Join us for a free Organ Recital on Tuesday 22 December given by Assistant Director of Music, Simon Nieminski. Simon’s program comprises of:

Feliks Rączkowski: Suita Kolęd (Suite of Christmas Carols)

Arthur Somervell: Shepherd’s Cradle Song

Henry Balfour Gardiner arr. Niemiński: Noel

Marcel Dupré: Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20

Admission is free, please remember to register at the door upon entry.

Join us for a free Organ Recital on Wednesday 16 December given by Director of Music, Thomas Wilson. Admission is free, please remember to register at the door upon entry.

Join us for a free Organ Recital on Tuesday 15 December given by Assistant Organist, Titus Grenyer. Titus’ program will include a transcription of J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite in C Major, BWV 1066. Admission is free, please remember to register at the door upon entry.

This will be Simon's 3rd recital at St Mary's Cathedral since starting in January 2018. 

Simon was born in London and descended from an unlikely mixture of Edwardian Japanese acrobats, Lancastrian Music Hall artistes and a Polish army veteran. Before moving to Sydney, he was Organist of St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral and Director of Music at The Robin Chapel in Edinburgh, having previously been Organist and Master of the Music at Edinburgh’s other (Episcopal) St Mary’s Cathedral. As a recitalist, he has played at venues around the UK and beyond, including at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, St Florian’s Abbey in Austria, The Royal Canadian College of Organists’ national convention in Ontario, and Washington National Cathedral, USA. For the last two years, he was the featured recitalist in the International Organ Festival in Japan. He has recorded 11 solo CDs to date, and reviews have included: “This is a splendid release… There is a lot of poetry here.” (The American Record Guide) and “Simon Niemiński’s playing is utterly convincing and at one stroke establishes him as a recording artist of the first rank.” (Organists’ Review.) Simon can be found online at www.niemin.ski.

Admission will be free, with a retiring collection.

Born in Kent in the UK in 1985, Oliver Brett was educated as a music and academic scholar at Tonbridge School and then as organ scholar of King’s College, Cambridge from where he graduated in 2007 with a degree in music. Since then, he has held positions at Westminster Cathedral, Durham Cathedral and St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney. He is currently studying for a doctorate in organ performance with David Higgs and a masters in harpsichord performance with William Porter at the Eastman School of Music. He also serves as Director of Music at St Anne’s RC Church and plays the organ for Christ Church’s Schola Cantorum. He is in demand as a choral accompanist and continuo player, regularly collaborating with many of Eastman’s choral ensembles. His former organ and harpsichord teachers include Sarah Baldock, Thomas Trotter, David Sanger, David Briggs, Dame Gillian Weir and Edoardo Bellotti. In October 2017, Oliver was awarded second prize and the Royal Canadian College of Organists’ Prize at the Canadian International Organ Competition.

As a recitalist, Oliver has performed across five continents. Whilst organ scholar of King’s College, Cambridge, he was heard by millions worldwide when he played for the 2006 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. He has performed in venues such as the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; the Royal Albert Hall, London; the Seoul Arts Centre in South Korea; the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore; the Istanbul International Music Festival; concerts in Scandinavia and the Baltic States. As a solo concert artist, he has performed at the Festival of Sacred Music in Ecuador; and venues across the USA, including Washington National Cathedral and St Thomas’, Fifth Avenue, NYC. In the UK, he has given recitals at Westminster Abbey, St Albans Abbey, Lichfield Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral, Truro Cathedral, and at Worcester Cathedral as part of the Three Choirs Festival. In Australia he has given recitals in Melbourne, Perth, Hobart, Adelaide and Sydney, including at Sydney Town Hall, collaborating frequently with David Elton (currently principal trumpeter of the London Symphony Orchestra). He has performed with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Britten Sinfonia, Florilegium, the Armonico Consort and the Academy of Ancient Music.

PROGRAMME:

Symphony No.5 in F minor (Allegro vivace) - Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

The Hands of Time (Australian Premiere) - Jean-Baptiste Robin (b. 1976)

Praeludium in E minor BuxWV 142 - Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)

Choral No. 2 in B minor - César Franck (1822-1890)

Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue - Healey-Willan (1880-1976)

Admission is free, with a retiring collection.

Director of Music and Organist of The Temple Church, London, will be joining us for his only Sydney Organ Concert while in Australia. 

Roger Sayer began his musical career as a chorister in Porsmouth and then studied at the Royal College of Music under Nicholas Danby. Between 1980 and 1984 he was an organ student at St Paul's Cathedral, London, and was appointed organist of Woodford Parish Church in 1981. In 1989 he was appointed Assistant Organist at Rochester Cathedral and was promoted to Organist and Director of Music in 1994. He was appointed Organist & Director of Music at the Temple Church in 2013.

Roger Sayer's most well known recording to date is as organist on Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Christopher Nolan's 2014 film 'Interstellar'. Roger collaborated directly with Zimmer and Nolan as elements of the score were crafted around possibilities offered by the organ at Temple Church.

Admission is free and refreshments (and a chance to meet Roger) will be available at the conclusion of the concert.

A concert for voice and organ and organ solo, featuring Handel, Purcell and Vierne, and some Americana for the 4th July: Copland, Gershwin, and more!

Anna is well known to Sydney audiences as a fine soprano with an international reputation, and Simon now invites you to meet him for his second concert at the cathedral - his first collaboration with an Australian soloist.

Free admission (retiring collection.) Refreshments afterwards.