the UK and Europe, including at key festivals such as the Three Choirs Festival and the Edinburgh Festival.  In 2009 he gave a recital on the newly refurbished grand organ at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

From 2007 to 1011 Liam was Director of Music at Great Missenden Parish Church, before being apointed Director of Music at High Wycombe Parish Church where he follows a distinguished line of musicians including Alasdair Ross and the late Richard Hickox.   The church has a fine choir and an equally fine Willis organ, with a musical tradition dating back over 150 years.

While at the RCM Liam continued piano studies with Kathron Sturrock and harpsichord studies with Robert Woolley, and is now much in demand as an accompanist, educator and adjudicator in addition to his ecclesiastical work.

His next recital is at St Mary’s Northchurch, the final recital in the splendid series devised to raise money for the organ repair fund  – details at the bottom of the page.  In the meantime, here are Liam’s answers to my five questions:

What piece of music are you studying at the moment, and why?
I’m currently learning Edward Elgar’s Vesper Voluntaries. They are a delightful set of miniature pieces which Elgar wrote to use liturgically whilst he was organist of St. George’s Roman Catholic Church in Worcester. They also make a charming set of recital pieces, containing many of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic devices which are so characteristic of the composer. I am originally from Worcester, so Elgar’s music is very close to my heart.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
I was invited to give a recital on the newly refurbished organ in St. Paul’s Cathedral a few years ago. It was a beautiful summer’s day and lots of friends and family attended, as well as the general public, many of whom were visiting the capital from all corners of the globe. They were hugely appreciative, and it was a real privilege to perform in this iconic, world famous building.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
I once gave a concert in Yorkshire with a trumpet player during my RCM days. The day before the performance there was a terrible snow storm, and I had to drive up from London in a blizzard. When I eventually arrived, I found that the organ, a four manual vintage Harrison with original tubular pneumatic action, was in a very bad state, and the extreme cold had rendered much of it completely unplayable. My car then got snowed in whilst I was rehearsing and I had to dig it out in order to travel to the relatives with whom I was staying that night. We just about got through the concert the following day, but it was not an experience I would like to repeat in a hurry!

What was the best piece of advice given to you by an organ teacher? (and who was it?)
I have been fortunate to study with some very fine organists, all of whom have taught me much, but I found the approach of my postgraduate tutor at the RCM, David Graham, particularly inspiring. He encouraged students to engage with a whole range of stylistic approaches to performance, and to spend a great deal of time registering music on new organs, trying out different stop combinations, and so forth. Ideas about performance, registration, stylistic issues and the like were constantly discussed, debated and reevaluated. It was real artistry, and completely opposite to the very prescriptive way in which many people teach, whereby all their students end up sounding like clones of each other. I found it hugely liberating.

What would be your own best piece of advice for organ students?
The most important advice I give to students is to travel. Get to know the work of all the important organ builders, at home and abroad. Play Howells at Hereford Cathedral, a Widor Symphony at St. Sulpice, Liszt at Merseburg Dom, J.S. Bach in East Germany, improvise at St. Dénis…. So much of the organ repertory was written with specific instruments, or styles of instruments in mind, and it is only by visiting these instruments and taking the music to them that one truly understands the intentions of the composer and the organ builder, and therefore begins to understand the music. It is utterly revelatory and probably the most exciting thing for me about being an organist.

Liam’s next recital:

ST MARY’S NORTHCHURCH, Berkhamsted, Herts, HP4 3QW
Thursday 10 July at 8pm 

Free admission, retiring collection in aid of Organ Repair Appeal

Parking to rear of church accessed from New Road
St Mary’s Northchurch website

Hilary Norris gave the first recital in the St Mary’s Northchurch series:

Five questions for…Hilary Norris

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Lionel Rogg (and his Orgue a la Maison)

A reminder that Lionel Rogg will play the Goldberg Variations on the organ of Trinity College, Cambridge this weekend – a unique performance in the UK, and the colours of the Chapel’s Metzler organ will bring a new dimension to this well-loved work.   The performance takes place at 5pm on Sunday June 22nd (2014).  Admission is free, with a retiring collection.

Lionel Rogg has filmed the Goldberg Variations for YouTube on the organ of St-Imier, Switzerland – here’s part 1 to whet your appetite:

CAMBRIDGE ACADEMY OF ORGAN STUDIES

SUNDAY JUNE 22nd (2014), 5pm

 LIONEL ROGG  plays BACH : THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS

on the Organ of Trinity College Cambridge, CB2 1TQ
by kind permission of the Master and Fellows

Admission free; retiring collection.

