John Kitchen (musician)

Last updated

John Kitchen MBE
John Kitchen-01.jpg
John Kitchen at St Mary's Music School Edinburgh
Born (1950-10-27) 27 October 1950 (age 73)
United Kingdom
NationalityScottish
Alma mater Glasgow University, University of Cambridge
Occupation(s) Edinburgh City Organist, music scholar and educator

John Philip Kitchen MBE (born 27 October 1950) is a Scottish organist, harpsichordist, conductor, early music scholar, and music educator based in Edinburgh. He serves as the Edinburgh City Organist. [1] Kitchen is known for his extensive recording portfolio of organ music, and his research and demonstration of historical keyboard instruments. [2] [3] He made major contributions to the discography and scholarship on the organ works of William Russell, [4] [5] and Johann Ludwig Krebs. [6] [7]

Contents

Current positions

Kitchen is the Edinburgh City Organist, with related duties at Usher Hall. [8] He is the University Organist and an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and serves as Director of the Edinburgh University Singers [9] [10] He is also involved with the preservation, expansion and demonstration to the public of the collection of early keyboard instruments at St Cecilia's Hall in Edinburgh. [11] He is the Director of Music of Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church. [12] [13] He teaches harpsichord at St Mary's Music School, Edinburgh. [14] He was appointed MBE in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours list. [15]

Education and professional history

Kitchen started teaching himself the organ at around the age of 6 and by 8 was accompanying his local Sunday School. [11] He was in his 20s before he had formal lessons. [16] He earned the Master of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees at Glasgow University, and earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree from the University of Cambridge where he researched 17th-century French harpsichord music. His doctoral thesis (approved 1980) was titled "Harpsichord music of seventeenth century France: the forms, their origins and developments, with particular emphasis on the work of Louis Couperin (1626–1661)". [17] While at Cambridge, he was organ scholar of Clare College, and studied the organ with Gillian Weir. [16] From 1976 until 1988, he was a Lecturer in Music and University Organist at the University of St Andrews. From 1988 to 2014, he was Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Edinburgh, teaching harmony, counterpoint, keyboard skills, history, and performance practice at all levels. [18] Kitchen has a Fellowship Diploma (FRCO) from the Royal College of Organists, and he is a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM). [19] He is a member of the Baroque ensemble Laudonia. [20] [21]

Scholarship

Kitchen has studied and recorded the complete Organ Voluntaries of the organist William Russell (1777–1813) on the Delphian Label. The recording took place in 2008 on the restored 1829 J.C. Bishop organ at St. James, Bermondsey. [22] As part of this project, Kitchen authored a detailed essay about Russell and his music, with information about every single Voluntary (including the disposition of the organ and the registration of the Voluntary) [23] [24]

Kitchen has studied and recorded the complete organ works of Baroque composer Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780). These recordings (on the Priory Records label) were made in 2000–2001 on several different organs, including the two-manual Frobenius organ of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh.

Kitchen has published multiple reviews of recordings, studies and organ manuals in the journals Early Music, Early Music Today, Choir & Organ, Organists' Review, and The Organ Yearbook, [25] [26]

Kitchen recorded recitals that introduce and explore different organs, including the organ at Usher Hall (Edinburgh); the organ at McEwan Hall (University of Edinburgh); the Reid Concert Hall (University of Edinburgh); the 1769 Pascal Taskin harpsichord; and instruments from the Rodger Mirrey [27] and Raymond Russell collections. [28]

Selected discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Greene (composer)</span> English composer and organist

Maurice Greene was an English composer and organist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Smith (mathematician)</span> English mathematician

Robert Smith was an English mathematician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedal keyboard</span> Musical keyboard played with the feet, usually used for low-pitched notes

A pedalboard is a keyboard played with the feet that is usually used to produce the low-pitched bass line of a piece of music. A pedalboard has long, narrow lever-style keys laid out in the same semitone scalar pattern as a manual keyboard, with longer keys for C, D, E, F, G, A, and B, and shorter, raised keys for C, D, F, G and A. Training in pedal technique is part of standard organ pedagogy in church music and art music.

The Ruckers family were harpsichord and virginal makers from the Southern Netherlands based in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th century. Their influence stretched well into the 18th century, and to the harpsichord revival of the 20th.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustav Leonhardt</span> Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor

Gustav Maria Leonhardt was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harpsichordist</span> Person who plays the harpsichord

A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied sonatas for harpsichord or concertos accompanied by orchestra. Accompanist harpsichordists might accompany singers or instrumentalists, either playing works written for a voice and harpsichord or an orchestral reduction of the orchestra parts. Chamber musician harpsichordists could play in small groups of instrumentalists, such as a quartet or quintet. Baroque-style orchestras and opera pit orchestras typically have a harpsichordist to play the chords in the basso continuo part.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hook (composer)</span> Musical artist

James Hook was an English composer and organist.

