CONTENTS

ALTON ORGAN SOCIETY  (Founded 1967)

Patrons - David Sanger, David Hill and Dame Gillian Weir DBE

INTRODUCTION

 Message from the Chairman of the Organ Society

Contact for further details

 Biographical details of the Organists

Location - click MultiMap to see where we are located.

PROGRAMMES

2007/2008 Season of Organ Concerts

2006/2007 Season of Organ Concerts

2005/2006 Season of Organ Concerts

2004/2005 Season of Organ Concerts

2003/2004 Season of Organ Concerts

2002/2003 Season of Organ Concerts

LINKS

Alton Organ Society

Cathedral Organists

Communigate - this is Hampshire (Alton Organ Society)

Chichester Cathedral

Dutch Organ Society

For future recitals Nationally, see www.organrecitals.com

Guildford Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

North Hampshire Organ Association

Norwich Cathedral

Oundle International Summer School for Young Organists)

Royal College of Organists

Salisbury Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral

St John's College, Cambridge

St Lawrence Parish Church, ALTON, Hampshire

The Waverley Singers

Westminster Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral

World Organ Directory

THE ORGAN

History of the St Lawrence Parish Church Organ

 Details of the Specifications of the Organ

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Click on GRAHAM BARBER for his biography

Click on DANIEL COOK for his biography

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 Click on OLIVER BRETT for biography

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 Click on ANNE PAGE for her biography

Click on ROBERT SHARPE for his biography

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Click on DAVID BRIGGS for his biography

 Click on DAVID SANGER for his biography 

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Click on MALCOLM ARCHER for his biography 

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Last updated: 02 September, 2008 09:03:08

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• The 2008/2009 Programme of Organ Concerts is now almost complete and the details can be seen by clicking 2008/2009 Season of Organ Concerts. Full details of individual programmes and recitalists' biographies will follow in due course. Cyril Diplock (Founder of the Society) has, once again, organised an outstanding programme or concerts to be given by both distinguished international and national organists and those gifted musicians at the start of their musical career - Oundle Award Winners. Details of the 2008 winner will follow. Admission - £8.00 at the door or £50 Season Membership which is equivalent to £6.25 for admission to each of the eight Organ Concerts. Apart from David Sanger, all the performers will be playing at Alton for the first time. We shall take a break until the new Season starts 7 Oct 08. Those who have taken Season Membership will receive their copy of the Programme 3-4 weeks prior to Graham Barber's Concert on the 7 Oct 08.   
• In addition to giving an Organ Concert 10 Mar 09, DAVID BRIGGS (International Concert Organist & Emeritus Organist Gloucester Cathedral) will be holding two Organ Workshops aimed at introducing the organ to 10-12 year olds. 
• One of the aims of the Society is to feature once a year one of the gifted young organists who attend the Oundle for Organists, International Summer Schools. These remarkable youngsters are brilliant organists at the start of what usually promises to be a successful career. Tom Bell - who was the 2006 Award winner - performed brilliantly on Tue 27 Feb 07. It was evident to the audience that not only did Tom choose a varied programme but he delivered it magnificently. He is truly a highly gifted musician and a name to watch for the future. Elli Glarou (from Greece and currently studying for a PhD at Leeds University) gave a superb recital in Jan 08 with emphasis on Marcel Dupré - her PhD subject.
• Prices have remained the same as the 2006/2007 Season of £8.00 (no concessions) for each recital. You can take advantage of Season Membership at £50.00 will give you 8 Concerts for the price of 6 or £6.25 each Concert! Application forms for 2008/2009 Season Membership are available either in the church or you can email Tony Willman and a copy of the form can be sent to you. I should also like to draw to your attention an excellent Website that list Organ Concerts Nationwide - including the Alton Organ Society. Click on this for further details - www.organrecitals.com  

