PATRICK RUSSILL TO GIVE ORGAN RECITAL IN SALISBURY CATHEDRAL ON 16 JULY

Patrick Russill, Director of Music at The London Oratory, gives the fourth in this year’s Organ Recital Series at Salisbury Cathedral on Wednesday 16 July at 7.30pm performing a wonderful programme of music by Bach, Franck, Messiaen, Vierne and Tournemire.

Daniel Cook, Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral and responsible for the recital series, said “Patrick Russill was educated at Shaftesbury Grammar School and as a teenager studied organ on the cathedral’s famous Father Willis instrument. As a former student of Paddy’s at the Royal Academy of Music, it is a complete delight for me to be in the position to invite him back to Salisbury. Indeed the central section of his programme consists of pieces which he played in Salisbury as a student.”

Russill’s programme consists almost entirely of French music from the 19th and 20th centuries, perfectly suited to the Salisbury’s iconic Father Willis organ. He also performs two works by the master craftsman J S Bach, the Prelude and Fugue in C major (BWV 545) and Chorale Prelude: Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (BWV 662). His recital opens with Messiaen’s Méditations sur la Mystère de la Sainte Trinité VI: Le Fils to mark the centenary of Messiaen’s birth in 1908. Other pieces include César Franck’s Choral No 3 in A minor, two movements from 24 Pièces en style libre Op. 31 by Louis Vierne as well as his haunting Stèle pour un enfant défunt.

Russill is particularly known for his performances of Tournemire’s music and his recital reaches its climax with a cross-section of four pieces from L’Orgue Mystique, a monumental cycle of pieces written for each Sunday in the church year and other important feast days. He performs Alleluia No.4 (Office 32), Choral Alleluiatique No.4 (Office 46), Communion: De fructu (Office 38) and the final movement from the final office Fantasie sur le Te Deum et Guirlandes Alleluiatiques (Office 51).

Daniel Cook concluded, “Without doubt most of the skills I use every day came as a direct result of my studies with Paddy. I can therefore say with confidence that this recital promises to be a wonderful pairing of first-rate musicianship informed by the higest level of academic scholarship.”

Tickets, price £8.00 (concessions for children) via the cathedral website: www.salisburycathedral.org.uk or at the door.

Patrick Russill has forged a distinctive place in English church music as a performer, teacher and scholar of wide sympathies. He combines the post of Director of Music of the London Oratory with that of Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he is also a professor of organ. In addition, he is Chief Examiner of the Royal College of Organists and Visiting Professor of Choral Direction at the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik und Theater.
He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music and an Honorary Fellow of both the Guild of Church Musicians and the Royal College of Organists – the highest accolade of each institution.