Organ Scholars

Jonathan Lee (2020) – Senior Organ Scholar

Jonathan began his organ studies in Australia at Canberra Grammar School, Wesley Uniting Church and the Australian Capital Territory Organ School under Philip Swanton and Christopher Wrench. From 2019-20 he was Organ Scholar at Hereford Cathedral under Geraint Bowen and Peter Dyke.

A prize-winner at the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition 2023 (3rd prize) and the Brian Runnett Prize Competition 2022 (1st prize), he also holds awards from the Royal College of Organists (Coventry Cathedral Recital Award, Turpin and Durrant Prizes) and the Australian Music Foundation (Nora Goodridge Young Artist Award 2022, Guy Parsons Award, 2023). He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 2022.

Jonathan continues to study with Stephen Farr, Colin Walsh, Douglas Hollick and David Briggs, and has also benefited from the tuition of Pieter van Dijk. He was an organ scholar under Stephen Layton for three years and his recording credits include Trinity’s recently-released ‘Anthems Vol.1’ on the Hyperion label.

Augustine Cox (2023) – Junior Organ Scholar

Augustine studied organ at the Junior Royal Academy of Music with Anne Marsden Thomas and Frederick Stocken, piano with Patsy Toh, and continuo playing with Debbie Diamond. He received his ARCO diploma in 2020.

Following experience as an organist at his local church in Harpenden, and at St Peter’s Church in St Albans under Dr Alexander Flood and Nicholas Robinson, from 2022-2023 he was the Organ Scholar at Worcester Cathedral, accompanying, improvising and taking rehearsals under Nicholas Freestone and Samuel Hudson.

Augustine is also a percussionist, with formative years of musicianship spent playing snare drum in the Harpenden Pipe Band.

Harrison Cole (2019)

Harrison Cole attended Ipswich School as a music scholar for Sixth Form, and for three years went to the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department, where he studied organ with Anne Marsden Thomas, conducting with Alexander Walker and continuo playing with Debbie Diamond.

From 2018-2019, he was Senior Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral, where he accompanied the Cathedral Choir for daily Evensong, special services and premieres of new music; he also assisted in the training of choristers.

As an accompanist and chamber musician, Harrison enjoys a varied schedule of playing with instrumentalists, singers and choirs, and has played in a variety of venues across the country and Europe. Outside of music, Harrison has a keen interest in a wide variety of literature, philosophy, and history.

Luke Fitzgerald (2019)

Luke is an organist, conductor and composer with a particular interest in liturgical music and opera. After his graduation in 2019 as organ scholar of Gonville and Caius College he was Associate Organist at Trinity College for 2019-2020. Luke’s choral and instrumental music has been performed in venues such as St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Portsmouth Cathedral, and several Cambridge chapels as well as on BBC Radio 3. While at Cambridge Luke staged Handel’s Radamisto and Monteverdi’s Poppea in Trinity College Chapel, as well as Walton’s The Bear. Luke curates the Cambridge Young Composer Network, and is student president of period instrument ensemble Cambridge University Collegium Musicum. He was previously President of Cambridge University Opera Society and Student Programmer at Kettles Yard.

Victor Matthews (2018)

Victor Matthews was born in Canberra, Australia, where he began learning the organ aged nine under Philip Swanton. He took up an organ scholarship at St. Andrew’s Cathedral school in Sydney, where he was also a chorister.

Victor attended Eton College where he was a music scholar.  There he studied under David Goode and played regularly for the Chapel Choir. He studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity alongside his organ scholarship.

Asher Oliver (2016)

Asher Oliver studied Music at Trinity, going on to be Organ Scholar at St Paul’s Cathedral. He is a former pupil of Chetham’s School of Music, where he studied the organ with Christopher Stokes. He began his musical training aged 8, as a chorister at Manchester Cathedral, and it was his experiences in the choir stalls there that encouraged him to pursue cathedral music-making, and to take up the organ. He later re-joined the music department at Manchester as Junior Organ Scholar in his Sixth Form years, accompanying both the Cathedral and Voluntary Choirs. Before heading to Trinity in October 2016, Asher spent a gap year as Organ Scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in which role he regularly accompanied and directed the Chapel Choir in their daily services. During his time at Windsor he gained his ARCO and studied with Daniel Moult. Asher has been fortunate enough to have taken part in masterclasses with esteemed organists such as Gordon Stewart, Margaret Phillips, Frédéric Blanc, David Hill, and the late Peter Williams. Recent recital venues include St Lawrence Jewry, King’s College London, Exeter College Oxford, and St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside.

