Choir & Organ

📰 NEWS

announces new Director

🤴 Composer, John Rutter has been knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours. 

⚔️ Congratulations, Sir John!

👀 Read the full piece online...

🌞 Fraz Ireland was our New Music composer for the Spring issue of Choir & Organ

🤔 Here we explore more of their fascinating practice and process…

🎶 The King’s Singers have announced their new bass!

✨ Piers Kennedy will join the ensemble as the 29th King’s Singer.

👀 Read more on our website…

🤝 We sat down with JAM on the Marsh Festival Curator, Nicholas Cleobury to talk about the festival and the future of choral music. 

👀 Have you been to JAM on the Marsh before? Tell us below in the comments.

Full Q&A available to read online... 

🎶 Peter Holder, current Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey has been appointed Organist at Christ Church, Oxford. 

🎹 The principal organist for the State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II will start the position at Oxford in the autumn.  

👀 Read more on our website...

👋 Introducing our wonderful new column from taking us behind the scenes of his rural travels, exploring organs, philosophy and history

👀 Read Ben’s first two columns online now!

🌞 The Summer issue of Choir & Organ Magazine is out now! 🌞 join us as we look ahead to a bustling summer of choral music.

✨ Our cover feature speaks with father and son duo Masaaki and Masato Suzuki as between them they are enjoying a plethora of recording projects. They speak to Stephen Pritchard about their unique family, growing up with the Bach Collegium Japan and the process of recording ahead of BCJ’s appearance at the .

🌎 David Wordsworth surveys the legacy, education and choral music of Gustav Holst as the 150th anniversary of his birth falls this year, exploring the ‘quite remarkable catalogue for someone who barely seemed to have the time to draw breath.’

🌟 A new column from Dr , author of Quartet will look at underrepresented composers in choral and organ music, starting with Avril Coleridge-Taylor, daughter of acclaimed composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and herself a prolific composer of unexplored and unpublished choral music.

🎹 In our organ features, Jonathan Ambrosino assesses the musical legacy of Walden Moore, who retired last year after serving for 40 years as organist-choirmaster at Trinity-on-the-Green, New Haven CT.

⛪️ We also look to Peterhouse Cambridge and the college’s desire to honour its legacy of 18th-century material by Snetzler in an organ required to accompany the liturgy has led to a novel outcome.

❄️ Then to Scandinavia and the Helsinki Music Centre’s new organ by Rieger Orgelbau (Austria) is the largest organ in Finland and Scandinavia. Its innovative technology and visual impact are described by Jan Lehtola.

💿 We review new recordings, including those from , the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford and and preview upcoming premieres from Roderick Williams for the and Roxanna Panufnik for Merton College.

Experience thrilling music at this year’s Three Choirs Festival, featuring the Festival Chorus, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the BBC Singers. Tickets on sale now!

🎟️ https://3choirs.org/whats-on

✨ Gabrieli Roar, the consort’s youth choir initiative, has been awarded £1m to expand their programmes for young people! ✨

We’d love to hear your experiences singing in youth choirs, comment below 👇

👀 Read more on our website…

A respectful restoration of the inspired Walker organ at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral has released its intended potential for the first time. Tom Bell takes us on a tonal tour...

Inside the restoration of the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral organ A respectful restoration of the inspired Walker organ at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral has released its intended potential for the first time. Tom Bell takes us on a tonal tour

A city hosting a year-round musical spectacle, Stockholm’s cultural and sacred history is one to prioritise in your travels, writes Stephen Pritchard

Exploring the musical life of Stockholm

David Hill meets the associate professor of choral conducting at Yale School of Music, Dr Felicia Barber...

David Hill in conversation with ... Dr Felicia Barber David Hill meets the associate professor of choral conducting at Yale School of Music

With a commitment to new music and diverse composers, New York City choir Musica Viva is paving the way for daring collaborations...

Musica Viva NY: sounds of the city With a commitment to new music and diverse composers, New York City choir Musica Viva is paving the way for daring collaborations

Matthew Whiteside on his new guide to self-releasing music for composers...

Matthew Whiteside on his new guide to self-releasing music for composers The point of this book isn’t to force people to self-release their music. It’s to empower people with the information

Chris Bragg meets Sander Booij, one of the most gifted Dutch organ builders of his generation, as he takes over the leadership of one of the country’s most venerable workshops...

Meeting Sander Booij, one of the most gifted Dutch organ builders of his generation Chris Bragg meets Sander Booij, one of the most gifted Dutch organ builders of his generation, as he takes over the leadership of one of the country’s most venerable workshops

Ben Maton – The Salisbury Organist: ‘The music organs produce is a perfect accompaniment to the rich beauty of the English countryside.'

Ben Maton – The Salisbury Organist: ‘The music organs produce is a perfect accompaniment to the rich beauty of the English countryside’ Organist and YouTuber Ben Maton brings a new column, reflecting on his travels and filmmaking capturing rural English churches and their organs

Norwich Cathedral organ: restored to its full magnificence. The much anticipated rebuild, by Harrison & Harrison, at Norwich Cathedral merges new pipework into a restored tonal palette with brilliance. Stephen Farr assesses the results...

Norwich Cathedral organ: restored to its full magnificence The much anticipated rebuild, by Harrison & Harrison, at Norwich Cathedral merges new pipework into a restored tonal palette with brilliance. Stephen Farr assesses the results

Jeremy Dibble explores the choral music and the lesser-known works of Charles Villiers Stanford...

The choral music of Charles Villiers Stanford As we mark the centenary of Charles Villiers Stanford’s death, Jeremy Dibble explores the choral music and the lesser-known works which have seen recent revival and recording

Happy New Year from Choir & Organ! 🎉

Start the new year with a subscription! With our extended holiday offer, you'll receive new print and digital issues, free access to our digital archive, as well as saving 25%.

Enter code NY25 to receive 25% off + free digital access!

Use code here: https://www.magsubscriptions.com/choir-organ-new-year-offers

The score for James B. Wilson's 'Last Words Of Those Long Dead', commissioned by Choir & Organ in partnership with The Choir of King's College London and supported by PRS for Music, is available to download and perform until 31 December 2023 👇

New Music series: James B. Wilson's Last Words Of Those Long Dead In his work for unaccompanied eight-part choir, James B. Wilson has set deathbed haiku by a range of poets to create a work evoking peaceful sleep. He talks to Matthew Power

WIN Mozart's Mass in C Minor on CD

Courtesy of Linn Records and RSK Entertainment, we have 5 copies to give away.

Entries close on 31 January 2024.

Enter here: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/choir-and-organ/news/article/win-mozart-s-mass-in-c-minor-on-cd

The score for John Sturt - Composer's The Doubter’s Prayer, commissioned by Choir & Organ in partnership with The Choir of King's College London and supported by PRS for Music, is available to download and perform until 31 December 2023

New Music series: John Sturt's The Doubter’s Prayer John Sturt found Anne Brontë’s poem resonated with him as he grappled with his own beliefs. He talks to Matthew Power about his new work for mixed choir and organ

Rhiannon Randle's O magnum mysterium, commissioned by Choir & Organ as part of our 2017 New Music series with Royal Holloway, will be performed by SANSARA on 20 Dec at Kings Place 👇

Rhiannon Randle: Composer, Violinist, Soprano

SANSARA: The Waiting Sky • Classical • Kings Place SANSARA present a spell-binding seasonal sequence, exploring the poignancy of Christmas in war-torn Ukraine and seeking consolation and new hope.