ST JOHN’S COLLEGE ORGAN RECITAL SERIES
Michaelmas Term 2024
A full specification of the Mander Organ is available online.
SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER 18:00
Anna Steppler
Peterhouse College, Cambridge
Still Elegy
Wallen Tiger
Walker Elevation
Price Suite no. 1
i. Fantasy
ii. Fughetta
iii. Air
iv. Toccato
SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER 18:00
Alexander Ffinch Cheltenham College
Dove The Dancing Pipes
Price Air (Suite no. 1)
Liszt Adagio - Allegro deciso - Fuga (Fantasia and Fugue ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’)
SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER 18:00
William Fairbairn Clifton College
J S Bach Prelude and Fugue in C minor (BWV 546)
Franck Chorale no. 1 in E major
SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER 18:00
Daniel Cook
Durham Cathedral
Tomlinson Paean
Tomlinson Quiet Prelude
Willan Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue
SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 18:00
Claudia Grinnell
St Edmundsbury Cathedral
Rheinberger Preludio (Sonata no. 7 in F minor) Mason Light, revealing Elgar arr. Brewer Angel’s Farewell Lloyd Webber Benedictus
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 18:00
Stephen Darlington
Oxford
Franck Choral no. 1 in E major
Vierne Andantino (Pieces de Fantasie)
Farrington Amazing Grace (Lay my burden down)
SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER 18:00
Alex Robson - Herbert Howells Organ Scholar St John’s College
Howells Psalm Prelude (set 2, no. 1 ‘De Profundis’) Baker Ecce Ego Ioannes * Dupré Prelude and Fugue in B major
* This piece was commissioned by the College in 2024.
Anna Steppler is a Research Fellow in Music at Peterhouse. Combining scholarship and performance, her work centers on the organ as both creator of sacred space and site of cultural knowledge, ideals, and exploration across history. She received her Ph.D. in Musicology from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, December 2022) for her dissertation “Michael Praetorius, the Organ, and the Possibilities of Instrumental Music,” which argues for the organ’s pivotal role in discussions of instrumental music in Lutheran courtly circles before the Thirty Years’ War, and was awarded Cornell’s Donald J. Grout Memorial Prize for an exceptional dissertation in Music. As an undergraduate, she read Music at Merton College, Oxford, where she was organ scholar from 2010-2013, and then pursued a Masters degree on the Organ from Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden, where she was awarded the Carl Larsson Scholarship for Music. She is deeply committed to expanding the organ’s repertory to include under-represented voices.
Alexander Ffinch studied at the Royal College of Music, and was later organ scholar of Keble College, Oxford where he subsequently became a pupil of Thomas Trotter. He was resident organist at Lancaster Town Hall where he gave over 100 recitals in the 1990’s and gained recognition in the St Albans Interpretation Competition in 1999. He continues to perform extensively in UK, Europe, USA, and Asia. He was appointed College Organist of Cheltenham College in 2004, after a three year tenure as Director of Music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and is responsible for the daily organ playing in the College Chapel as well as accompanying the Choirs. Throughout his time at Cheltenham, he has continued to give recitals regularly. He has featured in Cheltenham International Music Festival and on BBC Radio 3 broadcasts as organist.
In 2017, Alexander oversaw the second complete rebuild of the College organ by Harrison and Harrison, and he continues to promote opportunities for both the College organ pupils as well as visiting recitalists. Throughout 2020/21, Alexander was fortunate to be able to perform online regularly. He gave the monthly Cheltenham College Lunchtime Live Organ Recital and played for many livestream events during this time.
2019 saw the release of the album Transformations (DDA 25193) which includes a critically acclaimed recording of Liszt’s Ad nos and the world premiere recording of The Dancing Pipes by Jonathan Dove. 2024 sees the release of Parallels (DDX21112) a compilation album which places another commercially unrecorded work alongside more familiar and popular repertoire. This album has been well received and has featured on BBC R3 In Concert and Breakfast shows, as well as other radio programmes both in the UK and USA.
William Fairbairn is Assistant Director of Music and Head of Choral at Clifton College, a role he took up in September 2024. Prior to this, he worked at St Paul’s School for 6 years, and was Assistant Director of Music at St Marylebone Parish Church. These two roles incorporated classroom teaching, organ playing and choral direction: areas which form the cornerstones of his role at Clifton.
He held Organ Scholarships at Truro Cathedral, All Saints’ Fulham, and St Catharine’s College Cambridge, where he also studied Music. Whilst there, he was organist for the College Choir and the Girls’ Choir — the first choir to offer girl choristerships in Oxbridge — accompanying them in their weekly round of services. He accompanied both choirs on tours in Europe and the Far East, and for various recordings and broadcasts. He has been the organist for several Rodolfus Choral Courses, and accompanied their BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong broadcast in Summer 2022.
At Truro Cathedral, William gained his FRCO, winning the Harding/Durant and Turpin/Durrant prizes, and the Samuel Baker prize for the highest aggregate mark. William is also artistic director of Coro Spezzato, a vocal group formed in the lockdowns to provide a professional platform for the country’s brightest young singers and composers.
Daniel Cook has worked widely as a choral conductor and organist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Patrick Russill, James O’Donnell, and Nicolas Kynaston, and was successively Organ scholar of Worcester Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey, before being appointed as Assistant Organist of Westminster Abbey in 2003. He was subsequently Assistant Director of Music of Salisbury Cathedral, Organist and Master of the Choristers of St Davids Cathedral in Wales, and Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey, before moving to his current role as Master of the Choristers and Organist of Durham Cathedral in 2017. Alongside these positions, he has been Music Director of the Dyfed Choir, the Farrant Singers, St Davids Cathedral Festival Chorus, the Grange Choral Society and Orchestra, and Durham University Choral Society.