Alexander Hamilton (2015)

Alexander Hamilton is Assistant Director of Music at Wells Cathedral. Before this, he was Organ Scholar of Westminster Abbey, where his duties included accompanying the Abbey Choir in their daily services and assisting in the training of the choristers. A winner of the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition, recent engagements have included recitals at the St Albans International Organ Festival, the London Organ Day, King’s College, Cambridge, St Paul’s Cathedral and St John’s Smith Square. He has studied with Ann Elise Smoot, Colin Walsh and Stephen Farr, and has recently received a scholarship to study part-time this year with Henry Fairs at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Previously, he was Organ Scholar of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, before coming up to Trinity in 2015. During 2016-17, he curated Bach at Trinity, a year-long series of recitals surveying the complete organ works of J.S. Bach to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of Trinity’s famous Metzler organ, with the final recital broadcast on BBC Radio 3. As a conductor, recent and forthcoming performances include engagements with his own ensemble, The Kilgour Consort. 

Owain Park (2013)

Owain has recently graduated from Trinity, where he read Music. Since arriving at Trinity, he received his FRCO; sung in the Cambridge University Operatic Society production of Britten’s Curlew River; sung bass solos in Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man; directed a concert of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday, and founded a chamber choir, Vospiri, with which in January 2014 he recorded a disc of the music of Harold Darke, some of it from Owain’s own transcriptions, and the vocal ensemble, The Gesualdo Six, which are one of four newest members of the St John’s Smith Square Young Artists for 2015/16.

Owain is already an acclaimed and prolific composer. In 2014 St Mary Redcliffe (Bristol) premiered and recorded The Redcliffe Magnificat, which they commissioned for their new chamber organ. The Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London, has performed Louisa, and Trinity College Choir has premiered Judas mercator pessimus and Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; the latter was among several of Owain’s carols which were recorded by the Choir for Yulefest! on Hyperion.  In February 2015, Novello & Company signed a publishing contract with Owain.

Eleanor Kornas (2012)

After studying at Chetham’s School of Music for nine years, Eleanor read Music at the University of Cambridge, becoming a Senior Scholar and winning the Donald Wort Prize for academia. She also accompanied Trinity College Chapel Choir as their Organ Scholar for three recordings of music by Leighton, Ešenvalds and Howells, all nominated for Gramophone awards. Having been the first female Organ Scholar at Trinity, Eleanor was awarded the Forbes-Dunlop Grant by the Women’s Careers Foundation which enabled her to work as an Adami Award Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music. Eleanor later worked as a Staff Accompanist at Chetham’s School of Music, and then returned to London as a Piano Accompaniment Fellow at the Royal College of Music and a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme. Eleanor is now the Head of Keyboard Studies at Queen Margaret’s School, York, whilst continuing to enjoy a busy musical life both nationally and internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and duo partner, supported by the Tunnel Trust and Park Lane Group.

Jeremy Cole (2010)

Jeremy Cole was organ scholar at Trinity College from 2010-2013, where he studied the organ with Colin Walsh, Stephen Farr, and David Briggs, and conducting with Stephen Layton. He was closely involved in the world-famous choir’s routine of services and concerts, and features on several of their recordings on the Hyperion label. Jeremy has held positions at St Paul’s Knightsbridge and St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, where he was the principal organist, playing for all regular and special services, as well as concerts and special events, in one of London’s busiest churches and concert venues. He combined this role with a busy freelance career as an organist, conductor and piano accompanist. While in London he was assistant conductor and accompanist of the Holst Singers, and worked regularly with leading choirs such as Polyphony and the City of London Choir. He is in demand and as a repetiteur for solo singers and instrumentalists and as a continuo player.   
 
Jeremy is currently Acting Organist and Master of the Choristers at Wells Cathedral, having been Assistant Organist since 2017.  He is responsible for the Cathedral Choir’s busy schedule of nine sung services each week, as well as its broadcasts, concerts and tours. He is also the Musical Director of the Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society, and a visiting organ teacher at Wells Cathedral School.