• The Parish Church of St Lawrence, ALTON, Organ Society (Founded 1967) organises each year a season of Organ Concerts performed by distinguished national and international Organists. Details of the Organists their respective programmes and biographies are displayed on this website - which is regularly updated to reflect changes. The concerts are performed at St Lawrence Parish Church, Church Street, ALTON, Hampshire, England GU34 2BW starting at 8.00 pm. Click here MultiMap for location Alton is just off the A31 between Farnham (Surrey) and Winchester (Hampshire) and there is ample parking space close to the Church. Alton railway station (about 15 minutes walk to the Church) is just over one hour's journey from Waterloo station, London. For access to a map of Alton, click on StreetMap or MultiMap, type in the postcode GU34 2BW and click on search.   For further details about the St Lawrence Parish Church Organ Society click contact  
• The Organ - click for the specification - a three manual 1866 Henry Speechly (restored 1966 & 1993) with 71 stops (57 speaking stops) - is one of the finest organs outside of Cathedral organs in the South of England. 

2008/2009 Season of Organ Concerts - Celebrating the 42nd Year  Back to top

2007/2008 Season Of Organ Concerts - Celebrating the 41st Year      Back to top

2006/2007 Season Of Organ Concerts - Celebrating the 40th Year      Back to top

2005/2006 Season Of Organ Concerts   Back to top

2004/2005 Season of Organ Concerts      Back to top

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Note 1 – this was the Alton Organ Society’s 300^th Concert.

2003/2004 Season of Organ Concerts  Back to top

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2002/2003 Season of Organ Concerts

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History of the Organ Society by the Chairman, Mr. Peter Ashworth

Cyril Diplock, who was Organist at St Lawrence Parish Church, ALTON over 45 years established the Society soon after the organ was rebuilt in 1966. Cyril retired as organist in July 2006 but will continue to be closely associated with the Organ Society. The Society can boast that well over 330 organ concerts have been given on this fine instrument by recitalists of the highest international acclaim. It is reputed to be one of the longest running Organ Societies in existence.

Francis Jackson, who at the time was Organist of York Minster, gave the first concert in December 1966, has played since on a number of occasions including in 1996 the start of the 30th year of the Society. He performed again on the 9^th November 1999 and 7^th January 2003. The distinguished international concert organist and teacher David Sanger who lives in Cumbria has given an annual concert at St Lawrence for over 30 years and he returns on the 31st March 2009. He most kindly agreed in 2000 to be the first Patron of the Society.

I wish you a warm welcome to St Lawrence Parish Church Organ Society and to the forthcoming 2008/2009 Season of Organ Concerts. Please peruse the Website to discover the detailed programmes and pocket biographies of the Organists.

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7 October 2008 – GRAHAM BARBER (St Bartholomew, Armley, LEEDS)

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4  November 2008 – DANIEL COOK (Salisbury Cathedral)

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2 December 2008 - OLIVER BRETT (Nominated by Oundle for Organists) 

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13 January 2009 - ANNE PAGE (Concert Organist, Cambridge) 

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10 February 2009 - ROBERT SHARPE (York Minster)

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10 March 2009  – DAVID BRIGGS (Organ Emeritus, Gloucester Cathedral/Boston USA)

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31 Mar 2009 - DAVID SANGER (International Concert Organist)

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28 Apr 2009 - MALCOLM ARCHER (Winchester College) 

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BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF THE ORGANISTS

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7th October 2008 – GRAHAM BARBER (St Bartholomew, Armley, LEEDS)

Click PROGRAMME to return to Graham's programme 

Graham Barber is one of Britain 's leading concert organists. He is also well-known on the European continent as well as further afield. Recent concert tours have taken him to the Czech Republic , Germany , Australia , the USA , Portugal and Norway . Since his solo début in London at the Royal Festival Hall, Graham Barber has been constantly in demand. Reviewing his first recording the Sunday Times described him as ‘a technically brilliant, musically mature organist.’ He has made many subsequent recordings both in English cathedrals ( Coventry , Norwich , Salisbury , Hereford , Ripon and Truro ) and in German and Dutch cathedrals and churches (Altenberg, Ingolstadt , Osnabrück, Limburg, Villingen and Leeuwarden ), and has been described in Gramophone magazine as ‘one of the organ world's finest recording artists.’ 

