Iain Quinn

Born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1973, Iain Quinn enjoys a distinguished career as an organist, choral director and composer. With an extensive repertoire, he has won critical praise for his performances of both standard and contemporary works, in addition to his research and performance of rare and unpublished repertoire. His compositions are heard in churches and concert halls around the world.

Iain Quinn began his musical training as a chorister at Llandaff Cathedral. After initial studies of the piano and trumpet at the Welsh College of Music and Drama he concentrated on the organ. His organ teachers in the UK were Robert Court and Nicolas Kynaston. In 1994 he moved to the USA to pursue advanced study at The Juilliard School, New York and later The Hartt School, University of Hartford (Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude ) and the Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University (Master of Music). His principal teachers during this time were John Weaver, Larry Allen, Thomas Murray, William Porter (improvisation) and Nathan Williamson (composition). He holds the diploma of the Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music, with distinction.

As a student he was appointed Director of Music at St. Michael’s Theological College, Llandaff and at 14 became the youngest person ever to hold the post. He later joined the faculty of the Blackheath Conservatoire, London. After moving to the USA in 1994, he became Director of Music at the historic Church of the Intercession, New York and later the Church of the Holy Name (RC), New York City. From 1998-2005, he served as Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church, Hartford, Connecticut, where he also founded the Trinity Choristers. He also served as director for the Royal School of Church Music Summer Course in New England and as a National Examiner for the RSCM. From 2005-2010 he was Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral Church of St. John, Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition to his liturgical responsibilities, which involved the direction of works from the 12th Century to contemporary works written for the choir, he also directed an annual series of concerts of major works for choir and orchestra. During his tenure the Cathedral also established Cathedral Commissions, an innovative scheme to promote the composition of new choral works for the Cathedral Choir.

As a researcher his lectures and performances on the music of Samuel Barber, Franz Liszt, Russian organ music and English organ music of the Victorian era, have resulted in invitations from numerous universities. He has delivered papers at conferences of the American Musicological Society, British Institute of Organ Studies-Oxford University, College Music Society, Society for Musicology in Ireland, and the Royal Musical Association. He has also served on the faculty of the Sewanee Church Music Conference, the oldest church music conference of the Episcopal Church, and has performed and delivered papers for chapters and conventions of the American Guild of Organists throughout the USA. His edition of the three previously unpublished organ works of Samuel Barber was published by G. Schirmer in 2010.

As a performer he has made regular appearances in many of the world’s most important centres, including London (St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. John’s Smith Square, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral), Cambridge (King’s College, St. John’s College), Oxford (The Queen’s College), Haarlem, (St. Bavo), Berlin (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche), Edinburgh (Reid Concert Hall), Lisbon (Gulbenkian Foundation), Melbourne (Melba Hall), Washington DC (National Cathedral), New York (Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center), Duke University Chapel (USA), Princeton University Chapel (USA), Harvard University (Busch-Reisinger Museum (USA)), and Hong Kong (Cultural Centre). He has also performed at many international festivals included Tender is the North (Barbican Centre, London), Cambridge Summer Music (UK), Basically Bach (New York), Festival Barocco (Rome), Closer to Bach (Gdansk), 31 Days of Organ Music (Krakow), Dark Days Music Festival (Reykjavik), Dundee Summer Festival (Scotland), Cardiff Festival (Wales), Welsh Arts Festival (San Francisco) and Orgue et Couleurs (Montreal).

Additionally, he has represented the UK as an artist for The British Council at international organ festivals in Brazil, Hungary, Iceland, Italy and Poland. He has also broadcast on radio in several countries including appearances for the BBC (UK), (Australia) and the Fox Television Network (San Francisco).

His recordings include The Great Organ of Methuen, (Raven Recordings), The Organ Works of Amaral Vieira (Paulus Records), Eppur si muove by Robert Simpson (Hyperion Records), The Organ Works of Carl Czerny (Paulus Records) The Tsar of Instruments (Chandos Records), The Cathedral Organ, Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque (Raven CD), Czech music from Norwich Cathedral (Chandos Records), Variations on America (Chandos Records), Missa Orbis Factor and Missa Omnes Sancti, Choir of the Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque (Raven CD). His most recent recording is of Nordic organ music, recorded for Chandos at Coventry Cathedral.

Several composers have written works dedicated to him, including Leslie Howard, Wilfred Josephs, Askell Masson, Leonard Salzedo and Amaral Vieira. He has recently premiered new choral works by Judith Bingham, Stephen Paulus and Anthony Piccolo and conducted premieres of works by David Briggs and Tarik O'Regan.

As a composer he has written works for choir and organ which have been performed around the world. His organ work Continuum, has been widely played and recorded, including performances at Notre Dame, Paris, the first Annual Festival of New Organ Music, London and later the Festival of Contemporary Church Music, London. His choral works have include commissions and first performances with the choirs of the University of New Mexico; St. Mary the Virgin, New York City; University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee; St. Luke in the Fields, New York City; The Compline Choir, St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle. In 2007 he was commissioned to write a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for the 2007 conference of the Vergers Guild of the Episcopal Church, and in 2008 several of his choral works received UK premieres by the choirs of Gonville & Caius and Trinity College, Cambridge University, under the direction of Geoffrey Webber and Stephen Layton respectively. In 2009 his Missa Brevis was premiered at St. Luke in the Fields, NYC, Cradle Song (SATB) by the Vancouver Chamber Choir and Te lucis ante terminum by the choir of Wells Cathedral. 2009 also saw regional premieres of his works by the University Choir, Harvard University and the choir of Westminster Cathedral. Most recently his Mass for choir and organ and Regina Caeli (SATB) were premiered by the choirs of St. Luke in the Fields and St. Mary the Virgin, New York City, respectively and a setting of Christus est Stella Matutina for the choir of the College of St. Hild and St. Bede, Durham University.

He is currently working on new pieces for the choirs of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Harvard University and is published by Bardic Edition, Clarion Press, Encore Publications, GIA and Paraclete Press.

The recipient of numerous honours, he was awarded a Fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (presented by HRH The Duchess of Kent) to research the historic organs of Brazil, an award from The Prince’s Trust to further cultural exchange within the European Union and has received annual ASCAPlus awards since 2005 from The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in recognition of performances of his works. In 2009 he was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship to pursue PhD research studies at Durham University and in 2010 was the recipient of a Louise Dyer award from Musica Britannica.

He has recently been featured in profiles by Choir and Organ magazine, The Organ and Organist’s Review.

In 2009 he returned to the UK and is currently pursuing PhD studies in musicology at Durham University as a Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Music. He also serves as Director of Music and College Tutor at the College of St. Hild and St. Bede.