Organ Recital

The 2024 Cathedral Organ Recital Series welcomes first-rate organists to play Truro’s acclaimed Father Willis Organ. This week we welcome Peter King. This recital will be live-streamed on this page at 13:10 and our YouTube channel

Programme

Bio

“He is a virtuoso of world class... I’m astonished at his bravura; nothing fazes him... and he plays with such élan, and with such passion, such commitment,” Chris de Souza describing Peter King’s Liszt CDs on BBC Radio 3’s “CD Review”. Organist Emeritus of Bath Abbey, Peter was Director of Music at the Abbey (1986-2016). Under his direction the Abbey Choir visited France, Germany and Holland, and released eight CDs. It broadcast on BBC TV and radio, regularly singing Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3. In 1997 Peter started the Girls’ Choir which quickly established itself as one of the finest of its kind.

Peter’s CDs as Director and Soloist have been acclaimed by the critics. A CD of works for Organ & Orchestra with BBCNOW, (Poulenc, & Rheinberger & Respighi), has been particularly singled out for praise, being the recommended recording of the Poulenc Concerto in “Building a Library” on BBC Radio 3’s CD Review; also “Editor’s Choice” in both BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone which describes the CD as “a disc of real distinction... leaves the competition standing... even reluctant converts are likely to be overwhelmed by this thrilling disc. The sound of the Bath Abbey Klais organ matches the life-affirming playing of Peter King. The whole recording is filled with a love of making music."

Peter was the CBSO’s Assistant Chorus Master during Sir Simon Rattle’s reign as Musical Director, playing on Rattle’s EMI recordings of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony and Symphony-of-a-Thousand. Highlights have included recitals at Westminster Cathedral’s Grand Organ Festival, King’s College, Cambridge, St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, Hamburg Michaeliskirche, Dresden Hofkirche and Cologne Cathedral and Breda, Haarlem and ’s Hertogenbosch Cathedrals, a performance in Prague of Petr Eben’s Vesperae de Nativitatis in the presence of the composer, opening concerts on new organs in Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao, and Symphony Hall, Birmingham, solo appearances with the CBSO (Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony) and The Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields (Poulenc’s Organ Concerto), and appearances at the Bath International Festival and recitals at the Bath Mozartfest broadcast on BBC Radio 3. 2024 sees concerts in Blackburn, Durham & Norwich Cathedrals and a Große Orgel Nacht in the Monastery of St Florian (Austria) as part of the Bruckner bicentenary celebrations.

Peter King holds the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Bath.

Live-stream

The series runs from March to October and each recital lasts around 45 minutes. There is no charge to attend or listen to these concerts. We rely on your support to help with the cost of maintaining the cathedral’s famous Father Willis Organ. Keeping the cathedral’s musical instruments in first-rate condition enables us to put on such recitals.

To give regularly by Direct Debit, please use the Parish Giving Scheme Single donations can be made through Just Giving

Popular donations are £5/person