Helena June Rose Nixon (born 1942) is an Australian organist, choir trainer, and composer.
June Nixon began her musical training at an early age, before studying piano and organ at the University of Melbourne. Post graduate scholarships enabled further study abroad, where she gained fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO) and became the first woman to receive the John Brooke prize for the Choirtraining Diploma. [1]
In 1973, she was appointed organist and Director of Music at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne, a position she held for 40 years until her retirement in 2013. On retirement, she was appointed Organist Emerita. [2]
She was a consultant for the restoration of the T.C. Lewis organ in St. Paul’s Cathedral, [3] and was a member of the steering committee for the restoration of the Hill organ in the Melbourne Town Hall. [4]
Nixon has been recognised worldwide for her contributions to church music in Australia and among several awards are:
Throughout her career, she has trained and mentored many young musicians and continues to be an important figure in the Australian music community.
Nixon has recorded several albums of organ and choral music. Some of her notable recordings include “Grand music for great occasions,” “Elgar Organ Sonatas,” “Jubilaum,” (organ music of Ronald Watson,) “A tribute to Herbert Sumsion,” and “Christmas Eve at St. Paul’s Cathedral.”
She is a widely published composer, including more than 150 works for organ and choir.
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is also the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Victoria.
Herbert Whitton Sumsion was an English musician who was organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 to 1967. Through his leadership role with the Three Choirs Festival, Sumsion maintained close associations with major figures in England's 20th-century musical renaissance, including Edward Elgar, Herbert Howells, Gerald Finzi, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Although Sumsion is known primarily as a cathedral musician, his professional career spanned more than 60 years and encompassed composing, conducting, performing, accompanying, and teaching. His compositions include works for choir and organ, as well as lesser-known chamber and orchestral works.
Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries.
Christopher Herrick is an English concert organist best known for his interpretation of J.S. Bach’s organ music and for his many recordings on the finest pipe organs from around the world.
James Anthony O'Donnell is a British organist, choral conductor and academic teacher who has been a professor of organ at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in Connecticut, United States, since 2023.
Philip John Moore is an English composer and organist.
John Derek Sanders OBE, FRCO was an English organist, conductor, choir trainer and composer. He was organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1967 to 1994, and director of the Three Choirs Festival from 1968 to 1994.
Katherine Dienes also known as Katherine Dienes-Williams is a New Zealand-born organist, conductor and composer. She is currently Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral and is the first woman to hold the most senior musical post in a Church of England cathedral. Her husband is Patrick Williams, librarian of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and they have a daughter, Hannah, who sang as a chorister at Guildford Cathedral.
Sir William Neil McKie was an Australian organist, conductor, and composer. He was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey 1941–1963 and noted for his direction of the music for the marriage of Princess Elizabeth in 1947, and later her Coronation in 1953.
Sarah Baldock is an English organist and choral conductor, formerly the Organist and Master of the Choristers of Chichester Cathedral. She is notable as one of the earliest women to be appointed to the senior music post at a Church of England cathedral. She was married to counter-tenor David Hurley. Baldock has become known as a popular soloist in the UK and abroad.
Christopher Hugh Dearnley was an English cathedral organist, who served in Salisbury Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral.
The Organ Historical Trust of Australia (OHTA) is a national organisation which works towards:
Sarah Elizabeth Arwen MacDonald is a Canadian-born organist, conductor, and composer, living in the United Kingdom, and currently holds the positions of Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of the girl choristers at Ely Cathedral. She has been at Selwyn since 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel. In 2018 MacDonald was given the honorary award of Associate of the Royal School of Church Music (ARSCM).
Rupert Edward Elessing Jeffcoat is a Scottish organist, composer and Anglican priest.
Gordon Brodie Stewart is a British organist, conductor, and teacher.
David Reeves is an Australian composer, conductor and organist. He began his professional career as a concert organist in the early 1960s, turning to conducting and composition some ten years later. He is the composer of original modern music that bridges commercial and classical styles. 'An original Australian Musical Trailblazer' - Tommy Tycho OBE AM - Channel 9 - Star-Sound Recording Studios 1992.
St Andrew's Brighton is the oldest continuous Anglican church in Victoria, Australia. St Andrew's is the Anglican parish church of the beachside suburb of Brighton, Melbourne.
Anna Ruth Ella Lapwood is a British organist, choir director and television and radio presenter. In 2016 she was appointed Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, one of the youngest people ever to have directed an Oxford or Cambridge university college choir, and in 2018 she established a girls' choir at the College. As an associate artist at the Royal Albert Hall in London since 2022, her recordings have reached a wide audience on social media.
Louise Catherine Grimes was an Australian musician, teacher, organist, and choir mistress. She was a prominent figure in the Brisbane music community and was notable for being the first woman organist at St John's Cathedral.