Colin Mawby

Colin Mawby with Michael Scholl (Biederitzer Kantorei, 2007)

Colin Mawby and Gabriel Dessauer at St. Bonifatius Wiesbaden, 2011

Colin Mawby (born 1936) is an English organist, choral conductor and composer.

Career

Mawby received his earliest musical education at Westminster Cathedral choir school, where he acted as assistant to George Malcolm at the organ from the age of 12.^[1] The boys performed 14 or 15 services a week and had 10 hours of rehearsals a week, learning plainchant and polyphony.^[2] He subsequently studied at the Royal College of Music with Gordon Jacob and John Churchill.^[2] During this time he worked with Adrian Boult and Malcolm Sargent.^[1]

He became Assistant^[1] and then in 1961 Master of the Music at Westminster Cathedral.^[3] Whilst there he conducted the first performance of the early music vocal ensemble Pro Cantione Antiqua. He has also collaborated with the London Mozart Players, the Wren Orchestra, the Belgian Radio Choir and the BBC Singers. He performed for the Queen of England at St Paul's Cathedral, for President John F. Kennedy at Westminster Cathedral, and at St. Peter's Basilica for Pope John Paul II.^[4]

In 1976 he moved to Dublin where he became choral director at Radio Telefís Éireann in 1981. He founded the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and a children's choir in 1985, the smaller group was renamed National Chamber Choir of Ireland then.^[2] Mawby retired to East Anglia in 2001 but has returned to County Dublin in Ireland.^[1]

Works

Mawby is a prolific composer of music for the English Catholic liturgy. He composed several Masses, motets, antiphons and hymn settings. His Ave verum corpus for choir and a setting of Psalm 23 won fame in the recording by Charlotte Church. His Requiem of Hope for soprano, mixed choir and organ, composed from 1995 to 2002, is based on texts by Henry Vaughan, John Henry Newman and anonymous texts.^[4] In 2002, his Prayer of Forgiveness was awarded "Top Honors" in the competition "Waging Peace Through Singing" in Oregan, USA.^[4] A Te Deum for soprano solo, chorus, organ and brass ensemble was premiered in Cambridge in 2006 to mark his 70th birthday.^[1] His setting of Laudate Pueri Dominum was premiered in 2011 at Westminster Cathedral Hall.^[3]

His secular works include two operas for young people, The Torc of Gold (1996) and The Quest (2000), both on libretti by playwright Maeve Ingoldsby, commissioned by the National Chamber Choir and premiered in Dublin under his direction.^[4]

Mawby commented his writing for choirs in 2006: "I cannot write choral music unless I work with choirs. Now that’s a subjective judgement: I know that lots of people can do these things; I can’t. I have to write for particular people."^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Colin Mawby". Music for Church Choirs. 2011. http://www.music-for-church-choirs.com/colin-mawby.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "An Interview with Colin Mawby". The Contemporary Music Centre Ireland. 2006. http://www.cmc.ie/articles/article1113.html. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Choir performs world premiere of work by Colin Mawby / World premiere of Colin Mawby’s new work, Laudate Pueri Dominum, was held last month at Westminster Cathedral Hall". Catholic Herald. 20 April 2011. http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/catholiclife/2011/04/20/choir-performs-world-premiere-of-work-by-colin-mawby/. Retrieved 19 November 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} "Colin Mawby". The Contemporary Music Centre Ireland. 2009. http://cmc.ie/composers/pdfs/84.pdf. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 

External links

• Literature by and about Colin Mawby in the German National Library catalogue
• Colin Mawby Butz Verlag
• Colin Mawby Zimbel Press
• Colin Mawby Oregon Catholic Press
• Über Colin Mawby (*1936) Biederitzer Kantorei 2007 (German)

Persondata
Name	Mawby, Colin
Alternative names
Short description	English organist, choral conductor and composer
Date of birth	1936
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death