ORGAN RECITALS
Each Wednesday at 1.10pm during term time we host an informal lunchtime recital which ends before 2pm. Admission is free with a retiring collection. For disabled access please speak to the Porters Lodge (01865 279120).
Join us to enjoy the sparkling sound of one of the UK’s finest organs, bathed in the glorious architecture and acoustic of the Baroque chapel.
If you have any further enquiries please ring the choir office on 01865 289177 or email choir@queens.ox.ac.uk
hilary TERM 2025
Wednesday 22 January - Marcus McDevitt - New College
Wednesday 29 January - Thomas Simpson - Trinity College, Cambridge
Wednesday 5 February - Michael Koenig - Exeter College
Wednesday 12 February - Rudyard Cook - The Queen’s College, Oxford
Wednesday 19 February - James Perkins - Berkhamstead School
Wednesday 26 February - George Balfour - Christ Church
Wednesday 5 March - Luke Mitchell - Royal Academy of Music (recital for the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s Bach/Mendelssohn Festival)
Wednesday 12 March - Arthur Barton - The Queen’s College
22 January - Marcus McDevitt
New College
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 543
Dietrich Buxtehude (1674-1707)
Ciacona in E minor, BuxWV 160
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 739
Marcel Duprè (1886-1971)
Ave Maris Stella III (Vêpres du Commun) So Now as We Journey, Aid Our Weak Endeavour, Op.18 No.8
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, Op.122 No.5
Hubert Parry (1848-1918)
Chorale Prelude on ‘Eventide’
Chorale Prelude on the ‘Old 100th’
Marcus is currently the senior organ scholar at New College, Oxford studying music, where his duties include regularly accompanying the choir in their daily service schedule as well as for concerts and tours. His musical education started as a chorister in the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge where he sang on a number of recordings and international tours including the Once in Royal solo at the 2016 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Following schooling at Oundle School with a music and academic scholarship, he spent a year as organ scholar at Guildford Cathedral. He is also a keen pianist and continuo player, with recent projects including continuo for Bach’s St John Passion as well as soloist for Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. He is also regularly asked to accompany soloists across the University and further afield. He has studied piano with Christopher Hughes and Alec Hone and organ with Nigel Kerry and currently studies with William Whitehead and Colin Walsh.
29 January - Thomas Simpson
Trinity College, Cambridge
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Prelude in E-flat major, BWV 552/1
Trio Sonata No. 4 in E minor, BWV 528
i. Adagio – Vivace
ii. Andante
iii. Un poco Allegro
Peter Hurford (1930–2019)
Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
iii. Allegretto from Organ Sonata No. 4 in Bb major
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)
Rhosymedre
Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988)
Paean
Thomas is a first-year music student and Junior Organ Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was previously organ scholar to the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church, Oxford while in sixth form and at Chichester Cathedral in his gap year. He has studied the organ with Stephen Farr, Colin Walsh and Timothy Wakerell, and received his ARCO diploma in 2024. Thomas also composes, conducts and plays the cello in a piano quartet.
5 February - Michael Koenig
Exeter College
“Organ transcriptions revisited”
George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759)
Sinfonia from Semele, HWV 58 (tr. W.T. Best, c. 1865)
Minuet from ‘Alexander Severus,’ HWV 13a (tr. W.T. Best, c. 1865)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
Adagio from the Flute Sonata in G minor, BWV 1020 (tr. W.T. Best, c. 1865)
Fugue in Eb major from the Well-Tempered Clavier vol. ii, BWV 876
(tr. W.T. Best, c. 1865)
Sinfonia from the Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 (tr. W.T. Best, c. 1865)
Inventio in E-minor, BWV 778 (tr. Max Reger, 1903)
‘Wo soll ich fliehen hin’ from the Schübler Chorales, BWV 646
(tr. after an own cantata movement, 1747-48)
Grave and Presto from the Concerto in G major, BWV 592
(tr. after Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar, 1713-14)
George Frideric Handel
Larghetto from the Concerto grosso, op. 6 no. 12 (tr. W.T. Best, c. 1865)
Adagio and March from the Occasional Oratorio, HWV 62 (tr. John Walsh, c. 1760)
Adagio and March from the Occasional Oratorio, HWV 62 (tr. W.T. Best, c. 1865)
Michael Koenig is a DPhil student in Music and Global History at the University of Oxford, holding a Graduate Scholarship at St Catherine’s College. His dissertation ‘Of Town Halls and World’s Fairs: Global Connections, Victorian Aspirations and Secular Pipe Organ Culture of the Anglo-World, c. 1850-1914’ is supervised by Prof. Laura Tunbridge and Prof. Andrew Thompson. Michael has presented at conferences in the U.K., U.S. and Singapore and has recently published in the journals of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Trust of Australia, respectively.
