Cathedral Organists

Dr Joseph Nolan

ORGANIST AND MASTER OF THE CHORISTERS

Joseph Nolan has been hailed “as one of the great organists of our time” (ABC Radio National), “indisputably one of the world’s finest organists’ (Limelight), “for his miraculous playing” (BBC Radio 3 Record Review), “his towering technique, vivid virtuosity, and inspired interpretive insight’’ (Gramophone), and “as the Australian counterpart of Cameron Carpenter here in the USA—an organist with absolutely phenomenal keyboard technique’’ (Fanfare).

Joseph’s discography for Gramophone Label of the Year, Signum Records, is a Who’s Who of the world’s greatest organs and buildings, featuring the Parisian organs of St Sulpice, La Madeleine, St Etienne Du Mont, and St Sernin Toulouse, St Francois de Sales, Lyon, St Bavo Haarlem, St Ouen Rouen, and Buckingham Palace.

Arguably best known for his recordings of the complete organ works of Widor, Joseph Nolan’s Widor cycle has been awarded two Gramophone Critics Choice, innumerable five-star reviews in all the major music magazines, and benchmark status in Gramophone, New York’s The Criterion, Musicweb International, and ClassicalSource. The disks have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Pipedreams USA, Radio France, Radio Sweden, and ABC Classic, amongst others.

A much sought-after soloist with major orchestras, Joseph Nolan made his debut as soloist at Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (alongside star US mezzo-soprano Susan Graham) under their former chief conductor, David Robertson. The concerts received rave reviews in Limelight and The Sydney Morning Herald, who stated that “Nolan has an unequivocally refined ear and sensitivity to French repertoire… I have never heard the Sydney Opera House organ sound better”.

Joseph has also performed as a soloist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at St. Peter’s Cathedral, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra at Llewellyn Hall, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at QPAC, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall. He has also appeared as a featured soloist on a national tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra alongside famed Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero and conductor Alexander Shelley.

An organ student of Professor Richard Popplewell at The Royal College of Music, London, Joseph won multiple prizes, including for most promising organ student. Awarded First Class Honors for his BMus final recital at the Temple Church, London, Joseph continued his postgraduate study with Marie Claire Alain in Paris, winning scholarships from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Hattori Foundation.

Joseph returned to London and was appointed to Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, in 2004. He performed on numerous occasions at Buckingham Palace, most notably giving the opening concert of the refurbished Grand Ballroom organ to a distinguished audience. Joseph is the first ever organist to be featured on a commercial disk, playing the refurbished Grand Ballroom organ in Buckingham Palace on the Signum Classics label in 2008.

Since 2008, Joseph has been Master of Music at St George’s Cathedral, Perth, Western Australia. Under his leadership, the Cathedral music program has been described as “elite” and “world-class” in The Australian and The West Australian newspapers. The Cathedral Consort, which Joseph founded, has performed at the Perth Festival, Musica Viva, and with WASO, The Hilliard Ensemble, the Academy of Ancient Music, and The King’s Singers. Joseph has conducted the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and St George’s Cathedral Consort in performances of many of the great oratorios, such as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Many of these concerts have been broadcast on ABC Classic, garnering rave reviews in The Australian and The West Australian newspapers.

The Government of France awarded Joseph the medal of Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres for services to French music in 2016. An Honorary Fellow of the University of Western Australia, Joseph was awarded the university’s prestigious higher doctorate, the Doctor of Letters, in 2018. Joseph’s career has also been the subject of substantial interviews on Radio National (Australia) and in features within Gramophone, Choir and Organ, The Organ, The Age (Sydney), Classical Music, and The Australian.

Joseph Nolan is represented for general worldwide management by Mark Stephan Buhl Artists Management, Vienna.

Stewart Smith

ASSISTANT ORGANIST

Stewart is a senior lecturer at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). He studied performance and musicology at the Royal Academy of Music and at London University, and graduated with first-class honours, a master’s degree and two performance diplomas.

Stewart’s teaching at WAAPA sees him working with students in performance activities (mainly Baroque music – including Baroque opera) and in a variety of historical and theoretical disciplines. He is able to put into practice techniques of historical improvisation—including the ability to improvise fugues—and in addition to writing about this in the pedagogy literature, Stewart has had great success in inspiring the next generation of students to master these practices for themselves.

Stewart’s research has been disseminated through seminars, conferences, editions and articles, and he has successfully supervised many honours and masters students in the above topics. He has won several research grants, most notably a large-scale grant from the Australian Research Council, where he was a chief investigator researching the music of the French Baroque. Stewart gives occasional public lectures for organisations such as the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Musica Viva, and from time to time authors programme notes, CD liner notes and concert reviews.

As an organist and harpsichordist Stewart has recorded many CDs and has performed many times for ABC radio and television. Stewart has given organ recitals throughout the British Isles—including Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Stewart has had a long association with church music and in addition to being assistant organist at two of London’s most important parish churches (St. Marylebone, and St. James’ Sussex Gardens).

Organists
1875 -????
???? -1879
???? -1885
1885-1898
1898-1908
1908-1917
1918-1931
1931-1961
1961-1967
1968-1970
1970-1973
1973-1975
1976-1977
1977-1983
1983-1985
1986-1993
1993-1994
1994-2007
2008-
C Trotter
Chas H Compton
Bode
Edward A Letch
Reginald D’Arcy-Irvine
Alexander Leckie
Haydn Hardwick
Leslie Kirke
Bruce Naylor
James Briton
Rev’d Michael Wentzell
Michael Dudman
Dudley Bastian
David O’Neill
Lindsay Hutchinson
Gordon Appleton
Christopher Dearnley
Simon Lawford
Dr Joseph Nolan
Assistant Organists

1971
1977-1983
1981-1983
1984-1986
1986
1986-1991
1991
1991-1992
1992-1994
1994-1997
1997-1998
1998-1999
1999-2000
2000-2001
2004-2006
2006-2007
2008-2013
2014-2015
2016-2018
2019-2022
2023-

Ian Hardy
Lewis Rosenburg
Stephen Farmer
John Bates
Trevor Rodd
Kathleen Wood
David Goode
Michael Capon
Andrew Kirk
Stewart Smith
Anthony Gowing
Daniel Hyde
Christian Wilson
Max Pappenheim
Richard Pinel
Jonathan Clinch
Stewart Smith
Colin van der Lecq
Michael Lukin
Holly Broadbent (Senior Organ Scholar)
Stewart Smith