Durham Cathedral Choir Association

Registered Charity 1078233

The Master of the Choristers and Organist

James Lancelot is Master of the Choristers and Organist of Durham Cathedral, a position he has held since 1985. Prior to this he was successively a Chorister of St Paul’s Cathedral, Organ Scholar of King’s College, Cambridge and Sub-Organist of Winchester Cathedral. He studied with Ralph Downes, Gillian Weir and Nicholas Danby. At Durham he takes responsibility for the cathedral’s musical ministry, at whose heart are the services sung daily by the Cathedral Choir.

 

During his tenure the choir has maintained its reputation as one of Britain’s leading cathedral choirs. He has taken them on tour to Holland, Scandinavia, Germany, Brazil and the USA, and with them he has worked with the Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Philharmonic, the London Festival Orchestra, the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, BT Scottish Ensemble and Stan Tracey and his orchestra. The choir has recorded on many occasions both for Priory and privately for Durham Cathedral Choir Association, and has made numerous broadcasts; in July 2005 it appeared in concert at the International Organ Festival at St Alban’s Cathedral. James also takes overall responsibility for the cathedral’s second choir, Durham Cathedral Consort of Singers, which he was instrumental in working with the Cathedral Chapter to found in 1997; this choir sings regularly in the Cathedral on its own but also on occasion combines with the Cathedral Choir, which it will do in February 2007, when the two choirs will sing Evensong accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic in a live broadcast (the second such occasion in recent years). James is also Organist to the University of Durham, Conductor of Durham University Choral Society and immediate Past President of the Cathedral Organists Association; in 2002 he became a Lay Canon of Durham Cathedral and received Honorary Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians, and in 2006 he was appointed a Fellow of St Chad’s College, Durham.

 

In addition to his work at the cathedral, James Lancelot pursues an active recital career both in Britain and abroad. Recent years have seen visits to Holland, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Denmark, the USA, France, Russia, Norway and Sweden as well as recitals in many British cathedrals and town halls. He is due to visit Latvia this August and will play the historic organs at the Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren in July 2008. Other engagements during Summer 2007 include recitals in York Minster and with the Exon Singers at Tavistock, Devon.

 

 

I suspect that few lovers of church music will want to be without these; the first is a tour de force….Recordings of Stanford by Durham Cathedral Choir reviewed in the Church Times

 

This is a stunning release… Vierne Symphony No 5 played by James Lancelot reviewed in The Organ

 

Quite simply, this is a definitive, outstanding, glorious recording…The complete organ works of Parry played by James Lancelot reviewed in The Gramophone

 

There have already been some very impressive recitals on Aberdeen University’s Aubertin Organ, so in saying that James Lancelot’s was the best yet, I mean that it was very special indeed. Aberdeen University website review of a recital in February 2006