Graham Barber has played in most major venues in Britain , as well as in Europe, the Far East, Australia and the United States , and has made many radio broadcasts. Recent concerts have been at the Smetana Hall in Prague , St. Michael’s Church, Leipzig , the Elder Hall in Adelaide , Stanford University ( California ), Grace Cathedral ( San Francisco ), King’s College, Cambridge , Santa Cruz in Braga ( Portugal ), Lillehammer in Norway , and Notre Dame in Paris . Recording projects for Priory Records have included music by Herbert Howells, the complete organ works of Percy Whitlock, C17/18 German and Dutch music on the Müller organ of the Jacobijnerkerk, Leeuwarden , and Edwardian Music at Ripon Cathedral. For ASV he has recorded music by J.S.Bach, Böhm, Buxtehude, and Krebs, and for Hyperion by Reger, Franz Schmidt and Victorian composers. 

Forthcoming concerts this autumn include Schagen ( Holland ), Hull University , Sheffield Cathedral and Chorley ( Lancashire ).

Professor of Performance Studies at the University of Leeds and Visiting Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester , Graham Barber has given masterclasses in Weimar , Enschede, Braga , Lisbon , Cologne and Lillehammer . He is also organist at St. Bartholomew's Church, Armley. His recent DVD Organ Story charting the restoration of the renowned Schulze organ there and featuring a performance of the Reubke Sonata has been critically acclaimed.

Graham Barber is the recipient of a prestigious Fellowship from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts which has allowed him to explore innovative ways of presenting the organ in performance.

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4th November 2008 – DANIEL COOK (Salisbury Cathedral)

Click PROGRAMME to return to Daniel's programme

Daniel Cook moved to Salisbury Cathedral as Assistant Director of Music in September, 2005. In addition to his work with the Cathedral Choirs his duties involve playing the organ for all major services, broadcasts concerts and recordings as well as being founder director of the newly formed Cathedral chamber choir. Outside of Salisbury he is Musical Director of the Grange Choral Society (a 160 strong mixed choir based in Christchurch), and will take up the position of Musical Director of the Salisbury based chamber choir, The Farrant Singers in January 2009.

Daniel received his early musical education at Durham Cathedral with Keith Wright. Following a year as Organ Scholar at Worcester Cathedral, he moved to London to take up a place at the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Nicolas Kynaston, James O'Donnell, and Patrick Russill and participated in master classes with many of the worlds leading organists including Marie-Claire Alain, Lionel Rogg and Jon Laukvik. While at the Academy, he worked as Organ Scholar at Southwark Cathedral and Westminster Abbey before graduating with first class honours in July, 2003. Whilst still a student, he was appointed Assistant Organist at Westminster Abbey where he participated in many important national and international services including the 50th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation.

Daniel has twice been a finalist in the St Albans International Organ Competition. As a recitalist, he has played across England and Wales, as well as making appearances in Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy and Norway. Recent years have seen engagements in most of the cathedrals in Britain, several Oxbridge College Chapels and in Westminster Abbey's Summer Organ Festival. He is also well known as an accompanist and has worked with many of the distinguished vocal ensembles and choral groups in the UK such as the BBC Singers and the Holst Singers. His first solo organ recording (of the organ works of Sir Walter Alcock recorded in Salisbury Cathedral) will be released by Priory Records later this year. Current projects include a performance of the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in six recitals to celebrate the centenary of his birth and a CD recording of contemporary organ music for the John Armitage Memorial and Choir and Organ magazine.

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2nd December 2008 – OLIVER BRETT (Nominated by Oundle for Organists) 

[Biography to follow]  

Click PROGRAMME to return to Oliver's programme

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13th January 2009 - ANNE PAGE (Concert Organist, Cambridge)

Click on PROGRAMME to return to Anne's programme

Anne Page is well known to audiences in the UK and abroad as an organist of great virtuosity, integrity and musicianship. Born and educated in Perth, Australia, she subsequently studied in Europe with Marie-Claire Alain and Peter Hurford, giving her London début at the Royal Festival Hall in 1988.

