PROGRAMME:
Cathédrales - Louis Vierne 1:15
Riff-Raff - Giles Swayne 11:50
Ragtime Waltz - Scott Joplin 31:01
Benjamin Saunders was born in Warrington and educated at George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh. He won an Organ Scholarship to Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied with Peter Hurford. Upon graduating, he held organist posts at the Cathedrals of St Giles’ Edinburgh, Blackburn and Chester, and continued organ studies with David Sanger, Ann Bond and Michel Bouvard.
In 2002, Saunders was appointed Director of Music for the Diocese of Leeds. During this time, he has been a guest speaker at a variety of university conferences across the UK, Ireland and the United States, and a judge for the BBC Young Chorister of the Year Competition. He was appointed a Director of Leeds College of Music in 2013, and Visiting Professor of Music at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana in 2015. He has also received honorary awards from the Guild of Church Musicians and the Royal School of Church Music.
Saunders has performed to HM the Queen, Princess Anne and US President Carter and worked with conductor Carl Davis and jazz virtuoso Dick Hyman. Solo tours have led him to give organ recitals in Russia, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and the United States. He records for Brilliant Classics with four CD releases of the organ works of Georgi Mushel and Hendrick Andriessen, and choral works of Maurice Duruflé and Arvo Pärt. A jazz recording of the complete organ works of Dick Hyman was released in 2016 on the ProOrgano label. He has also been a drummer in two rock bands and keyboardist in the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival. He has recently begun learning traditional and classical accordion with Harry Hinchliffe and Miloš Milivojević.
Music Used:
The Happy Breed: IV. Brazil 99 www.amazon.co....
Imperial March, Op. 32 www.amazon.co....
Pipe Up! The Organ Podcast
Our weekly podcasts are hosted by David Pipe, Leeds International Organ Festival’s Artistic Director, who’ll be joined by guests to chat about the online Monday recital series. Guests will include some of the recitalists themselves, alongside composers, conductors and music journalists.
anchor.fm/leed...
Next week’s recital: Friedhelm Flamme
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