# Simon Preston

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Simon_Preston
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Simon_Preston.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Preston
> Source revision: 1356878370
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|English organist, conductor, and composer (1938–2022)}}
{{about||the Lord Provost of Edinburgh|Simon Preston of Craigmillar}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Simon John Preston
| image         =
| image_size    = 
| caption       = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1938|08|04|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [Bournemouth](/source/Bournemouth), England
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2022|05|13|1938|08|04|df=y}}
| death_place   = 
| resting_place = 
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = Organist, conductor, composer
| years_active  = 1958–2020
| awards        = Most Excellent Order of the British Empire [CBE](/source/CBE)
| spouse        = 
| children      =  
}}

'''Simon John Preston''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (4 August 1938 – 13 May 2022) was an English organist, conductor and composer who was admired as one of the most important English church musicians of his generation.<ref name=nyt>[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/arts/music/simon-preston-dead.html "Simon Preston, Acclaimed Organist and Conductor, Dies at 83"]. ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)''. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.</ref><ref name=abbey>[https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/abbey-mourns-former-organist-and-master-of-the-choristers-1 "Abbey mourns former Organist and Master of the Choristers"]. ''Westminster Abbey''. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.</ref>

==Family and education==
Preston was born in [Bournemouth](/source/Bournemouth), Dorset, to John Preston, an architectural draughtsman, and Doreen Lane,<ref name=guardian>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/07/simon-preston-obituary| first=Barry| last=Millington| title=Simon Preston obituary| newspaper=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)| location=London| date=7 June 2022| access-date=10 June 2022}}</ref> and was introduced to music at an early age. His uncle played the organ at the church that his family attended, and he was inspired to take up the instrument at the age of 5 after hearing a recording of [George Thalben-Ball](/source/George_Thalben-Ball).<ref name=nyt/>

He attended [Canford School](/source/Canford_School) in [Wimborne](/source/Wimborne_Minster), Dorset and was a [chorister](/source/chorister) at [King's College, Cambridge](/source/King's_College%2C_Cambridge), where he sang as a [treble](/source/boy_soprano).<ref name=guardian/> He approached the college's music director, [Boris Ord](/source/Boris_Ord), for [organ](/source/pipe_organ) lessons but was referred to [Hugh McLean](/source/Hugh_McLean_(organist)).<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Buxton| first1=Mark| title=Simon Preston at 50| journal=Musical Times| date=October 1988| volume=129| issue=1748| pages=555–557| doi=10.2307/966708| jstor=966708}}</ref> He later studied under [Caleb Henry Trevor](/source/C_H_Trevor_(organist)) at the [Royal Academy of Music](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Music) before returning to King's College as [organ scholar](/source/organ_scholar) under [David Willcocks](/source/David_Willcocks). He first came to attention when he accompanied the college choir at the service of [Nine Lessons and Carols](/source/Nine_Lessons_and_Carols) on Christmas Eve in 1958.<ref name=guardian/>

In 2012 he married Elizabeth Hays.<ref name=nyt/>

==Career and legacy==
[[Image:Westminster Abbey St Peter.jpg|thumb|right|[Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey) in London, where Preston served as sub-organist in the 1960s and organist in the 1980s.]]
Preston was sub-organist of [Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey) from 1962 to 1967 and, after a brief period covering for [Peter Hurford](/source/Peter_Hurford) at [St Albans Cathedral](/source/St_Albans_Cathedral) in 1968, became organist of [Christ Church, Oxford](/source/Christ_Church%2C_Oxford), in 1970, where he also lectured.<ref name=nyt/> In 1981 he returned to Westminster Abbey, serving as Organist and Master of the Choristers until 1987.<ref name=abbey/> During that time he was responsible for the music at the [wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson](/source/wedding_of_Prince_Andrew_and_Sarah_Ferguson) in 1986.

Preston left Westminster Abbey in 1987 to pursue a career as an international concert organist.<ref name=abbey/>

He was artistic director of the Calgary International Organ Festival from 1990 to 2002, patron of the [University of Buckingham](/source/University_of_Buckingham), chair of the [Herbert Howells Society](/source/Herbert_Howells) and vice-president of both the Organ Club and the Organists’ Benevolent League. He also served as a member of the [Arts Council](/source/Arts_Council_of_Great_Britain) music panel and the music committee of the [BBC](/source/BBC).<ref name=ct>{{cite news| url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/27-may3-june/gazette/obituaries/obituary-simon-preston| first=Kenneth| last=Shenton| title=Obituary: Simon Preston| website=Church Times| date=27 May 2022| access-date=10 June 2022}}</ref>

Admired as "one of the most important English church musicians of his generation", he died on 13 May 2022 at the age of 83.<ref name=nyt/><ref name=gram>{{cite news| url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/article/the-organist-and-conductor-simon-preston-has-died| title=The organist and conductor Simon Preston has died| magazine=[Gramophone](/source/Gramophone_(magazine))| access-date=4 August 2024}}</ref>

==Compositions and recordings==
From the 1960s onwards, Preston composed a number of works for the organ, the best-known of which is probably his ''Alleluyas'', written in 1965 in the style of [Olivier Messiaen](/source/Olivier_Messiaen). Recordings of his organ works originally made in the 1960s on the [Argo](/source/Argo_Records_(UK)) label were re-issued by Eloquence in November 2017.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.eloquenceclassics.com/simon-preston/| title=Simon Preston| website=Eloquence| date=13 October 2017| access-date=4 August 2024}}</ref>

In 1965, for the [Edington Music Festival](/source/Edington_Priory), he commissioned{{clarify|date=May 2022}} a setting of verses 73–104 of [Psalm 119](/source/Psalm_119), and in 1966 he composed a set of five [anthems](/source/anthems). The following year he wrote a [Missa Brevis](/source/Missa_Brevis) (short [mass service](/source/mass_(music))) for the Edington Music Festival, and in 1968 he wrote a [Magnificat](/source/Magnificat) and a [Nunc Dimittis](/source/Nunc_Dimittis) for the same festival.

