List of musicians at Welsh cathedrals explained

Bangor Cathedral

The 14th century poet Dafydd ap Gwilym wrote of the organ and choir of Bangor Cathedral.

Organists

• 1644 Thomas Bolton
• 1689 (A Vicar Choral) ?
• 1691 Thomas Roberts
• 1705 ? Priest
• 1708 ? Smith
• 1710 ? Ferrer
• 1713 John Rathbone
• 1721 Thomas Rathbone
• 1750 Thomas Lloyd
• 1778 Richard Jarred
• 1782 William Shrubsole
• 1784 Edmund Olive
• 1793 Joseph Pring
• 1842 James Sharpe Pring
• 1868 Robert Roberts
• 1872 Roland Rogers
• 1892 T. Westlake Morgan
• 1906 Roland Rogers (reappointed)
• 1928 Leslie Douglas Paul
• 1970 John Hywel
• 1972 Andrew John Goodwin
• 2009 Graham Eccles
• 2014 Martin Brown

Director of Music

• 2014 Paul Booth
• 2021 Joe Cooper

Brecon Cathedral

Brecon Cathedral is the cathedral of the Church in Wales Diocese of Swansea and Brecon.

Organists and Directors of Music

• 1923 John Humphrey Carden
• 1956 David Gwerfyl Davies (formerly organist of The Church of St. Nicholas, Kings Norton)
• 1963 Michael Bryan Hesford (later organist of St Mary's Church, Melton Mowbray)
• 1966 David Patrick Gedge
• 2007 Mark Duthie
• 2017 Stephen Power

Assistant Organists

• 1968 Hazel Davies
• 2007 Meirion Wynn Jones
• 2012 Paul Hayward
• 2014 Stephen Power
• 2017 Tom Coxhead
• 2018 Jonathan Pilgrim

Sub-Organists

• 2023 Dr. August Guan (later principal organist of St Gregory's Church, Cheltenham)

Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral

Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff.

Directors of Music and Organists

• 1974 Hellier Johns
• 1980 David Neville
• 2005 Dominic Neville

^[1]

• 2017 Jeffrey Howard

Assistant Organists

• 1974 Nigel Davies
• 1976 Keith Lowe
• 1988-1991 Theodore Saunders
• 1991-1997 Steven Maxson and
• 1991-1993 William Reynolds
• 1997-2001 Jeremy Rouse

Master of the Choristers

• James Neville^[1]

Organ Scholar

• 2009-2012 James Wall
• 2016 - 2017 Joseph Cavalli-Price

Llandaff Cathedral

Llandaff Cathedral has only dedicated choir school in the Church in Wales.

Organists and Masters of the Choristers

• 1861 John Bernard Wilkes
• 1866 Francis Edward Gladstone
• 1870 Theodore Edward Aylward
• 1876 Charles Lee Williams
• 1882 Hugh Brooksbank
• 1894 George Galloway Beale^[2]
• 1937 William Henry Gabb
• 1946 Albert Vernon Butcher
• 1949 Thomas Hallford
• 1950 Eric Arthur Coningsby
• 1952 Charles Kenneth Turner
• 1957 Eric Howard Fletcher
• 1958 Robert Henry Joyce
• 1974 Michael John Smith
• 2000 Richard Moorhouse
• 2014 Jonathan Bielby (interim)^[3]
• 2016 Stephen Moore^[4]

Assistant Organists

• 1894 Arthur Charles Edwards
• 1940 R. M. Powney
• 1966–1970 Graham John Elliott (afterwards organist of St Asaph Cathedral)
• 1970–1980 Anthony Burns-Cox (later organist of Romsey Abbey)
• 1980–2010 Michael Hoeg^[5]
• 2010–2012 James Norrey (afterwards Assistant Director of Music at Newcastle Cathedral)^{[6] [7] [8]}
• 2012–2013 Sachin Gunga (post dissolved December 2013)^{[9] [10]}

Assistant Director of Music

• 2021 Aaron Shilson^[11]

Newport Cathedral

Newport Cathedral is the cathedral of the Church in Wales Diocese of Monmouth.

Organists/Choirmasters

• 1894-1934 J A Gaccon
• 1934-1941 C J Ball
• 1941-1963 Charles St Ervan Johns
• 1964−1979 Donald Bate
• 1979 Christopher Barton
• 2015 Dr. Emma Gibbins
• 2024 Thomas Coxhead

Assistant organists

• 2006 Ronny Krippner (later Director of Music at Croydon Minster; currently Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral)
• 2007 Christopher Denton
• 2010 Jeremy Blasby

St Asaph Cathedral

In 2018 St Asaph Cathedral made its professional music staff redundant.