In 2024, Michael was named the Betts Scholar in Organ Studies at the Faculty of Music. In this role, he oversees the educational support of all fifty organ scholars in the collegiate university. Between 2022 and 2024, he also served as the Graduate Organist of Exeter College. Before coming to Oxford, Michael earned MA degrees in organ performance and music education at Vienna University of Music, an MA in African Studies at Copenhagen University and an MA in World History and Cultures at King’s College, London; furthermore, he is a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Between 2008 and 2017, Michael completed over two dozen extended trips to Kenya and Nigeria as a visiting organ teacher and recitalist. In 2015, he also acted as the official organist for a Eucharistic service presided over by Pope Francis in Nairobi.
12 February - Rudyard cook
The Queen’s College, Oxford
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Prelude and Fugue in A BWV 543
Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott BWV 721
Prelude and Fugue in D BWV 539 ‘Fiddle’
Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit BWV 669
Christe, aller Welt Trost BWV 670
Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist BWV 671
O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde gross BWV 622
19 February - James Perkins
Berkhamstead School
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
Fantasia for Double Organ
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
Variations on More palatino
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
From Three Preludes founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes
Bryn Calfaria & Rhosymedre
Samuel Wesley (1766–1837)
Voluntary in C Op. 6 No. 6
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Fantasia in G (Piece d’Orgue) BWV 572
James Perkins trained at the Royal College of Music as an organist and harpsichordist, winning the Walford Davies Prize for organ performance and graduating with a first-class honours degree. He is Head of Keyboard at King Edward’s School Witley and has previously worked at Bradfield College, Haileybury and Berkhamsted School as organist. He also served in the British Army as a musician, training at RMSM Kneller Hall as a pianist and horn player before being posted to the Royal Artillery Band (Woolwich). Later he served with the Band of the Grenadier Guards during the period from the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to the Coronation of HM King Charles and Queen Camilla. Perkins currently serves with the Band of the Honourable Artillery Company in the City of London and regularly plays at events for the Corporation and Mayor of London at Guildhall and Mansion House on the piano and horn. He holds diplomas on each of his instruments. He is interested in learning German, drinking real ale and reading short books.
26 February - George Balfour
Christ Church
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (BWV 669)
Christe, aller Welt Trost (BWV 670)
Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist (BWV 671)
Nicolaus Bruhns (1665-1697)
Praeludium und Fuge in G
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Organ Sonata II:
Grave
Adagio
Allegro maestoso e vivace
Fuga
Basil Harwood (1859-1949)
From Sonata II:
Andante
Simon Preston (1938-2022)
Alleluyas
George is currently the senior organ scholar at Christ Church Cathedral Oxford where he is studying music as an undergraduate and working under Peter Holder. He started learning the organ at the age of 10 whilst at St John’s College School, Cambridge where he was head chorister in the College Choir. He continued his studies with Christopher Stokes at Chetham’s School of Music where he was winner of the senior organ prize. He currently studies with William Whitehead. He has previously held organ scholarships at Manchester Cathedral and Southwell Minster and has performed in St John’s College Chapel, Durham, Manchester and Ely Cathedrals, Southwell Minster and recently in the US. George is also a prize-winning pianist and French horn player.
5 March - Luke Mitchell
Royal Academy of Music
recital for the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s Bach/Mendelssohn Festival
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Prelude and Fugue in B minor BWV 544
Three settings of Allein Gott in der höh sei ehr from the Clavier-Ubung III
O Mensch Bewein' Dein' Sünde Gross, BWV 622
Partita on 'Sei Gegrußet, Jesu Gütig',BWV 768
Luke Mitchell is a London-based Organist, Harpsichordist and Conductor, who combines a broad portfolio of work with posts in London and Oxford. His recital work has seen him recently perform at St. George’s Hanover Square, the University of St. Andrews, the Oxford Philharmonic Bach festival and Trinity College Cambridge, with upcoming performances including Reubke’s Sonata on the 94th Psalm at St. Paul’s Cathedral. He read music at The Queen’s College Oxford, holding an Organ Scholarship, alongside scholarships with the University Schola Cantorum and New Chamber Opera as a conductor. At Queen’s, he appeared live on BBC Radio 3, was organist for the Encaenia ceremony, and studied Organ with Stephen Farr, William Whitehead and Pieter Van Dijk. Whilst at Oxford, he played in all the major recital series, and won the Boise Scholarship for Performance, and directed four productions with New Chamber Opera. As a Harpsichordist, he has performed as concerto soloist and director at the Keble Early Music Festival, and in March makes his sold-out concerto debut at the London Handel Festival, and as a continuo player has performed with the Academy Baroque Soloists, Academy of Ancient Music and Instruments of Time and Truth. Prior to Oxford, he spent a year as Organ Scholar of Worcester Cathedral, where he became a prize-winning Associate of the Royal College of Organists, and studied with James McVinnie and Richard Brasier. He is currently a post-graduate Historical Performance student at the Royal Academy of Music, studying Harpsichord with Carole Cerasi and Steven Devine, having formerly studied with Laurence Cummings. He combines his studies with organist posts at St. Marylebone Parish Church, and Exeter College, Oxford.
