IAIN FARRINGTON

Iain Farrington performs extensively as an organist and pianist both in the UK and abroad. He was Organ Scholar at St John's College, Cambridge University. With the College Choir he toured Japan and South Africa, gave regular broadcasts on BBC Radio Three and recorded four CD's on the Naxos and Nimbus labels, including an award-winning disc of Howells. He was previously Organ Scholar at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle where he played for numerous Royal occasions. Iain has given solo recitals in Reykyavik, Iceland, Westminster and Gloucester Cathedrals and has performed in Malaysia, Latvia, Sweden, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, St Paul's Cathedral, the Royal Albert Hall, the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and Birmingham Symphony Hall. With the BBC Singers he has performed in Holland and the Spitalfields Festival, and recorded music by Duruflé, Maxwell Davies, Tippett, Judith Weir, Robin Holloway, Lennox and Michael Berkeley. He has also recorded Judith Bingham's The Secret Garden with the BBC Symphony Chorus. Iain studied piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music, London and gained a DipRAM, the highest grade for a postgraduate. He participated in masterclasses with Malcolm Martineau at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh. As a pianist, Iain has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room, the Royal Opera House, Harewood House, St David's Hall, Cardiff, and in Japan, South Africa, and Jordan. He has worked with John Mark Ainsley, David Wilson-Johnson, Lesley Garrett, the Royal Ballet, Birmingham and Almeida Opera Companies under Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis and Thomas Àdes. In 2001, he won the Megan Foster Accompanist Prize in the Maggie Teyte Competition. Iain is the accompanist for the London Philharmonic Choir, and also works regularly with European Voices, the London Symphony Chorus and the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, under such conductors as Mark Elder, Richard Hickox and Sir Charles Mackerras. Iain has given solo piano recitals in the National Portrait Gallery, the British Embassy in Latvia, and on cruises to the Canary Islands and the Baltic States. He has performed solo and chamber works in the Proms 2005, 2004 and 2001, all broadcast on BBC Radio Three. With the Endymion Ensemble, Iain has performed in the Purcell Room and St John's Smith Square, and with the Farrington Ensemble in the Windsor Festival, the Pump Rooms, Bath and the Halifax Festival. Iain is a prolific composer and arranger, having made over ninety arrangements for organ, piano and chamber ensembles. His solo piano arrangement of Elgar/Payne Symphony No.3 is published by Boosey and Hawkes, and his organ arrangements of Walton's music have been recorded on the Naxos label. In July 2005, Iford Opera performed his chamber orchestra version of Dvorak's Rusalka. As a composer, Iain has written works for organ, piano, chorus and ensemble. His organ suite Fiesta! has been performed in New Zealand, Sweden, France, Germany, and in cathedrals across the UK, and recorded on the Hyperion label by Christopher Herrick. Kevin Bowyer is also recording the suite in Blackburn Cathedral for release in 2006. His anthem Rejoice for choir and organ won the RSCM 2004 Anthem Prize, and was first performed by Norwich Cathedral Choir.