Tuesdays Till Two - Lunchtime Organ Concert: James Bowstead

About

The second lunchtime concert in our summer season of Tuesdays Till Two will see a return visit by James Bowstead, who was Chris Why's piano accompanist here on 7th June. In this concert James, who is a former organ scholar at Peterborough Cathedral and currently Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, will be giving his first recital on the St John's organ, which was used for his audition for Organ Scholar at the cathedral.

As ever the church will be open for an hour before the concert begins, with volunteers from the pop-up café team offering lots of home made sweet and savoury treats as well as hot and cold drinks.

The concert will begin promptly at 1pm. Admission is free, but those who are able to afford it are asked to make a donation. The suggested amount is £5.

Please note that there is no concert on 2nd August, but Tuesdays Till Two will return with four more weekly concerts from 9th August.

Programme:

J L Krebs - Prelude and Fugue in C major

H Howells - from 6 Short Pieces for Organ:
Quasi Lento: Teneramente
Aria
Allegro Scherzando

C Franck - Cantabile

F Mendelssohn - Sonata No. 2 in C minor

About James Bowstead:

James Bowstead is Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, where he plays the organ or directs the choir for the daily services and contributes to the training and rehearsal of the boy and girl choristers. He was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Jesus College, Oxford, where he was the Senior Organ Scholar, responsible for directing the voluntary choir, with whom he toured to Cologne, Bratislava, Vienna, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Whilst at Oxford he studied organ with Steven Grahl and choral conducting with Paul Spicer. He graduated in 2015, following which he worked as Organist in Residence at Pangbourne College in Berkshire and Organ Scholar at All Saints Church, Fulham, home to one of the best amateur church choirs in the country, and then as Organ Scholar at Peterborough Cathedral.

He gained his FRCO in Winter 2018 and has given recitals at Jesus and Exeter Colleges, Oxford, at the 2015 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford, and as part of the inaugural recital series on the newly-restored organ at the Moot Hall in Colchester. He is also a composer and arranger, having had works recorded by the Choir of Jesus College, Oxford for Regent, published by Novello and performed in the presence of HRH the Prince of Wales.