Simon Bland (2009)

Simon Bland is the organist and Assistant Director of Music at St John’s School, Leatherhead. During his time at Trinity he was taught by Colin Walsh and David Briggs, and now continues his studies with Stephen Farr. He spent his gap year as organ scholar at Hereford Cathedral, and was before that one of the organ scholars at Oundle School.

As an organist, he has given recitals at a number of cathedrals and churches internationally, including tours with Trinity College to Australia and America, playing in 2012 at a concert for the AGM of the American Guild of Organists. He continues to be in demand as a recitalist, and often engages his passion for choral conducting outside – as well as within – the environs of St John’s School.

Rupert Compston (2007)

Rupert started as a chorister at Westminster Abbey and awarded a music scholarship to Eton College. He read English at Trinity.

As a soloist and continuo player, Rupert has worked widely both within the UK, and internationally, performing under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Colin Davis, Stephen Layton, and Harry Christophers.  He has worked with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Southbank Sinfonia.  A prolific chamber musician, he is a founding member of the Phoenix Piano Trio, with whom he has recorded Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor, and Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin de temps. 

Michael Waldron (2006)

Michael Waldron began his musical training as a chorister at St Ambrose College, Hale Barns. After a gap year as Organ Scholar at Worcester Cathedral, Michael went on to spend four years as Organ Scholar at Trinity. During this time he was involved with the Choir’s numerous international tours, concerts, broadcast, and recordings.

Having graduated in 2010, Michael now works as a freelance conductor, accompanist and repetiteur. He has performed extensively across London, including at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral and St John’s, Smith Square. Other recent UK recital engagements include King’s College, Cambridge, Lincoln Cathedral and Worcester Cathedral.

Max Pappenheim (2005)

Max Pappenheim was Organ Scholar at Trinity from 2005 to 2007, having previously been Organ Scholar of St George’s Cathedral, Perth, Western Australia and of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and Assistant Organist of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge.

He is now Director of Music at St Matthew’s, Bayswater and a stage director, composer and sound designer for theatre.

James Sherlock (2003)

James studied at Trinity, the Guildhall School of Music, the Georg Solti Accademia and the Franz Schubert Institut.  He performs widely as a pianist and conductor, as soloist, chamber music and vocal accompanist. In 2014 he made his debuts at the Carnegie and Tchaikovsky Halls, and this year returns to major halls and festivals throughout Europe, alongside a UK-wide tour of Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier.  As a chamber musician and accompanist he has collaborated with artists including Angelika Kirchschlager, Sarah Connolly, Sir Thomas Allen, and has appeared as a soloist with the London Symphony and English Chamber Orchestras.

James is a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and former Director of Music at Hampstead Parish Church.

Oliver Lallemant (2002)

Oliver’s career began as a young chorister at Llandaff Cathedral. Later, as Organ Scholar of Trinity, he toured India, America and much of Europe. Now based in London, Oliver is Organist and Assistant Director of Music at Holy Trinity Sloane Square and leads a hectic freelance life that takes him all over the world.

He is a Fellow of The Royal College of Organists and holds a Licentiate Diploma from The Royal Schools of Music. In addition to his role as Musical Director of Chelsea Chamber Choir, Oliver also directs Sloane Square Choral Society and The Chelsea Arts Club Singers.

Douglas Paine (2000)

Douglas came up to Trinity in 2000 to read English and take up an organ scholarship. He is now a succesful barrister at One Essex Court chambers, specialising in domestic and international commercial dispute resolution, both litigation and arbitration.

When not in court, Douglas still enjoys musical activities, singing in choirs. He is also the current Chairman of the Trinity College Choir Association, which keeps Choir alumni in touch.

Benjamin Woodward (1999)

Ben was educated at Chetham’s School of Music and was then Organ Scholar at Trinity. Immediately after graduating, he became organ scholar and assistant organist at Christ Church, Greenwich, CT, USA.

He is now a London-based musician, the Founder and Artistic Director of Fulham Opera, Music Director of St John’s Church Fulham, Buckland & Betchworth Choral Society, Assistant Conductor of Wokingham Choral Society, and Assistant Artistic director of the New Baroque Soloists, based in Connecticut, USA.