Organists

• 1620 John Day
• 1630 Abednego D. Perkins
• 1631 John Wilson
• 1669 Thomas Ottey
• 1680 William Key
• 1686 Thomas Hughes
• 1694 Alexander Gerard
• 1738 John Gerard
• 1782 John Jones
• 1785 Edward Bailey
• 1791 Charles Spence
• 1794 Henry Hayden
• 1834 Robert Augustus Atkins
• 1889 Llewellyn Lloyd
• 1897 Hugh Percy Allen
• 1898 Archibald Wayet Wilson
• 1901 Cyril Bradley Rootham
• 1902 William Edward Belcher
• 1917 Harold Carpenter Lumb Stocks
• 1956 Robert Duke Dickinson
• 1962 James Roland Middleton
• 1970 Graham John Elliott
• 1981 John Theodore Belcher
• 1985 Hugh Davies
• 1998 Graham Eccles
• 2004 - 2018 Alan McGuinness
• 2019 Paul Booth - Director of Music

Assistant organists

• 1875–1889 Llewelyn Lloyd
• 1897–1901 F. Walton Evans
• 1978–1982 Patrick Larley

Assistant Director of Music

• 2004–2018 John Hosking; later Director of Music at Holy Trinity, Southport (2018 - 2022) then Organist in Residence at Blackburn Cathedral.

St Davids Cathedral

Organists at St Davids Cathedral include the father of the composer Thomas Tomkins.

Organist and Master of the Choristers

• 1490 Priest Vicars
• 1509 John Norman
• 1563 Thomas Elliot
• 1570–1586 Thomas Tomkins (father of the composer Thomas Tomkins)
• 1713 R. Mordant
• 1714 Henry Mordant
• 1719 Richard Tomkins
• 1719 Williarn Bishop
• 1720 Henry Williams
• 1725 Matthew Maddox
• 1734 Matthew Philpott
• 1793 Arthur Richardson
• 1827 John Barrett
• 1851 William Peregrine Propert
• 1883 Frederick Garton
• 1894 D. John Codner
• 1896 Herbert C. Morris
• 1922 Joseph Soar
• 1953 Peter Boorman
• 1977 Nicholas Jackson
• 1984 Malcolm Watts
• 1990 Kerry Beaumont (later Organist of Ripon Cathedral and Coventry Cathedral)
• 1995 Geraint Bowen (currently Director of Music at Hereford Cathedral)
• 2001 Timothy Noon (later Organist of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral; currently Organist of Exeter Cathedral)
• 2007 Alexander Mason (currently Director of Music at Lancing College)
• 2011 Daniel Cook (later Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey; currently Organist of Durham Cathedral)
• 2013 Oliver Waterer (currently Organist of Selby Abbey)

Director of Music

• 2022 Simon Pearce

Assistant Organist

• 1991 Michael Slaney
• 1998 Simon Pearce

Assistant Director of Music

• 2022 Laurence John

Organ Scholars

• 1991-1994 Andrew Lamb (subsequently Organ Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge)
• 2016 Aaron Shilson (currently Assistant Director of Music at Llandaff Cathedral)
• 2017 Rupert Jackson (subsequently Organ Scholar of Magdalen College, Oxford)
• 2018 Emily India Evans (subsequently Organ Scholar of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge)
• 2019 Joshua Roebuck (now Organist of Westwood United Methodist Church, Los Angeles)
• 2020 Michael D'Avanzo (subsequently Organ Scholar of Jesus College, Cambridge)
• 2021 Thomas Hawkes (Acting Assistant Director of Music)
• 2022 James Watson (subsequently Organ Scholar of Newcastle Cathedral)
• 2024 Felix Petheu

Swansea Cathedral

St Joseph's Cathedral is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Menevia

Diocesan Director of Music

• Paul Brophy^[12]

Wrexham Cathedral

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham.

Choir director

• Paul Booth^[13]

See also

• List of musicians at English cathedrals

Sources

• Book: Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Evans. Robert. Humphreys. Maggie. Bloomsbury Publishing. 1997. 978-1-4411-3796-8.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Choir staff . Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral Choir . 12 May 2019.
2. News: A Durham Gentleman Appointed as the New Organist. Evening Express. 15 August 1894. 4. 15 April 2016.
3. Web site: Llandaff: Cathedral Church of St Peter & St Paul, Dyfrig, Teilo & Euddogwy. Friends of Cathedral Music. 8 June 2015 .
4. Web site: Appointment of Director of Music.
5. Web site: Cathedral Music . Llandaff Cathedral . 2010 . 9 April 2016 . unfit . https://web.archive.org/web/20100315182101/http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/music.htm . 15 March 2010 .
6. Web site: Cathedral Music . 2011 . Llandaff Cathedral . 9 April 2016 . unfit . https://web.archive.org/web/20110723152947/http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/music.htm . 23 July 2011 .
7. Web site: Cathedral Music . 2012 . Llandaff Cathedral . 9 April 2016 . unfit . https://web.archive.org/web/20120722142239/http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/music.htm . 22 July 2012 .
8. Web site: Who's Who at the Cathedral. Rochester Cathedral. 2016. 8 April 2016.
9. Web site: Cathedral Music . Llandaff Cathedral . 2012 . 14 April 2016 . unfit . https://web.archive.org/web/20121214092250/http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/music.htm . 14 December 2012 .
10. Web site: Cathedral Music . Llandaff Cathedral . 2013 . 14 April 2016 . unfit . https://web.archive.org/web/20131221130116/http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/music.htm . 21 December 2013 .
11. Web site: Assistant Director of Music Appointed . Llandaff Cathedral . 29 September 2021.
12. Web site: Music . Cathedral Church of St. Joseph . 12 May 2019.
13. Web site: Choir . Diocese of Wrexham . 12 May 2019.