In 2013 Daniel was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), an award offered to past students of the Academy who have distinguished themselves in the music profession and made a significant contribution to it in their particular field. He was made an Associate of the Royal School of Church Music (ARSCM) in 2022.
Claudia Grinnell has recently joined the team at St Edmundsbury Cathedral as Director of Music, the first woman to hold the post in the Cathedral’s history. She will lead the Cathedral Choirs in an exciting programme of events, including a production of Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in November alongside local schoolchildren. Claudia began learning the organ at St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton, and was Organ Scholar there during her final years at school. She then studied at the University of Cambridge, receiving a first-class degree in Music. Whilst at university, she was Organ Scholar at Peterhouse, which was at the time a college where the organ scholars took full responsibility for the running of the Chapel Choir. Her final two years there saw the choir embark on tours to Reykjavík and Dublin. Following a year as Organ Scholar at Salisbury Cathedral, she spent seven years on the music staff at Winchester Cathedral, latterly as Sub-Organist. During her time there she commissioned a number of new works for the Cathedral Choirs and the building of a new chamber organ. She also had particular responsibility for the Girls’ Choir, which celebrated their 25th anniversary in May 2024.
Stephen Darlington is one of the country’s leading choral conductors. He was Director of Music and Tutor in Music at Christ Church from 1985 to 2018. Previously he was Master of the Music at St. Alban’s Abbey and artistic director of the world-famous International Organ Festival. At Christ Church he maintained the highest choral traditions of the Church of England in the Cathedral whilst also developing the College as a centre of academic musical excellence. His outstanding strength is in his performances of choral music of the sixteenth century and of modern sacred music. An extensive discography, comprising over sixty CDs, includes several award-winning recordings. Stephen was President of the Royal College of Organists from 2000 to 2002 and until 2018 was Choragus of the University of Oxford. He is the holder of a Lambeth Doctorate in Music and is the Chairman of the Ouseley Trust. He is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music and Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. He was awarded an M.B.E in the New Years Honours List, 2019. He was Interim Director of Music at St John’s in Lent Term 2023.
Alex Robson is the Herbert Howells Organ Scholar at St John’s College, where he is in his third year studying Music. Alongside accompanying the daily services at St John’s, he has performed for live broadcasts, recordings, and international tours with the College Choir, recently including concerts at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht.
In 2021, Alex was Organ Scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, where he played for services and special events. In 2024, he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), receiving the Turpin and Durrant, Harding and Durrant, and Dr F. J. Read Prizes.
Alongside the organ, Alex has played the piano and clarinet in the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra and Kent Country Youth Orchestra. He also regularly performs as a continuo keyboardist, recently including Bach’s St John Passion with the Cambridge Collegium Musicum.
Alex studies the organ with Ann Elise Smoot and the piano with Marie-Noëlle Kendall, and has performed as a solo recitalist across the south of England. His other interests include cross-country running and foreign languages.
ORGAN SCHOLARS AT ST JOHN’S COLLEGE
There are two Organ Scholars who assist the Director of Music in the running of the Choir. They accompany the Choir in its daily round of services and assist in the training of its Choristers at St John’s College School.
Most former Organ Scholars have gone on to pursue high profile musical careers - Stephen Cleobury, John Scott, David Hill, Andrew Lumsden, Adrian Lucas, Andrew Nethsingha and Iain Farrington were all Organ Scholars at St John’s. A list of former Organ Scholars is below.
The College encourages the performance of new repertoire and there is a fund available for the purchase of organ music. The College’s commitment to new music means that Organ Scholars have the opportunity to give first performances of new works by leading composers.
The College pays for organ and improvisation lessons and substantial performance fees are paid for the many ‘extra’ services and concerts which are undertaken by the Choir. Organ Scholars also benefit from playing continuo with professional orchestras and ensembles. Funds are also available to support Organ Scholars working towards their ARCO and FRCO examinations.
Find out more about the application process online.
1947 - James Brown
1947 - George Guest
1951 - James Bennett
1952 - Andrew Lumsden (Assistant organist)
1953 - Alan Hemmings
1956 - Peter White
1960 - Brian Runnett
1963 - Jonathan Bielby
1967 - Stephen Cleobury
1971 - Jonathan Rennert
1974 - John Scott
1976 - David Hill
1978 - Ian Shaw
1981 - Andrew Lumsden
1983 - James Cryer
1984 - Philip Kenyon
1985 - Robert Huw Morgan
1987 - Andrew Nethsingha
1988 - Alexander Martin
1990 - Philip Scriven
1991 - James Martin
1993 - Allan Walker
1994 - Peter Davis
1996 - Iain Farrington
1997 - Robert Houssart
1999 - Christopher Whitton
2000 - Jonathan Vaughn
2004 - Paul Provost
2005 - Léon Charles
2007 - Timothy Ravalde
2008 - John Challenger
2010 - Freddie James
2012 - Edward Picton-Turbervill
2013 - Joseph Wicks
2015 - Glen Dempsey
2017 - James Anderson-Besant
2019 - George Herbert
2021 - Alex Trigg
2022 - Alex Robson
2023 - Tingshuo Yang
