John Birch (musician)

Not to be confused with John Burch (musician).

John Birch (born 1929) is an internationally renowned Recitalist, Concert Organist and Organ Scholar. He was educated at Trent College, Derbyshire and left in July 1947 to study at the Royal College of Music, London.

In 1953 he became Organist and Master of the Choristers at All Saints, Margaret Street, London when it still maintained a small choir school with a boys choir singing the daily services. In 1958 John Birch moved to Chichester to be Organist and Master of the Choristers at Chichester Cathedral; he has since maintained close links with this cathedral city in West Sussex as a patron of the arts and collector of Modern British Art. During his time at Chichester he worked closely with Dean Walter Hussey in the commissioning of new choral works for the Cathedral Choir including works form the composers Bernstein, Walton, Berkeley, Albright, and Howells. He was one of the founders of the revived Southern Cathedrals Festival (with his colleagues at Salisbury and Winchester Cathedrals) in 1960.^[1]

A year earlier, in 1959, Birch was appointed as a Professor at the Royal College of Music, where he continued to lecture until 1997. His natural educational abilities were further harnessed by the University of Sussex, where Birch played as the University Organist from 1967 to 1994 and worked as a Visiting Lecturer in Music from 1971 to 1983.^[2]

In 1982, Birch further established his musical pedigree by becoming Director of Music at Temple Church. Two years later, he was appointed the role of Curator-Organist at the Royal Albert Hall, a position that he still holds. He is organist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and has recorded widely, particularly in orchestral repertoire.

He holds an honorary MA from the University of Sussex and the Lambeth degree of Doctor of Music. Dr Birch has been at sometime President and Treasurer of the Royal College of Organists.

References

1. ^ http://www.ofchoristers.net/Chapters/Chichester.htm
2. ^ http://www.templemusic.org/music/organ-organist/organists/john-antony-birch

Cultural offices
Preceded by Horace Hawkins	Organist and Master of the Choristers of Chichester Cathedral 1958–1980	Succeeded by Alan Thurlow

Persondata
Name	Birch, John
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Date of birth	1929
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