Now based in Cambridge, she directed the Cambridge Summer Recitals for eight years, presenting many world and UK first performances and début recitals by major artists from abroad. Her commitment to music by living composers has led to the commissioning and premiere of new works, as well as invitations to make recordings, most recently of music by Swiss composer Carl Rütti.

As an enthusiast for early music Anne Page performs frequently on historic instruments in Holland and Belgium, and has studied early performance practice with Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She has appeared many times in recitals for trumpet and organ with Crispian Steele-Perkins, virtuoso of the Baroque trumpet.

Anne Page is acknowledged as one of this country's leading exponents of the art harmonium, And has appeared as soloist on the instrument at the Oundle Festival, Edinburgh Festival and the Three Choirs Festival. The foundation of Pandemonium, a duo for piano and harmonium with pianist Margaret Copestake is bringing this delightful and typically 19th century chamber ensemble to present day audiences.

As the musical co-ordinator of the Historic Organ Sound Archive Anne Page has been closely involved with this project since 2004 and has made recordings on 23 of the 44 organs which can be accessed for free via the British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) website: www.bios.org.uk and click Historic Organ Sound Archive on the front page. With many hours of recordings on organs from 1750 to 1913 this is a major new resource for the study of English organs and their music.

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10th February 2009 - ROBERT SHARPE (York Minster)

Click on PROGRAMME to return to Robert's programme

ROBERT SHARPE was Director of Music at Truro Cathedral September 2002 to August 2008, having previously held posts at Lichfield Cathedral, St Albans Abbey and Exeter College , Oxford .

His work centres around the daily choral tradition of Truro Cathedral, with its magnificent liturgy and ceremonial and well-known choir and in addition he performs frequently as an organ soloist and accompanist, having played in many parts of Europe and the USA as well as major venues in the UK .  Recordings on the Truro Cathedral organ include Volume X of the Great Cathedral Organs series, and the complete organ music of Paul Spicer – Fanfares and Dances; both are on the Regent label.

He has made numerous recordings with the cathedral choir;  Pader an Arleth, a disc of music written specially written for them, has recently been reviewed: “Truro Choir…one of truly international quality, a fact underlined by these richly satisfying performances…a gem of a disc” (International Record Review).  Truro Cathedral Choir’s Gibbons album, Peace on Earth, was reviewed as number one choice for a single composer compilation at Christmas 2007.  The choir’s most recent project, a recording of the complete liturgical music of Louis Vierne, has recently been released and will be followed by a special recording commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of Carols from Truro in the Autumn.

His work as Musical Director of Three Spires Singers has included concerts with the Three Spires Orchestra and with the period instrument ensemble, Charivari Agréable.  In 2007, he conducted Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Rachmaninov’s Vespers and in 2008, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Sharpe’s teachers include Roger Bryan, the late Nicholas Danby and David Sanger as well as those with whom he has had the privilege of working, most notably Andrew Lumsden, Barry Rose and Paul Spicer. 

Robert Sharpe has a keen interest in liturgy and music and the interplay between them, and also in food, interesting wines, real ale, architecture, clocks and furniture.  He holds Fellowships of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal College of Organists and is a member of the Victorian Society and the Wine Society.  In 2008, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians.

In September 2008, Robert Sharpe succeeds Philip Moore as Director of Music at York Minster.

10th March 2009 - DAVID BRIGGS (Organ Emeritus, Gloucester Cathedral/Boston USA)

Click on PROGRAMME to return to David's programme

David Briggs is an internationally renowned organist who has built a world-wide reputation as an innovative musician and dazzling performer. Increasingly sought after for his orchestral transcriptions and his art of improvisation, his performances are known for their musicality, virtuosity and ability to excite and engage audiences of all ages.

David studied organ with Jean Langlais in Paris. The first British winner of the Tournemire Prize at the St Albans International Improvisation Competition, he also won the first prize in the International Improvisation Competition at Paisley. At the age of 17 he obtained his FRCO (Fellow of the Royal College of Organists) diploma, winning the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Having held positions at Truro and Hereford Cathedrals and King’s College, Cambridge, where he w