Welcome to my readers in China! 欢迎来到我的中国读者。我很想听到你的声音！点击这里查看更多

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Playing Bach with Professor Peter Williams

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The 1723 Hildebrandt organ in the Kreuzkirche, Stormthal. The opening recital on this organ was given by J S Bach / Andrew Benson-Wilson

Andrew Benson-Wilson is giving a recital in Leipzig next weekend on an organ where Bach gave the opening recital.  The 1723 Hildebrandt organ is in the village of Stormthal – Andrew sent me some photos and I thought you would like them.  The pedalboard is interesting! – and the bench Bach sat on for that recital is still in the church.

The organ has one manual and 14 stops – and a pedalboard which poses an interesting challenge to modern organists  /Andrew Benson-Wilson

Recital details:

Sunday 22 June 2014, 5pm
Kreuzkirche, Störmthal, near Leipzig, Germany
Andrew Benson-Wilson plays English music from c1690-1740 by Blow, Purcell, Croft and Handel on the famous 1723 Hildebrandt organ in the village of Störmthal.   Details (in German) here

Bach sat on this bench to play the opening recital  /Andrew Benson-Wilson

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William McVicker

Dr William McVicker recently gave us an entertaining inaugural recital on the 1858 Walker organ at St Mary’s Ponsbourne, in Hertfordshire, after its restoration – he was consultant on the project, undertaken by Mander Organs of London.  As William was also behind the massive Royal Festival Hall organ restoration project which has been so much in the news this Spring, I had to grab the opportunity for an interview.

William read music as Organ Scholar at the College of St Hild & St Bede at Durham University, going on to be Caedmon Fellow and Director of Music.  He won a scholarship to study the organ in Paris in 1984 – and also a British Academy scholarship to study for a PhD in technical aspects of organ design.  Now combining the roles of performer and technical advisor, he is Organ Curator at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Director of Music at St Barnabas Church Dulwich, and a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He’s currently Chairman of the Association of Independent Organ Advisors among other posts – for more details see here.  And here are William’s answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
Bach’s Fantasia & Fugue in G minor. I have not played it in a while. I learned it from a Novello score in my teens and later relearned it from the Barenreiter edition which I now find too spaced out for comfort when I revisited the score recently. I turned the pages for David Goode at a concert and he used the Novello edition. It all seemed so familiar to me; when I ran through the work again using the Novello score I felt much more comfortable with it.

Secretly, I like all those indications ‘add full Swell’ etc.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
Playing for events at the Royal Festival Hall. I’ve given several recitals there now and 50 lecture demonstrations. Its a truly thrilling organ and the changes in acoustics have done wonders for its tonal balances.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
Failing to turn up for a funeral. I totally forgot — I was so busy. It made me remember what a service we provide for the community. To forget a funeral is unforgivable and I feel terrible about it — even though it was many years ago.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher? (and who was it?)
My first teacher, Robert Warner, frequently said ‘now you’ve learned the notes I’ll go and listen to you from the nave’.

We often forget to ask someone to listen to balances and fail to ask the question: ‘does it sound good to the listener?’ Balancing from the console is fatal, as is trying to judge how much articulation is appropriate in a particular space.

Last summer my choir gave a concert in the Hofkirche in Dresden — a huge acoustic. We had to be disciplined enough to perform at slower speeds in that vast space and to be resourceful enough to make changes in our performance and phrasing during rehearsal.

Robert Warner’s advice has really shaped my experience of the organ in ways he could not have imagined.  When he first sent me down into the body of the church to listen to my sounds and registrations, I had no idea what he wanted me to listen for.  Now I understand what he was teaching me, I realise that some organists never listen carefully to the sounds they make!  And some organists are wedded to a tonal concept they somehow have in their head, without letting the organ they are performing on speak for itself.  One must work with an instrument’s character to get the best from it.  This is especially true of older organs, where English builders such as Willis, Hill, Lewis, Gray & Davison, JW Walker etc., all knew what they wanted to say in a tonal design.  These days we want organs to sound roughly the same: loud, brash, snappy, and equally resourceful in all types of repertoire.  Sometimes organists rebuild their instruments to conform with their ideas and consequently ruin a beautiful tonal scheme, designed and voiced by organ builders who knew their own mind. Robert’s early advice has really helped me in my work as an organ consultant, which now occupies most of my time.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Right hand only; left hand only; left hand and pedals; right hand and pedals; hands together; then hands and feet together.

Then do it all again.

