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works, in addition to his research and performance of rare and unpublished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, studying with 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 in Music). His principal teachers during this time were John
Weaver, Larry Allen, Thomas Murray, William Porter (improvisation) and Nathan
Williamson (composition). He also holds the diplomas of Fellow of the Royal
College of Organists and Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music (with
distinction).
At 14 he was appointed Director of Music at St. Michael’s Theological
College, Llandaff, and was the youngest person ever to hold the post. He later
joined the faculty of the Blackheath Conservatoire, London. After moving to the
USA, 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 is founded the Trinity Choristers, now Choir School of
Hartford. He has 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 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 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), Lisbon (Gulbenkian Foundation), Melbourne
(Melba Hall), Washington DC (National Cathedral), New York (Alice Tully Hall,
Lincoln Center) 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, David Briggs, Stephen
Paulus, Anthony Piccolo and Tarik O'Regan.
As a composer he has written works for choir and organ which have been
performed around the world. His organ works have been performed at Notre Dame,
and St. Sulpice, Paris, the first Annual Festival of New Organ Music, London and
the Festival of Contemporary Church Music, London. His choral works have
included 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; Vancouver Chamber Choir; Trinity College,
Cambridge; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; and Westminster Cathedral. In
the current year he has completed works for the Llandaff Cathedral School Girls
Choir; Harvard University; St. Paul’s Church, K Street; and Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge, where he was Visiting Composer. His compositions are
published by Bardic Edition, Clarion Press, Encore Publications, GIA, and
Paraclete Press.
As a researcher his lectures and performances on the music of Samuel Barber,
Franz Liszt, Russian organ music and English organ music, have resulted in
invitations from numerous universities. He has also delivered papers at
conferences of the American Musicological Society; British Institute of Organ
Studies-Oxford University; College Music Society; Sound Thought, Glasgow
University; Sixth International Organ Symposium, Moscow; Society for Musicology
in Ireland and the Royal Musical Association annual conference. He has also
served on the faculty of the Sewanee Church Music Conference, the oldest church
music conference of the Episcopal Church, and performed and presented for
chapters and conventions of the American Guild of Organists throughout the USA.
Later this year he will perform and deliver papers at the International
Conference of Music in Russia, Durham University; the Eighth Biennial Conference
for Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Belfast; and at the Göteborg
International Organ Academy, Sweden. His edition of the three previously
unpublished organ works of Samuel Barber was published by G. Schirmer in 2010,
and a critical edition of the complete organ works of Carl Czerny will be
published by A-R Editions in June, 2011. An article on the organ works of Barber
has recently been published in Tempo (Cambridge University 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 2010 he was the recipient of a
Louise Dyer award from Musica Britannica. Profiles of his work have been
featured in Choir and Organ magazine, The Organ and
Organists’ Review.
In 2009, he returned to the UK to pursue 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.