David John Sanger was a British concert organist, professor and president of the Royal College of Organists.

Albertus Bryne was an English organist and composer.

John Bennett or Bennet, was an English organist and composer.

In music a voluntary is a piece of music, usually for an organ, that is played as part of a church service. In English-speaking countries, the music played before and after the service is often called a 'voluntary', whether or not it is so titled.

William Russell was an English organist and composer.

John Butt is an English orchestral and choral conductor, organist, harpsichordist and scholar. He holds the Gardiner Chair of Music at the University of Glasgow and is music director of the Dunedin Consort with whom he has made award-winning recordings in historically informed performance. He is a prolific scholar, conductor and performer of works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Douglas Christopher Mews, is a New Zealand classical organist and harpsichordist and he is also a composer. He holds the position of City Organist, Wellington, New Zealand. He is the brother of Constant Mews.

A trumpet voluntary is a voluntary – a musical composition for the organ – played using the trumpet stop. Trumpet voluntaries are associated with the English Baroque era and usually consist of a slow introduction followed by a faster section with the right hand playing fanfare-like figures over a simple accompaniment in the left hand. In some instances, the trumpet stop is replaced by the cornet or a flute stop. Echo effects are also sometimes used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Cecilia's Hall</span> Music museum, concert hall in Edinburgh, Scotland

St Cecilia's Hall is a small concert hall and museum in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is on the corner of Niddry Street and the Cowgate, about 168 metres (551 ft) south of the Royal Mile. The hall dates from 1763 and was the first purpose-built concert hall in Scotland. It is a Category A listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini</span> Italian musician (1929–2017)

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, was an Italian organist, harpsichordist, musicologist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Russell (organologist)</span> British organologist and antiquarian

Raymond Anthony Russell,, was a British organologist and antiquarian. He was an expert on early keyboard instruments, and assembled an important collection which now forms the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments of the University of Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Collection</span>

The Russell Collection is a substantial collection of early keyboard instruments assembled by the British harpsichordist and organologist Raymond Russell. It forms part of the Musical Instrument Museums collection of the University of Edinburgh, and is housed in St Cecilia's Hall. Its full name is the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments.

Hugh John McLean CM was a Canadian organist, choirmaster, pianist, harpsichordist, administrator, teacher, musicologist, composer, and editor.

References

  1. "Our team". Edinburghorganists.org. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  2. "John Kitchen". Delphian Records. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  3. Chung, D. (1 February 2015). "Interpreting Historical Keyboard Music: Sources, Contexts and Performance. Ed. by Andrew Woolley and John Kitchen". Music Lett. 96 (1): 121–123. doi:10.1093/ml/gcu113.
  4. "An immaculate introduction to Russell". Classic FM. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  5. Kitchen, John (June 2015). "The Organ Music of William Russell". Nineteenth-Century Music Review. 12 (1): 9–25. doi:10.1017/S1479409815000026. S2CID   184586936.
  6. "Krebs Complete Organ Works, Vol 3". Gramophone. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  7. "Krebs Organ Music Vol 6 [GH]: Classical CD Reviews- July 2003 MusicWeb(UK)". Musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  8. "Usher Hall – Interview with organist John Kitchen". 21 February 2012 via YouTube.
  9. "Dr John Kitchen | Edinburgh College of Art". University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  10. "Edinburgh University Singers". Eusingers.co.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  11. 1 2 "At home with John Kitchen". The Herald. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  12. "Old Saint Paul's Scottish Episcopal Church ~ About Old Saint Paul's ~ Who's Who at Old Saint Paul's". Osp.org.uk. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  13. Records, Delphian. "John Kitchen". Delphian Records. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  14. "John Kitchen". www.stmarysmusicschool.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  15. "John-bio.pdf" (PDF). Scottish Polish Cultural Association Edinburgh. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  16. 1 2 "Five questions for...John Kitchen". The Lady Organist. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. "Edinburgh University Singers". Eusingers.co.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. "Laudonia | Scotland's Dynamic Baroque Ensemble". Laudonia. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  21. "Laudonia: The Grand Tour". Edinburgh Music Review. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  22. "St James, Bermondsey, South East London, Restoration of the 1829 Bishop Organ – Goetze & Gwynn". Goetzegwynn.co.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  23. "RUSSELL Organ Voluntaries Delphian DCD34062 [JV]: Classical Music Reviews – October 2009 MusicWeb-International". Musicweb-international.com. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  24. "Recording William Rusell's Voluntaries at St. James's. Bermondsey, London | Open Music Library". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  25. "Edinburgh, music author:"John Kitchen"". Google Scholar. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  26. Archived 6 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  27. "Rodger Mirrey Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  28. "Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments". University of Edinburgh. 27 May 1922. Retrieved 5 April 2017.