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Sarah Baldock (born 5 April 1975) [1] 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.
Baldock was educated as a music scholar at St Paul's Girls' School in London and then as organ scholar of Pembroke College, Cambridge, winning prizes in the RCO diploma examinations and a bursary for postgraduate study with David Sanger and Thomas Trotter. She was a finalist in the 1998 Calgary International, and prizewinner at the 2000 Odense and 2002 Dallas International Organ Competitions.
Baldock has been a faculty member of the Calgary, Edinburgh and Oundle Organ Courses, and involved in education projects at the Royal Festival Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall. Sarah has directed choral workshops in the UK, US, Norway and Sweden. Performances have included concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra and solo concerts in the Channel Islands, Europe, US and Canada.
Baldock was Organist in Residence at Tonbridge School in Kent and in 1998 she released a solo CD on the Marcussen organ in Tonbridge School Chapel for Herald.
In 1998 Sarah moved to Winchester Cathedral where she founded the Girls' Choir and in 2002 became assistant director of Music, accompanying the Choir in daily services, tours, broadcasts and recordings. During her time in Winchester she was accompanist to the Waynflete Singers and Organ Performance Tutor at the University of Southampton.
In December 2007, Baldock was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Chichester Cathedral on the retirement of Alan Thurlow. She took up the post after Easter 2008, becoming, after Katherine Dienes-Williams of Guildford Cathedral, the second earliest appointment of a woman to the senior music post at a Church of England cathedral. Following her resignation from the Cathedral in 2014, Charles Harrison, assistant director of Music at Lincoln Cathedral was appointed to succeed her. [2]
In March 2014, it was announced that Baldock had been appointed a music teacher at Cheltenham Ladies' College; she started at the school in September 2014. [3]
Since September 2022, Baldock has held the post of Director of Music at Winchester College, being the first woman to take up this role. [4]
John Anthony Birch was a British organist and choral director.
(James) Frederick Stocken is a British classical composer, organist and musicologist.
George Guest CBE FRCO was a Welsh organist and choral conductor.
Arthur William Wills OBE was an English musician, composer and professor, born in Coventry. He was director of music at Ely Cathedral from 1958 to 1990 and also held a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1964 until 1992. He toured extensively as a recitalist in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. He also broadcast, appeared on television and made many recordings, both as a soloist and with Ely Cathedral Choir.
Malcolm Archer is an English composer, conductor and organist. He was formerly Organist and Director of Music at Bristol Cathedral, at Wells Cathedral and at St Paul's Cathedral and Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College.
The Choir of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle exists to sing services in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Timothy Byram-Wigfield, born 15 September 1963, is an English organist and conductor.
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.
The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge is part of the English cathedral tradition, having been founded to sing the daily liturgy in the College Chapel, though it is set apart from other English choirs of this tradition by the frequent inclusion of Continental works in its repertoire and its emphasis on polyphonic interpretations. Alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, it is one of the two most famous collegiate choirs in Cambridge, having had over 90 recordings published. The choir consists of fifteen Choral Scholars and twenty Choristers and Probationers, all of whom are members of St John's College, many of whom have proceeded to become distinguished musicians.
Andrew Mark Nethsingha, FRCO, ARCM is an English choral conductor and organist, the son of the late Lucian Nethsingha, also a cathedral organist. He was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey in London in 2023, having previous held similar positions at St John's College, Cambridge, Gloucester Cathedral and Truro Cathedral.
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.
The Southern Cathedrals Festival is a five-day music festival held in rotation among the English cathedrals of Chichester, Winchester and Salisbury, in the penultimate week of July. The festival was restored in 1960 after initial attempts to create the annual occasion were followed by 28 years without it. The respective director of music acts as festival director when it is that cathedral's turn to host the event.
Robert Quinney is Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, and was formerly Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey and Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral. In addition to his work at New College, he has a freelance career as soloist, ensemble player, and writer on music. From October 2009 till 2014 he was Director of Oundle for Organists, whose residential courses provide inspiring tuition for young organists.
The musical foundation of Chichester Cathedral consists of the organist and master of the choristers, the assistant organist and the organ scholar; together with six singing men, eighteen choristers, six probationers – and including a head chorister and a senior chorister who both wear a notable medallion on a red ribbon according to their office held. The choristers and probationers are all boarders at the Prebendal School, the cathedral's choir school. The lay vicars are professional singers who all have everyday jobs.
David John Chandler Price is a British choral conductor and organist.
Winchester Cathedral Choir is an internationally recognized professional choir based at Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire. The choir currently consists of 18 boy choristers, 17 girl choristers and 12 lay clerks and sings eight services weekly in the Cathedral. Additionally, 20 girl choristers sing one service a week as well as concerts. Sometimes the group augments their numbers when certain musical works require a greater number of voices. The group's choristers all attend The Pilgrims' School where they study singing, music theory, music history, and at least one instrument in addition to general academic studies. The choir regularly tours internationally, has produced numerous recordings, and appears often in television and radio broadcasts. The choir is currently directed by Andrew Lumsden, who assumed the post in 2002.
The organs of Chichester Cathedral are the major source of instrumental music at the cathedral, being played for daily services and accompanying the choir, as well as being used for concerts and recitals. There has been organ music at Chichester Cathedral almost continuously since the medieval period, with a break in the mid-17th century during the Commonwealth period.
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).
Charles Harrison has been Organist and Master of the Choristers of Chichester Cathedral since September 2014, succeeding Sarah Baldock. He has also held musical posts at Southwell Minster, Carlisle and Lincoln Cathedral.
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