Percy Buck’s left-hand and pedal exercises in The First Year at the Organ are good enough to last a whole lifetime. Following his phrasing needs genuine skill.

William McVicker (r) with John Pike Mander of Mander organs, at the inaugural recital on the 1858 Walker organ at St Mary’s Ponsbourne, Hertfordshire, after its restoration

The Royal Festival Hall Organ – one week on

A 50s revival – the London Royal Festival Hall organ

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Katherine Dienes-Williams

Katherine Dienes-Williams was born and educated in Wellington, New Zealand, and was Organ Scholar and then Assistant Organist at Wellington Cathedral before she came to England to take up the position of Organ Scholar at Winchester Cathedral and Assistant Organist at Winchester College.   After a spell at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool, and then as Assistant Organist and Director of the Cathedral Girl’s Choir at Norwich Cathedral, she was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral in January 2008.  Her experience of choral conducting at the highest level means she is in demand as a choral workshop leader in the UK and the US – in July this year she will direct the RSCM Montréal course summer school near Boston, USA, and in January 2016 she will direct the combined RSCM summer school of Australia and New Zealand in Canberra, Australia.  As you can imagine she has given recitals around the world, including performing as organ soloist with UK orchestras the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the City of London Sinfonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  She is also active as a composer, having received several commissions both in the UK, the USA and New Zealand.  I’m looking forward to meeting Katherine next Saturday, when she plays as part of the recital series at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London.  Details at the bottom of the page.  In the meantime here are Katherine’s answers to my five questions:

What piece of music are you studying at the moment, and why?
At the moment, I have taken out the Saint-Saëns ‘Fantasie’ in E flat major to study, as I think it is a delightful, exuberant piece which I ought to add to my repertoire. I think it has the potential to demonstrate an organ’s colours well, and that audiences will enjoy hearing it (once I have learned it!)

What has been your best experience as an organist?
It’s very hard to pick just one, as I would choose so many!  – in the sense that I have played with orchestras, as solo recitalist and accompanied liturgical worship. Amongst the many experiences would be having the privilege of playing the Poulenc Organ Concerto with orchestra twice (the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the late Sir Richard Hickox) and with the City of London Sinfonia (under the baton of Stephen Layton), as well as performing an arrangement of the Sinfonia from Cantata 29 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and John Rutter.
As organ recitalist, I have played in many different countries, and my fondest memories are of instruments I have enjoyed the most – the instrument at St. Katharinen’s Church in Braunschweig, Germany, the romantic German organ in Malchin, Germany, the organ of the Grote Kerk in Harlingen, the Netherlands – but these are but a few!
As liturgical organist, playing live on the radio and on television is at once nerve-wracking and exhilarating. Accompanying world-class choirs in our British Cathedrals is an honour and a privilege, and there have been countless magical moments that I have been privileged to be part of.

What has been your worse experience as an organist?
Checking the general settings just before I was to perform the Poulenc organ concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, only to find that they had all been changed. Fortunately, there was just time enough to re-set them.

What was the best piece of advice given to you by an organ teacher? And who was it?
David Hill once told me that I was playing a certain piece extremely well, but there wasn’t enough of ‘me’ in the performance. That gave me the freedom and encouragement to enjoy my playing so much more – and as for the great Dame Gillian Weir, she once taught me how to attack the starts of phrases at the keyboard – suffice it to say it involved one’s nose starting close to the keys and a dramatic backwards physical movement – but we’d better leave it there! Incidentally, Dame Gillian is without a doubt a consummate musician first and foremost but in my opinion she is also an outstanding teacher, and I am grateful to have had that benefit.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Practice, practice and practice till the music is engrained in your very being – and leave nothing to chance – not one piece of fingering, nor registration. Know what you want to say with each piece you encounter and think outwardly about how to express the music through colour and articulation – relate your pieces to their greater musical context and let your music- making be informed in this way.

Katherine working with the Choristers of Guildford Cathedral

Here are details of Katherine’s recital on Saturday:

BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH
235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 8EP

Saturday 31st May at 4pm
Free Admission – Collection – Buffet

Herbert Howells (1892-1983)     Rhapsody No 3

Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (1632-1714)     Kyrie

J.S. Bach (1685-1750)     Prelude and Fugue in E flat (St Anne)

William Albright (1944-1998)     Sweet sixteenths

Calvin Hampton (1938-1984)      At the Ballet

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)      Sonata in G (1st movt)

Guy Bovet (b. 1942)      Salamanca

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Dame Gillian Weir

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