{{external media|width=230px|audio1= Simon Preston performing [Johann Sebastian Bach](/source/Johann_Sebastian_Bach)'s Trio Sonatas BWV 525–530  in 1993 '''Here on Archive.org'''|audio2= Simon Preston with the [Yehudi Menuhin](/source/Yehudi_Menuhin) Festival Orchestra performing Georg Friedrich Handel's Organ Concerto: <br> No. 4 in F major, Op. 4. No. 4<br> No. 5 in F major, Op. 4, No. 5 <br> No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 4, No. 6 <br>  No. 13 in F major "Cuckoo and the Nightingale" '''Here on archive.org'''}}

Preston made over 100 recordings, beginning in the early 1960s.<ref name=guardian/> His recordings include the complete organ works of [Johann Sebastian Bach](/source/Johann_Sebastian_Bach) and the [Organ Symphony](/source/Symphony_No._3_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns)) (''Symphony No. 3'') by [Camille Saint-Saëns](/source/Camille_Saint-Sa%C3%ABns),<ref name=abbey/> with [James Levine](/source/James_Levine) conducting the [Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra](/source/Berlin_Philharmonic_Orchestra), both for [Deutsche Grammophon](/source/Deutsche_Grammophon). He recorded [George Frideric Handel](/source/George_Frideric_Handel)'s complete organ concertos twice: with [Yehudi Menuhin](/source/Yehudi_Menuhin) conducting the [Bath Festival Orchestra](/source/Bath_International_Music_Festival) and later on period instruments with [Trevor Pinnock](/source/Trevor_Pinnock) directing [The English Concert](/source/The_English_Concert). In 2010, he played the organ for the recording of [Hector Berlioz](/source/Hector_Berlioz)'s [''Te Deum''](/source/Te_Deum_(Berlioz)), Op. 22, with the [BBC National Orchestra of Wales](/source/BBC_National_Orchestra_of_Wales), conducted by [Susanna Mälkki](/source/Susanna_M%C3%A4lkki) (CD BBC Music Magazine 2010).

He contributed music to the 1975 film ''[Rollerball](/source/Rollerball_(1975_film))'' and the 1984 film ''[Amadeus](/source/Amadeus_(film))''.<ref name=guardian/><ref name=ct/>

He also played the [harpsichord](/source/harpsichord), particularly in the early stages of his career, including on a recording of the ''[Concert champêtre](/source/Concert_champ%C3%AAtre)'' by [Francis Poulenc](/source/Francis_Poulenc).

==Awards==
Preston was made an Officer of the [Order of the British Empire](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire) (OBE) in [2000](/source/2000_New_Year_Honours) and was promoted to a Commander (CBE) in [2009](/source/2009_Birthday_Honours).<ref name=abbey/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59090 |date=13 June 2009 |page=8 |supp=y }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_06_09mainlist.pdf| title=2009 Birthday Honours List| website=[BBC News](/source/BBC_News)| access-date=2020-07-02}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/07/simon-preston-obituary  Obituary]. ''The Guardian''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050313162214/http://www.concertorganists.com/htdocs/artistdocs/preston.html Biography and Press Reviews]
* [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Preston-Simon.htm Simon Preston (Conductor, Organ, Harpsichord)]
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/preston.html Interview with Simon Preston]. 1 May 1990.
* {{discogs artist|Simon Preston}}
* {{IMDb name|0696492}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-culture}}
{{s-bef|before=[Sydney Watson](/source/Sydney_Watson)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Organist and Master of the Choristers](/source/Director_of_Music) of [Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford](/source/Oxford_Cathedral)
|years=1970–1981}}
{{s-aft|after=[Francis Grier](/source/Francis_Grier)}}
{{s-bef|before=[Douglas Guest](/source/Douglas_Guest)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Organist and Master of the Choristers](/source/Director_of_Music) of [Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey)
|years=1981–1988}}
{{s-aft|after=[Martin Neary](/source/Martin_Neary)}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Simon}}
Category:1938 births
Category:2022 deaths
Category:English classical organists
Category:English cathedral organists
Category:20th-century English organists
Category:21st-century English organists
Category:British harpsichordists
Category:English choral conductors
Category:English male conductors (music)
Category:20th-century English conductors (music)
Category:21st-century English conductors (music)
Category:Deutsche Grammophon artists
Category:English performers of early music
Category:Composers for pipe organ
Category:20th-century English classical composers
Category:20th-century English male composers
Category:English male classical composers
Category:21st-century English male musicians
Category:Choristers of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Category:Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey
Category:People educated at Canford School
Category:Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford
Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Category:People associated with Westminster Abbey
Category:Musicians from Bournemouth
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:English male classical organists
Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Simon Preston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Preston) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Preston?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.