Matthew Blaiden is the Director of Music at St Mary Magdalene Church, Richmond. Previously, he has been the Assistant Organist at Little St Mary’s Church, Cambridge, and held the Organ Scholarship at St Peter’s Church, Petersham.
Programme:
Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886)
Excelsior!
Am Grabe Richard Wagners
Percy Whitlock (1903-1946)
Folk Tune (from Five Short Pieces)
Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
Première Fantaisie
Deuxième Fantaisie
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
Rhosymedre (from Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes)
Franz Liszt
Vallée d’Obermann
arr. Johannes Geffert
More About Matthew
Matthew was educated at King’s College School, Wimbledon, after which he gained a 1st Class Honours B.A. in English Language and Literature from King’s College London; more recently, he took an M.Phil. in Renaissance Literature from the University of Cambridge, based at Gonville and Caius College.
At school Matthew sang in the school Chamber Choir under Daniel Phillips, taking him to many prestigious venues across the UK including Westminster Abbey, Southwark Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral, St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, and Canterbury Cathedral. He also sang with them on tour across Ireland and Italy, and recorded a CD of Christmas music, on which he was a soloist. Whilst at school, Matthew studied the piano with Muriel Levin and the organ and improvisation with Ronny Krippner.
He has since participated in masterclasses given by James Parsons, Jacques van Oortmerssen, Ashley Grote, William Whitehead and Tom Bell, and engaged in private study with Dame Gillian Weir and Nicolas Kynaston. Matthew is an increasingly busy organ recitalist across the UK, drawing on a varied repertoire spanning almost 700 years of music from the earliest known keyboard writing to contemporary compositions. He has performed at King’s College London, in College chapels in Oxford and Cambridge, Portsmouth, Chester and Blackburn Cathedrals, both cathedrals in Southwark, as well as many parish churches, and in the Reid Concert Hall in Edinburgh.