Stephen Farr
Stephen Farr is Director of Music at St Paul’s Church Knightsbridge and Worcester College Oxford, and combines these positions with a busy and varied freelance career. He was born in London and studied with Robert Munns and David Sanger before reading Music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. After graduating with a double first, he completed an MPhil in Musicology and also held grants from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the W.T. Best Scholarship of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, which enabled him to study with Piet Kee in Haarlem and Hans Fagius in Copenhagen. He was appointed Sub-Organist, and later a Lecturer in Music, at Christ Church, Oxford in 1990. While at Oxford, he toured with the cathedral choir in North and South America, Europe and Australia – including a concerto performance in Sydney Opera House – and participated in numerous recordings and broadcasts in the UK and throughout Europe. He was then appointed Assistant Master of Music at Winchester Cathedral, where – in addition to his duties accompanying the daily offices – he combined a full schedule of broadcasts, tours and recordings with a busy freelance career. From 1999 to 2007 he was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral.
He has an established reputation as one of the leading organists of his generation; he is a former RCO Performer of the Year, and a prizewinner at international competitions including Odense and St Alban’s. He makes frequent appearances on Radio 3 as a soloist and accompanist, including regular appearances with the BBC Singers; he gave the first performance in recent times of Widor’s Third Symphony for Organ and Orchestra with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, which was subsequently broadcast on Radio 3. He has given recitals in all the major venues in the UK, including the Bridgewater Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, Fairfield Halls, Westminster Cathedral, King’s College Cambridge, St Paul’s Celebrity Series and Westminster Abbey, and has performed widely in the USA and Europe. He recently gave solo recitals in La Trinité and Notre Dame de Paris and in the Laurenskerk Alkmaar.
His concerto work has included engagements with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and the London Mozart Players, and he made his debut in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2005. He has worked with many leading ensembles and soloists, including Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Jane Glover, David Hill, Stephen Layton, the Bach Choir, Florilegium, the Danish Radio Vocal Ensemble, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Holst Singers, Polyphony, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the English Concert, Britten Sinfonia, London Baroque Soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has released numerous solo CDs on several major labels, including a disc of music by Langlais recorded on the Marcussen organ of Odense Cathedral in Denmark which was given a five star rating by BBC Music Magazine and Classic CD. He is a Trustee and examiner of the Royal College of Organists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
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