Post of Director of Organ School and Cathedral Organist

Post of Director of Organ School and Cathedral Organist


The Diocese of Leeds in partnership with The Royal College of Organists wishes to appoint a Director of the Organ School and Cathedral Organist.

This is a new full time post.

Flexible start date between January and September 2016.
Salary £21,530 and c.£3,500 fees plus three months’ annual leave and pension scheme.

Closing date: Friday 30th October.

The Diocese of Leeds has the largest church music programme in the United Kingdom.

In total it maintains 58 choirs comprising over 2500 children meeting weekly. There are 43 school choirs, four boys' choirs, four girls' choirs, three mixed children’s choirs, two youth choirs, a ground breaking new choir school and a semi-professional adult choir.

Leeds Cathedral operates a programme of eight sung weekly services of Mass and Vespers. National BBC broadcasts are a major feature of the year for all the choirs, with nine taking place in 2014. The Cathedral Choirs enjoy international distribution on the Brilliant Classics label with a 2013 CD of Duruflé’s Complete Choral Works and a forthcoming 2015 release of Arvo Pärt works. The Cathedral has a superb organ and generous acoustic. The instrument was completely restored and augmented in 2010 by Klais of Bonn.

Parishes in the Diocese of Leeds have invested heavily in recent years in many new or restored organs. This portfolio of instruments is impressive, including a number of new mechanical organs sited in west end galleries. Two high schools also have pipe organs on site. The Organ School will complement the Singing Programme and the success of the existing model gives us confidence that it will flourish.

The Organ School is to be set up in partnership with The Royal College of Organists (RCO), the national body for accrediting and training organists and choir directors, with an international reputation for excellence. The RCO is keen to broaden its activities and has been attracted to the reputation of the Diocese of Leeds Music Programme because of its scale and quality.

Please visit www.dioceseofleedsmusic.org.uk/news/fullstory.php?newsid=190 to download application details.

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