Mark Williams (1997)

Mark is Informator Choristarum at Magdalene College, Oxford. He is a former Director of Music at Jesus College Cambridge. Following a year as Organ Scholar of Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, he went on to take up the Organ Scholarship at Trinity where he was also awarded an academic scholarship. In 2000, at the age of 21, he was appointed Assistant Organist of St Paul’s Cathedral in London and Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral School. He relinquished both posts in April of 2006 in order to pursue his growing freelance career.

Thomas Blunt (1996)

Thomas studied Music at Trinity and the Royal College of Music in London, and was the first-ever British participant of the prestigious Allianz International Conductors’ Academy.

He has conducted Jephtha for Welsh National Opera, Don Pasquale for Longborough Festival Opera, La Cenerentola for Opéra National du Rhin, and the world premiere of Dave Maric’s Ghosts for the Royal Opera House at the Linbury Theatre. In 2014, he made his Swiss debut with Ariadne auf Naxos at Konzert Theater Bern where he is now First Kapellmeister. His busy concert schedule includes engagements with London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTE Concert Orchestra, Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur and the Coro da Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo.

Andrew Lamb (1994)

Christopher Allsop (1993)

Christopher Allsop held organ scholarships at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, and St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle before Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1997 he moved to Birmingham as Assistant Organist of the Cathedral, where he founded the New Birmingham Scholars chamber choir, taught at Birmingham Conservatoire, and played for choirs including Ex Cathedra and Birmingham Bach Choir.

In 2004 Christopher took up the post of Assistant Organist at Worcester Cathedral and Music Teacher at The King’s School, becoming the full-time Assistant Director of Music at the Cathedral in 2012. In this time he was organist for five Worcester Three Choirs Festivals, and Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur for Worcester Festival Choral Society. Christopher returned to The King’s School in 2018 as Assistant Director of Music. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and his most recent solo organ recording, ‘Worcester Spectacular!’, was released on the Priory label in late 2018.

Philip Rushforth (1991)

In 1991, Philip went up to Trinity as organ scholar working under the direction of Dr Richard Marlow. Upon graduating in 1994, he took up the position of Assistant Organist at Southwell Minster and became the first director of the Southwell Minster Chorale.  In September 2000 he was a finalist in the prestigious Royal College of Organists’ Performer of the year Award.

In September 2002 he returned to Chester Cathedral as Assistant Director of Music and was appointed Director of Music in December 2007. In 2020 he was awarded an honorary Associateship of the Royal School of Church Music (ARSCM) for achievements in church music of national significance and for important musical work within the RSCM.  

Silas Wollston (1990)

Dr Silas Wollston is a Fellow, Director of Studies and Director of Music at Queens’ College and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Music. He is a versatile musician who has pursued a varied career as a performer, researcher, teacher and composer.

After reading Musicology at Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar at Trinity, he studied composition with Robin Holloway, receiving the MPhil. He subsequently studied the harpsichord and early piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and at the Conservatoire Royale, Brussels.

Richard Pearce (1987)

Richard was organ scholar at Trinity between 1987 and 1990. After graduating with first-class honours in Music, he studied piano accompaniment for two years at the Guildhall School.

As piano accompanist and organ soloist, Richard has given recitals in Westminster Abbey, the Louvré Museum, Paris and in Tokyo, as well as a series of recitals at London’s Banqueting House and broadcasts for BBC television and radio, S4C and Classic FM.

Graham Jackson (1985)

The late Graham Jackson was a British conductor and music director of the theater in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach, Germany.  After graduating from Trinity in Mathematics and Music, Graham went on to complete a three-year conducting course at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He was appointed as conductor of the Welsh National Opera in 1992 and remained there until 2000.  From 2000 to 2003 he was engaged as principal conductor at the Theater Bremen and was the Music Director of the theater Krefeld and Mönchengladbach.  As a concert conductor Jackson performed with the Hallé Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. After a long illness, Graham passed away in July 2012.

Charles Matthews (1984)

Charles Matthews studied at the Royal College of Music, London, after graduating from Trinity, where he spect three years as an organ scholar under the direction of Richard Marlow.  Charles is currently organist of St Catharine’s Church, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, and also contributes to the Spire organ and electronics project.

He has won numerous awards, perhaps most notably first prize in the 1999 Franz Liszt Organ Interpretation Competition in Budapest. 

Stephen Johns (1982)

Stephen Johns read Music at Trinity where he was organ scholar. He spent over 20 years in the recording industry as a classical record producer for a wide range of companies. He worked for EMI Classics from 1998, taking the role of Vice-President, Artists and Repertoire, at EMI Classics in 2008. In his 12 years with EMI, Stephen worked with artists including Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Leif Ove Andsnes, Evgeny Kissin, Msitslav Rostropovich, Kyung Wha Chung, and ensembles around the world including the Berliner Philharmoniker and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He is Artistic Director at the Royal College of Music.

Timothy Lole (1981)

After five years as a choral chorister at St Paul’s cathedral, Timothy Lole continued his musical studies at Trinity where he was an Organ Scholar.  After graduating, he went on to study at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio.

From 1991 to 1995 he was Staff Conductor at Scottish Opera.

Joseph Cullen (1978)

Joseph Cullen won a scholarship at the age of nine to study violin and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and completed one year full-time there before reading music at Cambridge University where he was organ scholar of Trinity College.

He has won two Grammy Awards for his work as director of the London Symphony Chorus and has conducted many orchestras, including the Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Orchestra of Opera North.

Alan Woodbridge (1976)

Alan Woodbridge is the Chorus Director at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Switzerland. The Metzler organ had just been completed when he was a fresher at Trinity. Formerly a chorister at Hereford Cathedral, Alan did post-graduate studies at the RCM Opera School, and has since worked at ENO, Opera North, Dutch National Opera, and became chorus master with Opéra de Lyon in 1995; there he participated in numerous opera recordings for Erato and EMI, and received a Grammy Award for Busoni’s Dr.Faust in 2000.  Alan has also worked with the Toyko Symphony Chorus, the Dresden State Opera Choir, and the Choeur de Radio France. In 2014 he was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres de la République Française.

Ian Clarke (1974)

After studies at London and Cambridge as an organ scholar of Trinity College, Ian was Director of Music at All Saints’ and St Matthew’s Churches in Northampton. Now, in addition to teaching and lecturing, his freelance career includes conducting choirs (including the Swarbrick Singers) and playing as a solo harpsichordist and organist with ensembles such as the City of Oxford Orchestra and the London Harpsichord Ensemble. Ian has appeared on BBC radio and television, both as a player and conductor, and is an ABRSM examiner.

Stephen Barlow (1972)

Stephen Barlow began his musical life as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and then studied piano, flute, french horn, percussion and composition at King’s School, Canterbury. He won the Organ Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Musical Director of the University Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir, and went on to study conducting at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, under Vilem Tausky. He has worked with Scottish Opera, ENO and Opera North and is the new Artistic Director of Belfast Opera.

Paul Halley (1970)

Paul Halley was born in Romford, England in 1952 and received his early musical training in Ottawa, Canada, where he studied piano, organ and singing.  At the age of sixteen, he was made an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto.  Having been awarded the organ scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge under Dr. Richard Marlow, he received his M.A. with prizes in composition and performance, and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning first prize in the College examinations.

Nicholas King (1968)

Nicholas King’s musical interests were fostered in his early years as a choirboy at Folkestone Parish Church. As a Music Scholar at The King’s School, Canterbury, he studied piano with the late Ronald Smith and organ with Allan Wicks, taking his FRCO as a prizeman whilst still at school. From 1968 to 1972 he was Organ Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, taking a first in his degree and the University’s John Stewart of Rannoch Scholarship in Sacred Music, as well as acting as locum Organist at Coventry Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral during summer periods.

Clive Haden Russell (1966)

The late Clive Russell was a prolific composer throughout his life, having written music for the Choir and Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge where he had been Organ Scholar, and The Albrighton Festival which he founded and ran.

Keith Elcombe (1961)

The late Keith Elcombe went on to a distinguished career in Manchester as a university lecturer and performer. 

Robin Sheldon (1952)

The late Robin Sheldon moved to London following his time at Trinity, where he studied at the Royal College of Organists and the Royal Academy of Music. He held teaching and Director of Music posts at Eton College, King Edward’s Witley, Lancing College and Roedean School. After his teaching career he gave his life to Church Music, editing the Anglican Hymn Book, and in 1984 founding the Music in Worship Trust (now the Music and Worship Foundation). An Associated Board examiner for over 20 years, he was honoured with appointments as Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, and Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music.

Ewart Agnew Boddington (1945)